YAHOO! MALAYSIA LAUNCHES NEW SPONSORED SEARCH PRODUCT TO ENABLE SMALL, MEDIUM AND LARGE BUSINESSES TO TARGET MORE THAN 53M POTENTIAL NEW CUSTOMERS

New search advertising offering (codenamed Panama) in Malaysia provides benefits to users, advertisers, publishers and resellers with connections to over 600 million Yahoo! users Worldwide

KUALA LUMPUR, 13 May 2008 – Yahoo!, a leading global Internet company, announced today the launch of Yahoo! Sponsored Search, a new product for Malaysia that enables small, medium and large businesses to reach over 53 million potential new customers in Southeast Asia and 600 million Yahoo! users worldwide.

Yahoo!’s Sponsored Search marketing product delivers highly targeted customer leads to business by showing their ads within paid search results across the Web. The new Sponsored Search product allows businesses to connect with customers searching online for precisely what they sell.

Yahoo! Sponsored Search is based on a “pay-per-click" model and advertisers can get qualified leads as little as US$0.01. Any advertiser can sign-up via their online sign-up (OLS) process to quickly launch their search campaigns. New campaigns can go live within minutes.

“Yahoo! Sponsored Search provides small businesses (SMBs) and large advertisers with the tools to effectively reach Yahoo!’s audience of 53 million people in Southeast Asia and then turn them into potential customers by offering targeted ads,” said Ken Mandel, vice president and managing director, Yahoo! Southeast Asia. “Yahoo! is providing access to our unique marketplaces, communications and social media assets to positively transform the online offer for users, advertisers and publishers,” Mandel added. Yahoo! Sponsored Search is available for online sign-up here: http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/en_SG/

Small Business Benefits

Yahoo! Sponsored Search allows small-to-medium-sized business (SMBs) to benefit from a cost-effective method for advertising and the ability to grow thir business and compete with bigger brands. SMBs are the key drivers of economic growth across Souheast Asia and they make up an average of 90% of listed businesses across SEA.

SMBs are an integral part of Malaysia’s economy accounting for 99.2% of total business establishments in Malaysia. Yahoo! Sponsored Search will provide them with a cost-effective and easy-to-use tool that will give them wider reach across Southeast Asia and the worldwide marketplace.

Growth of Online Advertising
Through the introduction of Yahoo! Sponsored Search, Yahoo! has strengthened its position as the “Must Buy” advertising network in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. With an integrated advertising solution offering that includes its dominant lead in display advertising, search advertising and a growing lead in mobile advertising, Yahoo! is the most effective online marketing network for integrated advertising campaigns.

“Yahoo! is addressing the online advertising opportunity by bringing more choice to the market and providing valuable consumer and business benefits to grow the industry,” said Margaret Chang, general manager for Yahoo! Search Marketing, Yahoo! Southeast Asia.

According to ZenithOptiMedia, online advertising spend in Southeast Asia will grow another 45% in 2008 to roughly $80 million, with about 30% of the total revenue going into search marketing.
Yahoo! is the Internet Search leader (#1) in Malaysia, and the most popular online network in Asia Pacific, according to Hitwise and comScore, respectively.
Five easy steps for businesses using Yahoo! Sponsored Search

Yahoo!’s Sponsored Search marketing product is available through an easy-to-use online sign-up (OLS) tool to help businesses and advertisers get started. The product makes it possible to target customers by geographic location by focusing on an entire market, or by selecting specific regions or cities. There are five easy steps that take just minutes to complete and ads will go live within minutes after submission:

1. Target customers by geographic location - display your ad to customers throughout the entire market, or select specific countries.
2. Choose keywords related to your business - enter words or phrases related to the products and services your business provides.
3. Advertisers can decide how much they would like to spend - specify daily budget and maximum bid amount.
4. Create your ad - write the ad that will be displayed to people interested in a company’s products and services.
5. Review and activate your ad.

Yahoo! Sponsored Search Product Features

Yahoo! Sponsored Search provides many core capabilities that advertisers have asked Yahoo! for, including:
o Geo-Targeting – Enables advertisers to display their ads broadly across the entire market or target specific countries in the Southeast Asia market, which includes Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
o Ad Testing – Allows advertisers to easily test multiple versions of their ads to determine the message that works best for their customers. They can also choose to let our systems automatically optimize serving to the ad that performs best on click through rate or conversion.
o Easy-to-Use Control Panel – An easy-to-navigate control that helps advertisers zero in on what’s working and what’s not, giving them the insights they need to take action and get even better results. Easy-to-understand marketer terminology, as well as forecasting, keyword suggestions and alerts will all help advertisers build and manage campaigns more quickly. In addition, the control panel will allow advertisers to manage to the level of detail that works best for them, from the campaign level all the way down to the keyword level.
o Campaign Budgeting and Scheduling – Allows advertisers to create, budget and schedule individual advertising campaigns for greater control over their advertising strategy and spending. Advertisers also have the option to select an account daily spending limit to increase budget control.
o Enhanced Conversion Tracking – The campaign management application will not only track campaigns that convert immediately, but also those that contribute over time through deferred transactions. In addition, the new application will be able to record “assists” - instances when a keyword contributes indirectly to a conversion - allowing marketers to see the full impact of their keyword mix on the success of their campaigns.

Yahoo!’s integrated advertising solution strategy

Yahoo!’s principal position in both search and display advertising is a key strategy for the company. Integrated advertising solutions across he Yahoo! network provides brand and marketing advantages for businesses. Mobile advertising, which is still in the early stages, also provides huge potential for the industry. Here is how Yahoo! is addressing the opportunity for marketers:

Search Advertising: Yahoo!’s Sponsored Search allows marketers to connect with customers searching precisely for what they sell. With the power of Sponsored Search, marketers can advertise their business and products in search results on Yahoo! and other popular web sites and target potential customers at the precise moment users search for what they sell.

Display Advertising: Display Advertising helps advertisers build their brand, reach more customers, drive transactions and gain valuable insights. It also presents a highly personalized and targeted message to the most relevant customers by combining the power of Yahoo!’s targeting and promotional opportunities with a creative concept.

Mobile Advertising: Yahoo! is taking its breakthrough advertising solutions mobile by offering a rich, comprehensive set of mobile advertising products designed to empower marketers to tap into the rapidly growing, lucrative audience of mobile consumers. Yahoo!'s Mobile Ad Services make it possible to reach target customers wherever they are, seamlessly following them from the PC to the mobile Internet. Marketers are now able to connect with over 600 million potential customers on mobile through innovative services (Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo! Go and Yahoo!’s mobile internet service) and carrier partners.