Yahoo after the bell 6-22-06: Competition and click fraud

Okay, so it wasn't a good day.  Not for the markets, and definitely not for Yahoo, Inc.

There wasn't much news from Yahoo today, but there were some overall concerns.

The first was competition. Competition is fierce in the Internet business with the big guns attacking the market from each angle possible. Just today Google, announced a toolbar partnership with Adobe where the latter would offer Google toolbar with its software, something Yahoo had done a couple of years ago already.

But today's competition concerns didn't come from within the industry, it came from Newspapers that claim to gain ground, especially in the local market.  In fact, readership of newspapers has been "growing enough that their online ad rates are approaching their print rates."

The second concern was click fraud, meaning those who click on their own ads or set programs to do so.  While Google just launched a CPA (Cost per Action) advertising that might be able to combat click fraud, Yahoo is still new to the game of affiliate marketing and isn't as well poised to handle fraudulent clicks.

On the flip side, Yahoo is still considered cheap within its industry and a buy.

Yahoo is a late entrant to the user-generated video service despite running its video service since 2004.  Will Yahoo be able to break into the market?  For now the service is comprehensive, meaning user-submission videos as well as Yahoo's own video property, which makes it into a large library.  This could make a difference.

Yahoo shares lost 38 cents (1.22%) today to close at $30.68.