Yahoo presses ahead with Panama rollout in emerging markets

by Sumner Lemon

May 7, 2008 —

Yahoo plans to soon roll out its Panama search advertising platform in the
few remaining markets in Asia and Latin America where it's not yet available,
completing plans to make the platform available worldwide, a company executive
said Tuesday.

"Within the next coming weeks we will have Panama, our search marketing
platform, launched globally," said Prashant Mehta, vice president and head
of Yahoo's Advertiser and Publisher Group for International Emerging Markets.

The Panama system was conceived as a way of better competing against search-advertising
leader Google, but hasn't diminished its commanding lead. Expanding Panama internationally
plays to the strengths of Yahoo, which has a stronger position than Google in
many key Asian markets, such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Last month, Yahoo conducted a limited two-week test of Google's AdSense for
Search system, running these ads on Yahoo.com. The test took place against the
backdrop of Microsoft's aborted bid to acquire Yahoo, and fueled speculation
that a wider advertising alliance between the two rivals could be in the works.

Yahoo has not disclosed the results of the test with Google, but the company
appears pleased. "The results were as what we had anticipated," Mehta
said, declining to elaborate further.

IDG News Service