Where do you want to go tomorrow, MSN?

Originally published on EuropeMedia.net, 03/12/2001.

Online advertising sales have undoubtedly been affected by the events of September the 11th, and all the well known search engines rely on advertising models of some form as a major source of income.

In the second of a series of features, Duncan Parry talks to MSN UK about the effects of the downturn in online advertising and their future plans.

Q: To begin, has MSN UK experienced a decrease in advertising revenue?

MSN: While we won't comment on specifics, we will say that MSN UK has shown great strength in an otherwise soft market. It would appear that in these conditions, partners look for greater value, and it would appear that they have gravitated to MSN - with its proven track record and distribution power. That said, we recognise that we must try hard, these are trying times and there is no place for complacency.

Q: Many websites now offer different size advertising formats that are more interactive than traditional banner advertisements. What does MSN offer advertisers?

MSN: MSN has already launched an extensive range of new on-line advertising formats, with new ones planned. We believe that these will add value to our partners and will be compelling and innovative for our users. We are also now working with the IAB to recognise and develop new ad products which will directly compete with brand print ads, these will be released every 6 months within certain consumer sectors and advertising parameters.

Q: WAP hasn't proved to be "killer app" for the mobile internet some predicted, with only a small number of UK WAP users compared to early predictions. What are MSN UK's future plans for the next generation of mobile internet services?

MSN: We are sticking to our strategy of providing a raft of services ourselves as well as promoting services provided by our partners. To date MSN has provided (through partners) a number of popular, comparatively tactical, mobile services such as ringtones. These have proved to be very popular. We are also developing a range of mobile services ourselves. On this front we are concentrating on interactive services, especially those that capitalise on strengths we already have on the PC.

We are looking to extend our PC innovations in formats that are best suited to view those content and services (such as Pocket PC2002). We are open-minded on WAP and note that while our users have been under-whelmed by WAP so far, future versions do have potential to provide a compelling user experience. Our view on WAP at present is to keep an eye on developments and map our services to the quality of the technology. At the moment the technology is not great and the user experience is comparatively poor.

3G will probably still happen, and the fact that it hasn't proved to be the "killer app" so far is more a function of a reality check than anything else. The technology is proving to be more difficult to rollout than previously expected. We are still behind on consumer rollout of GPRS.

However, 3G probably will happen and when it does, we will be well placed to provide rich services that take full advantage of the extra bandwidth. MSN is focussed on working with Microsoft technology such as Windows Media to deliver these rich services.

Q: Some analysts have speculated that localisation services - e.g. locating the nearest Pizza takeaway via a 3G mobile and the local postcode - will be a popular use of mobile Internet search services. Is MSN looking to develop these sort of services?

MSN: In the first instance it is more likely that MSN will provide these sorts of services through its partners, but looking forward, MSN is looking at this sort of functionality. Mobile devices are likely to be even more pervasive. People will use them to plan things on the run, and to this end location based services will be important. The technology here is still emerging. There are still concerns around privacy and finding a common platform on which to develop these services. We are looking at how we can work in this space and provide compelling, time/location sensitive services.

Q: MSN boasts search options for photos, MP3, the Looksmart directory, keywords and more. What's next?

MSN: As seen in the current release of MSN Search in the US, future directions involve rich integrated results with specialist information providers. Right now MSN.com Search boasts some great features such as Windows Media integrated content, Movie Clips, and Encarta integration - bringing the best of accurate information and rich media for relevant queries.

Q: As the number of UK broadband users grows, does MSN have plans to serve their unique search needs - for example a search option for streaming media broadcasts?

MSN: We are looking at a number of ways to help our users on broadband optimise their experience. This will become increasingly important as broadband penetration increase in the UK. However, it is still early days.

If you look at the Windows Media and Movie Clip integration you can see where we'd like to head for broadband users. Search results are greatly enhanced by this kind of rich media integration, making the best of the web easy to access without having to pick up advanced searching skills.

Q: Some press reports have suggested that MSN websites have been designed to prevent their use by non-Microsoft browsers (in particular Opera). Can you confirm if this is true, or if Opera users can use MSN.co.uk?

MSN: The Incident in question was temporary and merely teething problems with the new user interface. MSN remains an exclusive site and does not try to limit anyone's Internet experience. Clearly though Internet Explorer and MSN Explorer are the main browsers that we develop for.