• StraightUpSearch, Friday, November 23, 2007 2:30 PM

Microsoft's plans to vault to a much higher spot in terms of online advertising have been heavily covered in the trade and mainstream press as of late.

Mike K outlines the software giant's four-step "10, 20, 30, 40" plan, which is based on increasing page views on MSN-owned sites to 10%, increasing total minutes spent on MSN-owned sites to 20% (of time spent online overall), pumping up Live Search's search share to 30% and snagging 40% of all online advertising dollars. Then he poses reasons why the latter two goals may be unattainable.

For search, Microsoft wants to grow its market share by 20% within the next 5 years. While reports from the top three Web measurement firms have shown moderate growth for Live Search in the past few months -- recent reports are showing a downward trend year over year. According to Mike, Microsoft has no chance to pick up double-digit market share (unless they buy Yahoo) in such a short time frame. He adds that the same acquisition would be the only way for the software giant to rake in over 30% more ad dollars, as Microsoft currently only garners 6% of all online ad spending.

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