Google on MySpace

8-10-2006

Looks like MySpace is finally going corporate

Google has secured a deal with MySpace to provide search and contextual advertising on the social networking site, and other Fox internet properties.

The deal, worth $900m  will start in October this year and will mean MySpace users will see ads targeted to specific search terms.

MySpace vistors will be able to use Google to search for groups of friends. Google will then provide adverts based on these keywords.

MySpace.com is owned by Fox International Media, a division of News Corporation, which bought MySpace in July 2005 for around $950m.

Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive, said: “MySpace is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world’s information universally accessible and useful.”

The Google ad deal will cover a number of other Fox properties, including Fox’s interactive gaming sites, the movie site rottentomatoes.com and men’s lifestyle pages askmen.com.

Peter Chernin, News Corp's chief operating officer, said: "While this is a deal that largely covers searching on our sites, we look forward to expanding this relationship to cover other areas of our business."