Yesterday morning, Bing and Yahoo restructured their contract; while the basic framework remains the same, Yahoo now has more pull in determining which Ads are displayed on PCs.
Under the old contract, Yahoo had to carry out Bing’s Ads for all desktop results, while having sole control over mobile ads, using the Yahoo Gemini Platform. Just a side note, under the new deal mobile is defined as both smartphones and tablets; so Yahoo will be controlling ads for both smartphones and tablets.
Now under the new deal, Yahoo has a little more flexibility on displaying ads for desktops; still, 51% of their search traffic has to carry Bing Ads, and Yahoo can display the remainder of the ads any which way they would like! They can continue to use their Gemini Platform, or they can partner up with someone else, maybe even Google!
Google has expressed interest in partnering up with Yahoo in the past, but in 2008 Microsoft beat them to the punch and locked up the partnership.
Yahoo said they are more likely to extend their Gemini Platform than to partner up with someone else, but that Google was definitely not out of the picture!
The next question is, how will Yahoo display the other 49% of ads? Will they favor their ads, Bing’s or maybe Google’s? We still do not know! It could go either way, maybe a mix of all three?
As for the non-paid searches, Bing will still control 51% of those results. As for the remainder, Yahoo can use it’s own technology to display search results for non-paid searches, or they can partner up with a third party.
Long story short, Bing loosened the reigns on Yahoo a little bit, allowing them to wonder off on their own for a little bit; Bing still has a tight leash on Yahoo, but it seems Yahoo is gaining a little independence!
This story is still fairly new, and we’re sure there is more to the story than what Yahoo or Bing is telling! We will stay on top of this story as it develops more!