Apparently the rumors from yesterday were, well, a little on the money. Yahoo! and eBay this morning announced a "web advertising alliance." That's a great phrase by the way. But let me re-phrase nonetheless: Yahoo! and eBay announce a strategic, web-based partnership to thwart Google's advances. That probably doesn't cut it with the PR people.

Yahoo and eBay will collaborate on web advertising directly on eBay's site, as Yahoo! will provide all the ads itself. Additionally, Yahoo! will also provide all the sponsored search text ads for complementary products on eBay auctions. And the bigger juggernaut of this announcement -- eBay's PayPal division will become the de-facto payment standard for all Yahoo!'s services, including services for its direct consumers, publishers and merchants.

Um, okay. All this makes for some nice press release-type material, but is it material? Having PayPal as the payment option for Yahoo! services just contributes more cash to eBay's coffers.

Having Yahoo! provide sponsored ads alongside eBay auctions is somewhat questionable. Do we even know from eBay how effective these are? What will eBay shoppers and sellers think of them? Sure, Google has made an entire business of this -- but in another realm, Internet search. The online auction marketplace could be different altogether.

This announcement sounds more like horn-blowing that anything of real significance to me. Ok, maybe it's a semi-story -- I'll give it that. But, Amey's post from yesterday holds true for this announcement -- I just don't think there is substance here.