Yahoo! and Bebo sign advertising partnership

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 12-Sep-07, 09:00

LONDON - Yahoo! has signed a deal with social networking website Bebo to sell the majority of Bebo's display advertising in the UK and Ireland.

This is the first agreement made between Yahoo! and a social networking site, and aims to provide advertisers with improved marketing opportunities among the 13- to 24-year-old age group.

As part of the deal, Yahoo! and Bebo have developed a Bebo toolbar, which enables Bebo users to monitor their network when they are not on the website.

The partnership also gives Bebo the use of Yahoo! Answers, the search engine's knowledge service in which the online community asks and answers each other's questions.

Toby Coppel, managing director of Yahoo! Europe, said: "This exclusive partnership is the next step of our ongoing strategy to build the largest and most effective online advertising network."

Yahoo! and Bebo will begin to roll out the agreed initiatives during the fourth quarter of this year. The search engine began providing search services on Bebo in May this year in a previous deal, which is being extended under this new agreement.

Joanna Shields, president of international at Bebo, said: "The partnership with Yahoo! enables us to focus on custom sponsorship campaigns and ground-breaking original productions with the knowledge that our display advertising is handled by a partner that guarantees the highest quality ad for each user interaction."

Last week, Yahoo! acquired the international online advertising network BlueLithium in a deal worth $300m (£150m). Blue Lithium provides information on users by tracking their online behaviour and using the information to help advertisers target their ads more effectively.