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to wrest away AOLers
Message: Unhappy over rate hike? Come to us
By Marty Beard
MSN has launched an all-out online advertising offensive as it attempts to both take over the web and poach users from arch-rival AOL.
While it’s too early to tell if the raid on AOL is working, one thing is clear: The $50 million campaign to persuade AOL users to switch to MSN is reaching millions of eyeballs online.
For the week ending July 8, the Microsoft Network was the No. 2 advertiser online, with 324,539,598 impressions and a unique audience of 13,825,678, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Last week, MSN was the No. 4 online advertiser.
MSN ads were second only to those of its parent company, Microsoft, which had 469,035,965 impressions and a unique audience of 23,326,632.
Much as Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft dominates the operating system and office software markets, it has dominated the list of top banner ads week after week.
From July 2 through July 8, Microsoft banners touted its bCentral small business services along with its Windows Media Player.
But the influx of MSN ads appears to be another manifestation of Microsoft’s .NET strategy, which is essentially the company’s plan to dominate all things internet.
MSN banners, skyscrapers and buttons appeared on major web properties, including Juno Online Services, InfoSpace and Yahoo, plus slightly smaller sites like MyFamily.com, Fishspotter.com and Candystand.com.
The ads tout MSN’s portal-like services, such as its email newsletters and online community services and calendar, its Home Advisor real estate and home maintenance site, and its CarPoint auto site.
But perhaps most important, there were also ads trying to persuade people to sign up for MSN’s internet access service.
MSN, which has about five million users, remains a distant second to Time Warner’s America Online, with 30 million-plus subscribers, and ranks just above EarthLink, which has 4.8 million users.
The ISP/portal raised its rates by $1.95 in late May, to $23.90 a month, and shortly afterwards launched a $50 million ad campaign designed to persuade AOL users to switch to MSN.
AOL users who defected to MSN by June 30 were to be rewarded with three months of gratis service and the guarantee that they would pay MSN no more than $21.95 a month through January 2003.
MSN is banking on AOL users’ unwillingness to pay an extra $23.40 a year for internet access. But the campaign to win over AOL users won't be helped by technical problems that have plagued MSN in recent weeks.
Most notably, MSN’s instant-messaging service, MSN Messenger, was inaccessible to about a third of its 30 million users starting July 3.
Many of the users who couldn’t log on found that their "buddy lists," or address books filled with friends’ email and instant-messaging nicknames, were lost for good.
While service was restored about a week after the outage began, some damage to MSN’s credibility may have taken place. There’s evidence that some MSN Messenger users have fled to AOL and Yahoo’s instant-messaging services.
"Our research suggests the cost of switching from AOL to MSN is very low for a large number of people," says Forrester Research analyst Frank Prince. "But certainly the technical difficulties will affect the efficacy of this MSN ad campaign, and it will require, if anything, a redoubling of their efforts from a marketing point of view."
Microsoft and MSN did not respond to Media Life’s requests for information about the online ad campaign.
|
Top 25 Properties |
|||
|
Property |
Unique Audience |
Reach % |
Time |
|
1. AOL Time Warner |
37,342,963 |
51.06 |
0:15:29 |
|
2. Yahoo |
31,082,167 |
42.50 |
0:27:59 |
|
3. MSN |
26,983,213 |
36.90 |
0:22:47 |
|
4. Microsoft |
9,568,223 |
13.08 |
0:04:39 |
|
5. Excite@Home |
9,078,166 |
12.41 |
0:13:16 |
|
6. Lycos Network |
8,348,763 |
11.42 |
0:09:12 |
|
7. eBay |
7,195,458 |
9.84 |
0:39:02 |
|
8. Walt Disney Internet Group |
5,991,752 |
8.19 |
0:15:07 |
|
9. About |
5,784,676 |
7.91 |
0:07:21 |
|
10. Amazon |
5,159,970 |
7.06 |
0:08:19 |
|
11. Google |
4,942,652 |
6.76 |
0:06:55 |
|
12. eUniverse Network |
4,748,507 |
6.49 |
0:08:28 |
|
13. InfoSpace |
4,539,260 |
6.21 |
0:04:38 |
|
14. CNET Networks |
4,379,483 |
5.99 |
0:06:11 |
|
15. Vivendi Universal |
4,372,275 |
5.98 |
0:08:51 |
|
16. NBC Internet |
3,545,113 |
4.85 |
0:04:54 |
|
17. Ask Jeeves |
3,437,123 |
4.70 |
0:04:47 |
|
18. ClassMates Online |
3,242,018 |
4.43 |
0:05:17 |
|
19. Napster |
3,103,694 |
4.24 |
0:04:44 |
|
20. GoTo.com |
3,047,237 |
4.17 |
0:02:13 |
|
21. AT&T |
3,016,862 |
4.13 |
0:11:31 |
|
22. EarthLink |
2,994,686 |
4.10 |
0:06:39 |
|
23. iWon |
2,833,092 |
3.87 |
0:26:29 |
|
24. Gator.com |
2,653,815 |
3.63 |
0:06:50 |
|
25. Viacom International |
2,583,685 |
3.53 |
0:14:18 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
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Top Ten Advertisers |
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|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Unique Audience |
Reach % |
|
1. Microsoft |
469,035,965 |
23,326,632 |
31.90 |
|
2. MSN |
324,539,598 |
13,825,678 |
18.91 |
|
3. Yahoo |
227,997,816 |
16,621,824 |
22.73 |
|
4. eBay |
206,054,099 |
14,045,690 |
19.21 |
|
5. ClassMates |
170,883,819 |
16,319,218 |
22.32 |
|
6. America Online |
158,788,437 |
18,240,010 |
24.94 |
|
7. Providian |
156,843,167 |
17,575,650 |
24.03 |
|
8. Columbia House |
150,673,403 |
22,024,508 |
30.12 |
|
9. Barnes and Noble |
148,781,383 |
17,190,020 |
23.51 |
|
10. JP Morgan Chase |
134,417,627 |
12,113,905 |
16.57 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
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Top 25 Domains |
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|
Domain |
Unique Audience |
Reach % |
Time |
|
1. yahoo.com |
27,802,025 |
38.02 |
0:29:21 |
|
2. aol.com |
26,234,737 |
35.87 |
0:13:23 |
|
3. msn.com |
24,512,383 |
33.52 |
0:19:55 |
|
4. passport.com |
13,548,885 |
18.53 |
0:03:17 |
|
5. microsoft.com |
9,044,966 |
12.37 |
0:04:41 |
|
6. geocities.com |
8,940,215 |
12.23 |
0:05:38 |
|
7. ebay.com |
6,617,060 |
9.05 |
0:40:03 |
|
8. netscape.com |
5,848,974 |
8.00 |
0:08:47 |
|
9. go.com |
5,830,283 |
7.97 |
0:15:24 |
|
10. excite.com |
5,157,353 |
7.05 |
0:16:58 |
|
11. google.com |
4,936,956 |
6.75 |
0:06:55 |
|
12. amazon.com |
4,773,984 |
6.53 |
0:07:53 |
|
13. promotions.com |
3,884,301 |
5.31 |
0:05:17 |
|
14. lycos.com |
3,756,751 |
5.14 |
0:11:14 |
|
15. classmates.com |
3,232,877 |
4.42 |
0:05:18 |
|
16. napster.com |
3,103,694 |
4.24 |
0:04:44 |
|
17. goto.com |
3,032,588 |
4.15 |
0:02:13 |
|
18. bluemountain.com |
2,902,982 |
3.97 |
0:06:45 |
|
19. iwon.com |
2,833,092 |
3.87 |
0:26:29 |
|
20. compuserve.com |
2,823,255 |
3.86 |
0:17:22 |
|
21. about.com |
2,796,512 |
3.82 |
0:05:25 |
|
22. angelfire.com |
2,707,423 |
3.70 |
0:03:28 |
|
23. earthlink.net |
2,663,136 |
3.64 |
0:06:26 |
|
24. tripod.com |
2,661,852 |
3.64 |
0:04:34 |
|
25. nbci.com |
2,625,747 |
3.59 |
0:03:52 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 25 Advertising Domains |
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|
Domain |
Impressions |
Reach % |
|
1. yahoo.com |
1,294,537,565 |
33.01 |
|
2. msn.com |
1,107,973,524 |
29.76 |
|
3. ebay.com |
462,029,210 |
8.69 |
|
4. aol.com |
362,789,736 |
22.55 |
|
5. netscape.com |
177,578,463 |
7.28 |
|
6. excite.com |
150,444,430 |
6.35 |
|
7. iwon.com |
99,500,683 |
2.92 |
|
8. go.com |
87,962,618 |
5.28 |
|
9. mapquest.com |
84,211,644 |
3.15 |
|
10. audiogalaxy.com |
81,338,228 |
1.07 |
|
11. pogo.com |
70,100,938 |
2.05 |
|
12. compuserve.com |
68,290,138 |
3.04 |
|
13. infospace.com |
63,762,636 |
2.21 |
|
14. about.com |
60,186,956 |
2.74 |
|
15. lycos.com |
60,094,800 |
3.80 |
|
16. monster.com |
59,970,093 |
2.11 |
|
17. passport.com |
53,863,226 |
12.85 |
|
18. ezboard.com |
53,051,428 |
0.93 |
|
19. netzero.net |
52,208,110 |
1.90 |
|
20. dogpile.com |
46,617,334 |
1.82 |
|
21. cnn.com |
45,355,863 |
2.61 |
|
22. juno.com |
42,447,063 |
1.67 |
|
23. ancestry.com |
37,144,093 |
0.97 |
|
24. att.net |
33,047,254 |
2.16 |
|
25. neopets.com |
31,467,603 |
0.62 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
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|
Top Ten Banners |
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|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Unique Audience |
Reach % |
|
1. Consumer Counseling |
52,494,884 |
9,084,205 |
12.42 |
|
2. Colonize |
35,802,462 |
8,805,389 |
12.04 |
|
3. Consumer Counseling |
48,837,326 |
7,956,516 |
10.88 |
|
4. ClassMates |
95,986,125 |
6,630,430 |
9.07 |
|
5. eDiets |
58,601,321 |
6,376,149 |
8.72 |
|
6. Columbia House |
13,952,876 |
5,791,663 |
7.92 |
|
7. ClassMates |
14,486,831 |
5,676,232 |
7.76 |
|
8. JP Morgan Chase |
32,933,398 |
5,430,168 |
7.43 |
|
9. JP Morgan Chase |
18,133,854 |
5,296,729 |
7.24 |
|
10. JP Morgan Chase/Shell |
17,573,932 |
5,264,092 |
7.2 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
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Average Usage |
|||
|
|
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
Number of Sessions per Week |
6 |
6 |
0 |
|
Number of Unique Sites Visited |
6 |
6 |
0 |
|
Page Views per Week |
231 |
227 |
1.76 |
|
Page Views per Surfing Session |
37 |
36 |
2.78 |
|
Time Spent per Week |
3:14:06 |
3:13:08 |
0.5 |
|
Time Spent During Surfing Session |
0:31:26 |
0:30:57 |
1.56 |
|
Duration of Page Viewed |
0:00:51 |
0:00:52 |
-1.18 |
|
Average Click Rate for Top Banners |
0.26 |
0.28 |
-7.14 |
|
Active Internet Universe |
73,129,407 |
73,855,531 |
-0.98 |
|
Current Internet Universe Estimate |
167,524,286 |
167,421,299 |
0.06 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
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July 13, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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