GOTO.COM'S STATEMENT ON REPORTS OF
ALTA VISTA'S ADOPTION OF GOTO
Business Wire
April 16, 1999, 4:47 a.m. PT
's Pay-for-Performance Advertising Model
Business/Internet Editors
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1999--It has been
reported that DoubleClick advertisers are bidding for placement in the
top spots in Alta Vista's search results. GoTo pioneered an online
marketplace where any participating advertiser can bid in an ongoing
auction for introductions to self-qualified, prospective consumers.
"We're thrilled to have our free market search engine concept
validated by companies such as Alta Vista and DoubleClick. In its
announcement, Alta Vista touts the relevance of pay-for-performance
advertising. We completely agree and that's the reason we've been
doing this since February 1998," noted GoTo.com's president and CEO,
Jeffrey Brewer. "It's interesting and significant that Alta Vista, one
of the Internet's first search engines, and DoubleClick, which
operates one of the biggest syndicated banner networks have both
recognized the financial opportunity in search engine content:
advertising listings that are relevant and timely."
"Their approach to our model, however, begs several questions,"
Mr. Brewer added. "First, what will happen to the small and medium
sized advertisers with whom DoubleClick traditionally has not had
relationships? Second, given that the minimum bid is 25c per keyword
per clickthrough, won't that exclude a significant part of the market?
Third, what happens when the threshold that advertisers are willing to
pay is less than 25c?
"I also hope for the benefit of Alta Vista's users that they come
around to a model of full and open disclosure like the one embraced by
GoTo that provides the opportunity to more than one or two advertisers
to reach consumers. In fact, limiting the opportunity to one or two
advertisers is just the same old banner advertising model where you
have a limited number of advertising opportunities on a page. We think
this model yields the most relevant results for consumers and allows
consumers to see the actual prices that advertisers pay for their
listings." |
