Google and EBay on Monday unveiled a multi-year agreement that makes Google the exclusive provider of text-based advertising outside the United States, and extends both companies' Internet telephony services onto each other's platforms.
The deal is the latest alliance between major Internet companies as they look to increase the reach of their services and ad networks. But in trying to boost ad revenue, EBay is treading carefully in agreements with competitors who also become partners. While Google is the exclusive provider of ads outside the U.S., Yahoo has the same rights within the United States.
Financial terms in the latest agreement were not disclosed, but EBay and Google said in a joint statement that both initiatives involved revenue sharing. Such agreements can be lucrative. Google, for example, says it expects to pay News Corp. $900 million over the next three years in becoming the exclusive provider of advertising on the MySpace.com social network. The deal was announced this month.
Google and EBay plan to test the click-to-call and ad initiatives for several months beginning in early 2007. The specific components and timing of the actual implementation will vary by market, depending on test results, local dynamics and joint capabilities, the companies said.
The text-advertising deal applies to ads that would appear when an EBay shopper searches for an item or service that isn't available. In those cases, shoppers would get a page that provides Google-supplied links to other Web sites, EBay spokeswoman Catherine England said. In the future, the companies could expand the use of text advertising.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
