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Return-on-investment (ROI) is up and the waiting list for advertisers to join AdCenter has lengthened, causing search marketers to clamor for a quicker AdCenter rollout.

First half of 2006 looks to be as firm a commitment Microsoft wants to make in disclosing when the tightly-controlled beta test of its MSN AdCenter will be opened to more advertisers. DM News reported that many more advertisers want to get involved beyond the 800 participating now.

An unnamed Microsoft official cited in the report disclosed the 2006 estimated launch window and said the company plans to make results of this testing available in the first quarter.

That's not fast enough or definite enough for those marketers, and here's why:

"The ROI is very good because [keyword] prices are so low," said Danielle Leitch, vice president of marketing and analytics at More Visibility, Boca Raton, FL. "Some of the advertisers are the only ones on the keywords."

One advertiser's campaign generated $22,000 in sales in the week after Thanksgiving with just a $400 investment, said Noah Elkin, director of industry relations at iCrossing, New York, though he acknowledged that the campaign could have benefited from the holiday shopping season.
The report noted how Microsoft is contractually obligated to provide Yahoo ads on MSN, which is clamping down on the volume of AdCenter ads being displayed to site visitors. That contract runs through June 2006; Microsoft extended the contract last November.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.