Lunch With Yahoo: We Have Plans; Decker: Narrowing Search Rev Gap?With A Little Help From Google

Combining the aspects of a press conference with speed dating, Yahoo ( NSDQ: YHOO) president Sue Decker, along with Mike Walrath, SVP, Yahoo Advertiser Marketplace Group, and Todd Teresi SVP, Yahoo Publisher Network, took turns visiting with reporters at four different tables at Bar Americain on Tuesday afternoon in New York, a few blocks away from Digital Hollywood's Advertising 2.0 conference. The execs outlined what sort of impact they expect from the flurry of deals announced earlier:

-- Decker: We're closing the search gap (slowly): Decker showed no signs of weariness with the questions about what happens now after Microsoft ( NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo's search partnership with Google ( NSDQ: GOOG). Nevertheless, she managed to sidestep questions about next steps, turning the conversation to the day's announcements as proof that Yahoo is moving forward on many other fronts. "It would be one thing if the Microsoft situation happened without a plan. But it's clear we have a lot going on - that's why we have all these announcements." As for Google, Decker said that Yahoo is closing the gap in search revenue with Google?thanks, in a small way, to its recent partnership with Google. However the company still has quite a ways to go?it has narrowed the gap to 35 percent lately, which Decker credited to the use of its Panama ad system in addition to its recent test on outsourcing a portion of its search ads to Google's AdSense.

Additionally, Walrath offered a brief course on "ad exchanges 101" and highlighted the new relationships with ad holding companies Havas and WPP Group. He also said that the exchange will begin working more closely with the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium when it unveils its audience targeting product, AMP in Q3. Teresi provided highlights of the CBS ( NYSE: CBS) video syndication partnership, and how Yahoo hopes to coordinate the existing content relationship it has with CNET ( NSDQ: CNET) once the CBS merger is completed.

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