MIVA’s Epitaph

May 16, 2009
by Richard Gregory

It was a sad moment for paid search this week, as we received confirmation that MIVA is closing down its UK operation following the sale of MIVA media to Adknowlege in March.

When I joined Latitude (then Corporem Global) in 2002, MIVA (then Espotting) was one of the largest paid search providers, delivering over 70% of all PPC traffic to our clients’ campaigns. Amazingly, back in those days, Espotting provided the paid search results for Yahoo!

Espotting was an extremely innovative company, being the first to launch Pay Per Call in the UK and use advertiser logos in ads – something that Google and Microsoft have been experimenting with recently.

Unfortunately the merger with FindWhat spelt the beginning of the end for a company that couldn’t compete with its major rivals. The loss of this major search network is disappointing but inevitable and we may see further consolidation later this year if rumours of a Microsoft powered Yahoo Search reach fruition.