Posted by Bob Bernstein, Managing Director, MC Media and Chief Media Officer, Draftfcb Chicago

With the announcement of the Microsoft and Yahoo partnership earlier today, a lot has been said with regards to the overall potential and impact of the deal. While we have more clarity this afternoon, there are still several questions that remained unanswered.  While I’m sure  we’ll have more to share in the next couple of days, the following are some of our initial thoughts for advertisers:
 
The partnership makes a strong number two player in search advertising which should prove positive due to an alternative to Google that has scale.  Together, Microsoft and Yahoo will have about 28% of search traffic in the U.S. with Google holding about 65% of the market

Consolidation and redeployment of funds and refocus on core competencies amongst the two companies should lead to a better user experience, ultimately stronger Search campaign performance, and innovation longer term

Advertisers using agencies that have built their own software management systems may need to re-tool, which could be a big issue for agencies that don’t have maintain their own committed technology staff

Since Microsoft and Yahoo will have their own display advertisers and sales staffs (and display is not part of the deal) there will need to be clarity on who “owns” client relationships.