Yahoo! has had to delay plans to develop an enhanced search facility that would allow advertisers to target customers more accurately through search engine word analysis.
Plans for the development of the function are now likely to be put on hold until Q4 after the company reported a Q2 net profit drop of 78% to US $164 million from $755 million year on year. A Q3 increase to $1.2 billion is being predicted, but this is far less than analysts would have hoped for.
Quality testing the so-called “Project Panama” with 175 of Yahoo!’s biggest advertisers has also revealed that more work than expected is still left to do.
Terry Semel, chief executive at Yahoo!, said: “To meet the standards that we believe our clients should expect from us, we think it is prudent to add some extra time to our original estimates for the commercial launch.”
Last month the company announced its partnership with eBay in a bid to further take on Google and Microsoft, by allowing consumers to contact advertisers directly for their products and services.The delay of the new search advertising system could signal a significant blow for Yahoo! in its battle against the other media giants.
Related Links
