Washington — Microsoft on Thursday pulled the plug on adCenter Analytics service, even before it exited the beta at the end of the year, and it seems that the company does not plan to replace it. Testers received a letter from Microsoft on March 12 to informing them that it was discontinuing the analytics test.
Technically, it has already been closed, but existing users will be able to access their accounts through December 31, 2009.
In a fresh posting on Microsoft’s adCenter Analytics blog, Microsoft notified testers that the analytics product was being discontinued. Testers have until December 31, 2009, to copy their historical data. From the blog post:
“Please note that all hosted services, data collection, and technical support will end at that time. If you would like to save your historical data, please use the export feature to download your reports before December 31, 2009.”
Email support will last until this date as well. Mel Carson at the adCenter Blog offers the following message to users:
Our team would like to sincerely thank you for your participation and your invaluable contributions to the program. Our objectives at the outset were to serve the needs of small and midsize self-service customers, as well as evolve the Microsoft strategy to address the Web analytics space.
The insights you have contributed through your feedback and your use of the tool have served an invaluable purpose in shaping Microsoft’s future in this space. You have helped us work towards making an informed decision about building a general Web analytics solution, and despite the end of life plan, the beta was very much a success. It helped us to confidently determine that we can be of most value to advertisers and publishers by offering a tailored solution that meets more specialized needs.
adCenter Analytics has been in beta ever since Microsoft acquired it in 2006, and is based on Web analytics tools for online marketers and publishers developed by DeepMatrix.
Carson did not expressly stated whether Microsoft is working on a similar offering to replace it, and Microsoft declined to clarify that.
“At this time, we do not have an “off the shelf” service to replace adCenter analytics. We are always seeking out new ways to create and develop effective, relevant and cost-effective solutions to enable advertisers to better engage with their customers and to help publishers gain greater value from their inventory. We will continue to apply the learnings from the adCenter Analytics beta in our planning going forward.”
“At this time we suggest that you use the coming months to evaluate your Web analytics needs and leverage that information to conduct a search for an alternative Web analytics solution,” the adCenter team wrote.
A Microsoft employee in the Advertising Platform group who has worked in adCenter Analytics expressed that a similar standalone product would not be forthcoming. “This announcement in an indication of a conclusion that we have come to that, for us, providing analytics in the form of a standalone tool like ACA does not present the best value or utility for our customers,” Ian Thomas, director of yield business intelligence product management, wrote on his personal blog. “Of course, it is not my place to be making ad hoc pronouncements about our analytics product strategy, especially not at a moment like this; so I have probably said enough already,” he cautioned.
Microsoft has offered a comprehensive list of comparative web analytics solutions in addition to news that the beta would close.
We hope you will continue to read posts on the adCenter Analytics Blog which will be renamed “Insights & Analysis” in the coming weeks. The blog will remain centered on research and best practice, helping online marketers navigate to better ROI and more efficient marketing optimization.
Companies Offering Web Analytics Solutions -– UPDATED
We have collected the following list to guide and inform, and we recognize that the list may not be complete. However, if a vendor is overlooked from this list, please let us know by posting a comment. Furthermore, please note that that we are not approving any of these vendors by providing this list.
Nevertheless, there was no reason given for Microsoft’s decision to discontinue Gatineau, which started out as a standalone analytics program and was later transformed into the adCenter platform. And now, there is no clear indication as to what Microsoft is planning next in the ad-analytics space — beyond some kind of “tailored solution that meets more specialized needs” of advertisers and publishers.