There was more discussion concerning the future of the search space and how to make sense of all the recent acquisition activity.  Jordan Rohan of RBC Capital Markets was the keynote speaker for the Tuesday session and provided a good look into the search marketplace from an investment perspective.  I thought he did a tremendous job summarizing the dynamic marketplace as it sits today.  Here are the highlights from his presentation:

• There is still a major gap for Yahoo! post Panama launch in comparison to Google.  Yahoo! is continuing to fight this uphill battle; however, there are certain areas where Yahoo! has opportunity and glimpses of success. 
• The overall feel from the launch of the Panama platform was a “mild success” as their revenues remain flat for the quarter.
• Yahoo! is competitive with Google when you look at the competition with big brands.  In the smaller company marketplace, Google is leaps and bounds ahead.  This came from a study performed in conjunction with RBC/Search Ignite.
• The effect of Google’s mid-February change had a bigger impact on the marketplace than the launch of Panama.
• The talk of the MSN/Yahoo deal was confirmed to be only a rumor.  Rohan believes that there isn’t enough synergy within each of the corporate cultures to make the deal a fit for either company.  He did allude to a possible expansion of the Yahoo! / eBay partnership.    
• Google is continuing to reshape all things media with faster, fresher and the more relevant content in different areas.  This is evident when you look at the product suite:  Google Audio, Google Print, YouTube (Google Video), Google Checkout, etc.   Watch for them to continue this trend with continuation of acquisitions in the remainder of the year (some big and many small acquisitions to come).
• GoogleClick, as Rohan referred to the DoubleClick/Google deal, accelerated Google into the display market.  The acquisition also provides Google with potential data to use for refining targeting capabilities, more through technology than actual user data.  The Performics platform opens a wider net into the affiliate channel.  This play provides Google with a stronger international presence which is one of the company’s biggest challenges.  Finally, ad serving is just good, profitable business.
• He specifically picked out Blue Lithium as a best in class ad network which everyone should look to for big things in the future. 
• The last point made by Rohan was to expect a “big shakeout” in the lead generation marketplace as well as an FTC crackdown of the use of ‘Free’ in marketing messages.

This was another good day of search discussion.  The mood and flavor of the conference is definitely pointed toward ‘What is the next big evolution?’  There are many marketers who are waiting for the right opportunity to really dive deep into this tactic; however, there still seems to be some hesitance to adopt to some of the emerging tactics before they hit mass appeal and adoption.

For more information about the conference, check out the official conference blog.

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