Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

Microsoft, Google Play Nice: DoubleClick To Serve Silverlight Ads (MSFT, GOOG)

olympics-michael-phelps.jpgMicrosoft (MSFT) and Google may be bitter rivals, but sometimes a deal makes sense for both companies. Like today's announcement: Google's (GOOG) DoubleClick is now capable of serving video ads into Microsoft Silverlight 2 videos, which it'll do for NBC Universal's (GE) 2,500 hours of Silverlight-format Olympics videos.

Silverlight is tiny compared to other video streaming formats like Adobe's (ADBE) Flash, RealNetworks' (REAL) Real Media, and Microsoft's own Windows Media. But that means its market share can pretty much only go up.

Advertisement

Which is why it's a good investment for DoubleClick to support Silverlight -- and every major video format. And it's a good deal for Microsoft, too: if it's going to have any luck convincing publishers and content makers to switch to Silverlight from Flash, the ability to display Google's video ads -- not just its own -- is going to be important.

See Also:
Three Days and Counting Until NBC Blows Olympics Coverage
YouTube At The Olympics: Exclusive Video You Can't Watch
NBC Hedges Its Olympic Bets: Buy A TV Ad, Get A Web Banner, Too

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

Advertising Google Microsoft
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account