What Will Paid Search Look Like In Year...

far more rich media options in paid search...
proper integration into Video - PPV (pay-per-view) for all the brand marketers
proliferation of DIY advertising platforms - goodbye "overpaid" search agencies
rise of the niche networks...those that provide targeted advertising solutions and exposure
verticals will become vital (whether they're run by the big boys (Google, Yahoo! et al.) or dedicated start-ups)
new media steps up...feeds, casts will not be novel advertising options - they'll be mainstream...

as i have said in my comments below... i think china will play a role, possibly a social network like myspace or facebook, and i worry for yahoo...

I think we will see somebody like MySpace or Facebook jump into the fray with their own format. If either of them adds other social networking sites under them, they could become a big player. I'd rather go directly to them for paid search instead of having to use Google to run ads.

dan - i think facebook has something coming in just 3 months - see here.

Thanks for the link.

The other day, I read that 80% of search marketers believe that Google or Yahoo! are the best search engines to reach their customers. While I definitely agree that those two portals, along with AOL & MSN will continue to be the key players over the next few years...I do think that the advanced search marketers will start moving towards blogs & blog networks, contextual ads on targeted sites and niche social networking sites.

Al,

Thanks for such a great question. I answered in a separate post. Let me know what you think. :)

I would guess it will still be the top two or three current players -- and it will be a lot more expensive!

Yea I don't see a lot changing by the year 2010. 2015, that might be a different story.

I think there is going to be a huge shake up by 2010.  Either a new huge player or something drastic happening to yahoo sponsored search or MSN AdCenter.

Let us not forget what China could do to the mix - there is serious money in china.

For now they are focussed on building infrastructure (I understand their vision is to accomodation for 30 million people/year for the next 10 years (hence the mining boom).)

Ok so now imagine they all online - By crikey or alibaba!

great point jackie - china is just getting started

I think Jackie makes a good point. Baidu recently passed $10b in market cap and Alibaba.com is floating at a $7b valuation. I think by 2010 we'll see one of the big four disappear by acquisition, say Microsoft acquiring Yahoo or Google acquiring Yahoo (the obvious choice) and we'll see Baidu and possibly one other company in a new top four. Baidu is already moving into Europe and I think they could well end up becoming Google's biggest competitor.

At what point do we see somebody make the claims of "monopoly"?

Microsoft fight of those claims....will Google have to as well?