Myspace have followed in the path of Facebook by launching their own internal ad platform. Due to launch today, the service dubbed MyAds allows any user to easily set up and track an ad.
MyAds will initially allow display only graphical ads, as opposed to Facebook who currently only run text ads. MySpace try to make the creative process straight forward by offering ad templates and a Flash tool, with ad dimensions needing to measure either 728×90 or 300×250.
MyAds are sold purely on a CPC basis (whereas Facebook offer both CPC and an impression based model). The MyAds model will have similar functionality to Google’s Adwords, in that a higher CPC and higher click through rate will result in a lower cost per click overall (the theory being that a higher click through rate coupled with a low user return rate equals a higher quality user experience).
The advertising process on MyAds appears to be straight forward – the first step is creating your ad, followed by targeting users then setting a budget and schedule. The targeting looks to be the main characteristic that will differentiate MySpace’s self serve offering – where Facebook rely on users stating their interests for their user targeting, MySpace draw up a profile of each user based on their MySpace activity over time. There are apparently over 1200 ways in which a user could be categorised, which if successful could allow for highly focused targeting. MySpace will even tell you exactly how many people could be targeted based on the criteria you enter.
This is the latest attempt by MySpace, and social networks in general, to monetise their site and drive profit from the large user base that such social media sites enjoy. Following on from other announcements in the last week, it also looks like the latest attempt from a massive web property at grabbing every penny possible in these tough economic times.
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