Articles of the Day
MSN Ad Revenue Increases 20% - MSN’s advertising revenue increased to $462 million last quarter–marking an increase of $77 million, or 20%, from the last three months of 2005, Microsoft reported Thursday. The surge was led largely by growth in display advertising on home pages, portals, channels, email and messaging services.
Brand Marketers: Google Should Open Ad-Serving Doors - As it expands into new ad mediums, including radio, print and TV, Google is no longer enjoying the favorable opinion of many brand advertisers. They feel its approach to ad-serving is actually more limiting than expansive. “If I’ve got a brand campaign and a tenth of the campaign is running through Google, in my mind it takes away the advertising efficiencies,” Jeff Marshall, managing director and vice president of media agency Starcom IP.
The Significance Of Google And AdScape - What does it mean if Google buys the video and online gaming ad-server Adscape? That Google is gearing up for the future. Many gaming analysts believe “World of Warcraft,” with 10 million monthly subscribers worldwide, sets a precedent for the growing world of massively multiplayer online gaming.
Social Media Leads To New SEM Paradigm - Search guru Danny Sullivan writes that search marketers should shift their approach from Google first, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, et al second, to Google first, social media search engines second, and the rest, third. What are social media search engines? Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit. Why do they matter more to publishers than search’s entire second-tier? Because the Web 2.0 blog receives most of its traffic from Google organic, followed by direct URL entries, to referrals from Digg.com, Google direct, BBC (randomly), Net Vibes, StumbleUpon and Reddit. Yahoo was 10th, but its referrals came from MyYahoo, not Yahoo Search.
MSN Endures Flagging Search - Even eBay and Yahoo were able to post nice turnarounds in their Web businesses, and though Microsoft proper also scored better than expected fourth-quarter results (thanks in part to the Xbox 360), its MSN business continues to sputter. The division continues to lose market share in search to Google and was forced to revise its ad sales growth forecast down from 11% to between 3% to 8 %. The company’s software chief responded by saying he’s simply “not happy.”
Wikia Brings Useful Ways To Search Together - Our search behavior will change is something better comes along. The Web 2.0 movement calls for a better kind of search–or at least, a wider variety of searches. Wikia, the search project of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, makes sense. Why not let the community help write the search engine and decide which answers are most relevant?
YouTube, Wikipedia Among World’s Most Influential Brands - Internet brands YouTube and Wikipedia have shot up in the global rankings of the world’s most influential brands, both debuting in the top five this year in the annual survey conducted by Brandchannel.com. The Web site has thrown up controversial results in the past, naming Arabic TV station Al Jazeera as the world’s fifth-most-influential brand in 2004.
Golf Network of Sites Bought By Investor Group In “Multi-Million” Deal - WorldGolf.com, a network of sites focusing on golf information and news, has been bought by an unnamed group of investors. The company, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C, has a network of about 477 sites, and currently receives more than two million unique site visits per month, the company says, and includes such sites as WorldGolf.com, TravelGolf.com, WorldGolfWire.com and Golf Publisher Syndications.
Video Provider Roo Buys MyVideoDaily - White label online video provider Roo Group, which powers video services for MSN, Excite, FT and others, has bought out a small online video sharing site MyVideoDaily. The price: $350K and half a million Roo shares (Roo is traded on OTC board), which by yesterday’s price would be a total of around $1.7 million. Besides MVD’s own site, it operates 18 domains and distributing multiple video software titles, the company said. The site had been a customer of ROO’s for over a year.
Looksmart Sells Off Net Nanny To ContentWatch - Looksmart, the search advertising and content applications player, has sold off its internet filtering technology company NetNanny to content filer ting company ContentWatch. Through this acquisition, ContentWatch will “increase Net Nanny’s functionality and market presence for consumers,” it said in a release.
Local.com Offers To Buy Online Yellow Pages Provider - Local.com, an Irvine, CA-based business directory site, issued is in the process of acquiring soUno Directional Media Solutions, a Tulsa, OK-based provider of online yellow pages advertising to small businesses. Local.com would purchase soUno for $2.25 million in cash plus $6.75 million in Local.com common stock. In addition, certain soUno employees are eligible to earn up to $4.5 million in cash and common stock over the two-year period following the closing as long as the deal yields specific financial objectives.
MumboJumbo Acquires Casual Gaming Studio Ritual; Games Attracting Advertisers - Casual game developer MumboJumbo has acquired games developer Ritual Entertainment, which has now migrated to the casual games market. This acquisition will help make it one of the bigger casual gaming studios in the country. The company sells its games through RealNetworks, Microsoft, Yahoo and Big Fish, online, or offline at retailers. Some more details in the release.
Homassist Changes Its Name, Buys Photo-Sharing Site - Homassist, an Irvine, CA.-based firm specializing in user-generated content, acquired The Family Post, a company that runs a photo sharing website for families. The amount and terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Although it was the one doing the buying, Homassist will be the one to undergo a name change: the company is now known as DigitalPost Interactive. DigitalPost also owns a site called Website for Heroes, which creates websites and interactive applications for military families.
CNET China To Acquire Appliance Review Site - Beijing based IT portal Zol.com.cn (owned by CNET) plans to acquire appliance review website Ea3w.com. The acquisition is expected to be completed this quarter, Pacific Epoch reports. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. In October 2004, CNET Networks acquired ZOL for $15 million and photography website Fengniao for $1 million.
