• Reuters, Friday, November 16, 2007 10:45 AM

Microsoft's Kevin Johnson, president of platforms and services, was in a bullish mood yesterday as he outlined the company's Web advertising goals for the next three to five years. In something called the "10, 20, 30, 40" plan, Microsoft aims to increase its share in Web search, page views, time spent per user and percentage of ad dollars. The software giant currently trails Google and/or Yahoo in each of these categories.

Johnson said Microsoft wants its MSN and Windows Live properties to increase their current 6 percent share of all Web page views to 10 percent. It also wants to raise time spent per user (out of total time spent on the Web) to 20 percent from 17 percent. Search, the "30" component, is the tallest order of them all. Right now, Windows Live Search has a 10 percent share of the search market--a market that barely budges year over year. The "40" is Microsoft's goal for Web advertising.

"If you look at the landscape of other competitors or other companies in this area, not only do we have the technology, research and development capability to deploy, but (we have) our willingness to invest for the long term," Johnson said during a recent conference.

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