Business news for Fri, 21 Dec 2007 & with words ads+online. 2 news.

The fact is that for all of the intense research surrounding car purchasing, we never really know where in the "purchase funnel" a consumer is when they hit a car site. They may be just as receptive to sealing the deal on that new Ford Focus when consulting an online recipe. And with auto car inventory in such tight supply, advertisers and ad networks are looking for new places to grab in-market consumers. The vertical ad network Jumpstart is rolling out its BehaviorPATH product that tags and segments the 8 million unique users that come to its collection of auto sites (including CarandDriver.com, Vehix, and CarSoup) and now serves them behaviorally targeted ads on non-auto content they encounter elsewhere.

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday won the right to deliver advertising on Viacom Inc.'s network of Web sites for the next five years, the latest in a series of deals demonstrating the software titan's willingness to spend heavily to establish itself as a major player in online ads.