MySpace sells small businesses on self-service ads

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The latest push by News Corp's MySpace to bring in more advertising dollars relies on some unusual ingredients -- like Bacon Salt.

The salt that claims to make everything taste like bacon is one of the model customers of MyAds, the online social network's do-it-yourself ad service for small businesses.

MyAds goes live in a public test, or "beta" version on Monday, after about 3,400 customers tested it during the past three months. The service is designed for advertisers who want to get their ads in front of MySpace's 76 million U.S. users, but do not have the budget to pursue traditional campaigns.

"If I'm a small business, I can't afford to hire an ad agency to do my creative. I can't afford to hire a graphic designer. I can't afford to hire a media buyer," MySpace Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe told Reuters in an interview.

DeWolfe declined to say how much revenue MySpace wants to get from the program, but said that it will be a "significant contribution to the overall revenue stream."

"The amount of money that small business spends on advertising is billions of dollars," DeWolfe said, adding that there is a pool of 20 million potential advertisers who could take advantage of MyAds.

Until now, businesses that wanted to advertise on MySpace would go through sales representatives, but that was something more geared toward companies with budgets that individuals and smaller operators could not afford. The minimum MyAds charge is $25 -- and goes up to $10,000.