Microsoft adCenter Goes Live

Microsoft flipped the switch today on its AdCenter paid search platform, now using it to run all ads on its U.S. properties.

Microsoft had been slowly increasing the portion of ads on MSN and Windows Live that were served by AdCenter instead of those from its expiring deal with Yahoo Search Marketing. Since late February, AdCenter has handled 70 percent of Microsoft’s ads on U.S. searches.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, at the annual MSN Strategic Account Summit, is expected to announce Microsoft will begin a U.S. beta test of a contextual ad product this summer. That platform, expected to be called ContentAds would compete with rival contextual networks such as Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network.

AdCenter, which has been rebranded with the Microsoft moniker rather than MSN, will begin serving search, contextual or display ads on other Microsoft sites in the near future, including Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Safety Center, Windows Live for Mobile, Office Live and Office Online, and the Xbox Web site Xbox.com. It has been testing ads on some of its services in limited markets since March. Testing of adCenter will begin in the U.K. in June.

AdCenter was unveiled at this same event last year, and went live in France and Singapore in September. The U.S. pilot has been in use by several advertisers since October, with increasing distribution on MSN and Windows Live since then. Around that time, Microsoft restructured the company with a renewed emphasis on advertising.