Bradford

Saying "this marketplace is begging for some efficiency in the media buying process," Joanne Bradford, Microsoft's chief media revenue officer, revealed that the company is preparing to extend its search advertising model to other outlets, including offline media, reports MediaPost. "Our goal with adCenter is to advertise into any medium," she is quoted as saying - and also taking shots at Google: "The advertising community wants an alternative to Google."

Speaking Wednesday at an American Business Media conference in New York, Bradford also said advertising would become a major revenue source for Microsoft, larger even than the OS business, adding that Microsoft's acquisition of in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. and Microsoft's IPTV broadband TV technology would be useful in that effort.

Bradford added that Google's forays into print advertising have not succeeded because it "didn't respect a lot of things about the medium." She also said Microsoft would begin to lure away Google staff once their stock options begin vesting next year.