Yahoo to run multimedia ads

October 1, 2002Yahoo on Tuesday plans to introduce new display advertising for its Web portal, in a move to attract additional marketers and boost revenue. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company will introduce Yahoo AdVision, a full-page advertisement that lets marketers broadcast a commercial, display informational text and Web pages, and run surveys or online games from one browser window. The ads, developed by Yahoo, spring up when visitors click on a banner for the advertiser and hold up to 30 minutes of audio or video. Yahoo is making a bigger commitment to “rich media” technology for advertising with its newest ad format. In July, the company gave a nod to multimedia advertising by partnering with Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, PointRoll and Unicast, a company whose technology collectively incorporates streaming audio and video, floating or expandable ads, and other interactive units. Such ads are all the rage online, especially with top-name marketers that are seeking to reach audiences with style and invention. Under pressure to rev up sales in a lifeless ad market, Web publishers are more than willing to accommodate marketers’ wishes.By Stefanie Olsen