Although I love Google, I’m not a big fan of how it dominates just about everything it touches. I wouldn’t quite say that Google has a midas touch, but most things it touches does turn into gold.
I read a story yesterday from the NY Times which restored my faith in the ability of the internet to allow new companies and business models to spring up quickly, and proved that Google won’t always have things its own way. The article featured Quigo a small contextual advertising player that has forced Google to change the way it treats its advertisers.
When an advertiser currently buys advertising from Google they have little say over where the ads run. Quigo in contrast allows advertisers to specify where ads are run and has managed to win over some big accounts like ESPN.com and FoxNews.com, and also a 10% share of the contextual ads market. It’s been so successful that Google are now working on letting its advertisers also specify where their ads are run.
I think it’s good that companies like Quigo keep emerging to keep the big wigs like Google on their toes, as it should benefit all of us in the long run.
More: NY Times
