The new features will allow advertisers to schedule the ads to show on weekends or weekdays only, or on other set days the advertiser specifies.

YouTube continues to dominate the Internet video search market, according to a new report.

Hitwise, the traffic intelligence firm, recently reported that as of May 20, nearly 43 percent of all video searching was done through YouTube.

The fast-growing social networking site, which has almost 80 million registered users, is seen as a powerful ally for search engines seeking new online audiences.

The discussions involve allowing one of the search giants to supply internet searches on MySpace pages, along with advertisements tied to results, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Microsoft is also reportedly conducting talks, but one source said MySpace was more likely to partner Google if it decided to form an alliance.

The search market is dominated by Google, which in April increased its share of US searches to 43.1 per cent, according to comScore Networks.

Microsoft's share fell slightly to 12.9 per cent.

MySpace, purchased by News for $US580 million (about $750 million) last year, is moving to localise its content for Australian audiences. Talks are under way with Australian record company executives to enable new music to be previewed on the site.

About 800,000 Australians are already registered to use the US site, a figure that is increasing by between 5000 and 6000 people a day.

A MySpace spokeswoman declined to comment on any negotiations.

News chief operating officer Peter Chernin said this month that work was well under way towards growing revenues from the company's online acquisitions such as MySpace.

He said in March that advertising on the MySpace home page alone was set to rise to $750,000 per day.

Because of their fast growth, social networking sites have the potential to rival the power of traditional online portals and search engines.

But US internet commentator Jeff Cole, the head of the Centre for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California, said in Sydney this week that News could lose users as it tried to "monetise" MySpace.

"People don't want government influence and they don't want corporate influence," he said. "You have to walk a very fine line with (online) communities."

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