Marketing Pilgrim

Yahoo! have finally secured a deal with a major social networking property for display and video advertising. Bebo, the UK and Ireland’s most popular social networking site, has entered into a multi-year, exclusive partnership.

Yahoo! Europe will help advertisers reach a young British audience of over 11 million users, generally ranging from 13 to 24 years - a sought-after but traditionally difficult group to target.

Although no financials have been disclosed, the deal is rumored to involve a revenue guarantee - an approach reportedly made by Google in a deal that snatched MySpace advertising, and possibly part of Microsoft’s recent Facebook agreement.

Joanna Shields, President of Bebo International, told Reuters that choosing a market leader like Yahoo! was the important part of the decision.

In an environment like Bebo where our users are our core constituency, we had to be sure that the ad partner that we selected could deliver a targeted ad that was going to complement the experience of the social network.

Shields also added that Bebo would be keen to expand the agreement across their global base of 38 million users, a proposition that will please Yahoo! who are pushing hard to expand their percentage of off-network advertising.

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