Microsoft Testing AdSense Clone?

It seems like an obvious move, but to this point Microsoft hasn't offered a program to allow third party publishers add Microsoft’s contextual ads next to their content. This sort of program sounds a lot like AdSense, doesn't it, and you'd think it would be something Microsoft would have looked into already. Apparently, they are.

According to reports, Microsoft appears ready to expand its AdCenter offering to allow such self-service ads. This would put it in direct competition with AdSense and Yahoo!'s Publisher Network.

The program is scheduled to go live on July 21st (Monday). According to an email statement by Microsoft:

Microsoft’s self-serve advertising offering for publishers is still under development and is currently in a private pilot phase, being tested by select publishers who met the participation requirements. The private pilot phase began earlier this year. A private, phased approach allows us to learn more about customer interest in content advertising and provide guidance as to how we can improve the product and deliver the right features required to meet publisher and advertiser needs. It’s our intention to continue to expand our high quality network and relevant audience gradually and intelligently over time for our advertisers. We will evaluate customer interest and product performance as we move through the private pilot, but we have no specific launch plans to announce at this time.

We encourage publishers who are interested in joining the pilot to fill out an interest form here: http://advertising.microsoft.com/publisher

Naturally, Microsoft decided they don't want exclusivity in this deal with regards to AdSense. After all, Google has dominated contextual advertising because it offers publishers far higher fees for ads.

You may also use Microsoft ads on the same sites and pages as Google ads as long as you do not have a specific exclusivity agreement with them.

Well, some would say the more choices, the better. So why not? We'll see how things shake out when July 21st rolls around.