• by Tanya Gazdik , October 2, 2008

Msnbc.com is jumping on the self-service online display ad bandwagon via a partnership with AdReady. The news Web site is in good company, joining a slew of others that are now offering the DIY option including Yahoo, The New York Times, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, NaturalPath Media, Zillow and Trulia.

Msnbc.com's service, available at http://msnbc.adready.com/partner, promises local retailers as well as small and mid-sized businesses that they can run their customized ads on the news site for as little as $50 per day. Advertisers who plan to spend more than $1,000 per month get special help in building and optimizing their ads via AdReady, the Seattle-based technology company which powers the ad platform, and also works with Yahoo and the Times.

The alliance with AdReady gives even the smallest marketers access to msnbc.com's inventory on a geotargeted basis, said Kyoo Kim, VP of sales at msnbc.com. Local businesses can create ads from AdReady's library of creative templates and then measure the performance of their campaigns in order to spend their ad dollars efficiently. Advertisers also have access to tools that allow them to continuously test and optimize the performance of their ads.

"Companies with big ideas, but small budgets, can now partner with the number one news site to easily create professional, targeted and effective ad campaigns," Kim said.

Advertisers can build a campaign in 10 minutes, starting by selecting from one of 16 different industries including automotive, consumer goods, entertainment, financial services, real estate, retail stores, telecommunications and travel. Once the advertiser selects an industry, they are taken to a slate of ads they can peruse and pick from. They can change the text, images, colors and add their own company logo. Once the ad is built, they target where they would like the ads to run.

AdReady's Mark Feldman, SVP of sales and business development, equates the service to the practice by local advertisers of buying cable advertising as opposed to network media. "Everyone from neighborhood retailers to emerging national companies can get in the game," Feldman said. "This opens up a whole new playing field."

Founded in 2006, AdReady is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Madrona Venture Group.