Following the footsteps of Google, Yahoo has revamped its ad system into the long-awaited next generation advertising platform update that they call "Panama". Formally disclosed on October 16, 2006, the Yahoo Panama package is quite interesting and serves as an example for all thriving marketing platforms. Panama targets ads on a geographic basis, and incorporates behavioral data in the ads it returns. By December 14, bloggers were testing the system and a week later it was let out for voluntary migration by current subscribers to the new Panama Ad system. The shift once made is irretraceable.

Panama seeks to redress certain shortcomings of the older version. Also, there are certain similarities between Panama and Google AdSense. The new geographical targeting offers several benefits to the marketers along with perks such as behavioral search and discounts for quality ads which get the highest click throughs.

Now Panama will help regional companies with offline outlets target audience in their particular locale. Advertisers can target by region, marker or city, and surrounding regions. Explicit location queries shall also receive accurate responses. Thus, broader general markets can be ignored and attention can be paid to more specific regions. This makes for more focus and direction towards goal achievement. This feature of geographical targeting is the greatest advantage of Yahoo Panama.

The Panama Ad System has an enhanced Forecasting feature that is a customized tool for each user. An advertiser can view the previous data on conversion rates, impressions for a specific keyword, and the revenue generated in an AJAX format. The spending is no doubt limited, and the user gets to interact with the forecasting tool to determine how to run campaigns and more!

The intuitive interface features and the graphical representations of Yahoo Panama Ad System have been developed by the same team that developed Yahoo Tem beta. The migration is easy, sign up is fairly simple and the system is predominantly geared towards broadband connections. Thus Panama Ad system is increasingly usable by anyone to successfully manage an ad campaign.

Additional features include the ability to test an ad before gong live with it. This feature enables you to foresee likely responses from customers. An image based quality index lets you know how your ads are faring in comparison to those of your competitors. Knowing where you're going wrong in advance can help you catch up on time, or maintain and enhance your winning streak.

Some reviewers state that Panama is based on Google AdSense, including the "quality index". Yahoo's Panama gives a more cost effective model with higher conversion rates. There is already a team in place that will continue working on updating Yahoo Panama Ad system according to the feedback received. Advertisers will be using Panama and Google Ad Sense until an ad platform comes along that can address ad targeting, increase conversion rates, and reduce click fraud. The final impact of Panama will unfold throughout 2007. Some reviewers opine that Google has reason to be a little concerned!

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