Articles of the Day
Price Is Key to Digital Music Growth - Two new digital developments promise relief for the music industry, which has been fighting declining CD sales since the turn of the millennium. For one, EMI announced that it will eliminate restrictive digital rights management (DRM) technology from the bulk of its catalog (for a price). The second is Sprint-Nextel’s announcement of a 99-cent-per-track over-the-air (OTA) mobile music service in the US. Consumers favor keeping prices at the dollar-per-track level that Apple established when it rolled out its iTunes Music Store four years ago. When Ipsos Public Affairs asked what consumers thought of the price, more than 70% of respondents rated it as either “fair” or a “bargain.”
Going For Scale, AOL Says ‘Amplify Your Buy,’ Unveils Five Original Web Programs - Positioning itself as a champion of scale, interactive engagement and high quality content, AOL on Tuesday unveiled five original programs for the Web that build on its experience with “Gold Rush” — the interactive/TV series it partnered on with uber-producer Mark Burnett last year. Media buyers saw promise in some of them.
Panama-Related Revenue Gains Not Yet In For Yahoo - Yahoo’s first-quarter profit and sales trailed analysts’ estimates after Panama failed to generate the revenue gain some had anticipated. But CEO Terry Semel and CFO Sue Decker predicted a strong second-quarter, which will include a new consumer advertising push. Bright spots are the company’s mobile, social and partnering efforts.
Google Adds Preferred Cost Bidding To AdWords - Google released preferred cost bidding for AdWords, a new option allowing advertisers to specify the average price they would like to pay per click as opposed to a maximum bid. It’s geared to advertisers who lack the time or resources to micromanage their maximum bids.
24/7 Real Media Goes Straight At The Conflict Issue, Targeting DoubleClick Clients - Ad network 24/7 Real Media wasted no time in capitalizing on the opportunity presented by Google’s announcement that it acquired rival DoubleClick. It launched an online lead generation campaign targeting DoubleClick customers by getting directly at their fears.
Future of Advertising? It’s All About Branded Products, Services - An ARF panel on ad agencies of the future addressed ads more than agencies. Burger King’s breakthrough online Subservient Chicken was entertaining and very viral, but the future lies in campaigns that offer value and branded products and services, digital agency chiefs said.
Dow Jones Online Revenues Up 30% - Helping to offset a 1.8% decline in ad revenue at the print Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Online saw revenue rise a robust 30% year-over-year, Dow Jones reported during its earnings call Tuesday.
NBC U., Time Warner Back New, ‘Build Your Own,’ Ad Serving Network - On the heels of Google’s deal to acquire online ad serving giant DoubleClick, a group of investors including of two of the largest traditional media companies - NBC Universal and Time Warner - are backing a new, “breakthrough” ad serving technology. Time Warner Ventures and GE’s NBC Universal and GE Media, Communications and Entertainment units were part of a $19 million round of early stage funding for Adify, which has developed what it calls a “Build Your Own Network” approach to ad serving, which is aimed at traditional media companies as well as endemic online marketers.
NielsenConnect Unveils Operation At ARF - A few months after announcing the formation of NielsenConnect, a new service to measure multimedia exposure, the company gave a peek at the operation. The service draws on proprietary measurements of TV, Web, print and outdoor. And, by mixing customized research programs connected to media, helps expose and clarify consumer behavior.
IAC Eyes African American Market for Social Networking - IAC/InterActive Corp. on Wednesday said it plans to launch a new community site aimed at African Americans, coinciding with a larger social networking movement away from the mass chaos of MySpace toward better-targeted, smaller communities. The unnamed site won’t launch until next January, but it will feature news, entertainment, advice and local business information, in addition to integrating several of IAC’s 60-plus Internet brands, including Ticketmaster, dating site Match.com and the search engine Ask.com.
Semel Welcomes GoogleClick Competition - Poor first-quarter results and speculation over his future had Yahoo CEO Terry Semel firing shots at rival Google over its pending acquisition of DoubleClick. He said the search giant could see an advertiser exodus from DoubleClick as publishers become weary of partnering with a company it competes with for eyeballs and advertising dollars. He added that DoubleClick’s publisher-agnostic approach was one of its most compelling attributes that would be lost after becoming part of Google.
Googlifying The World Of Media Planning And Buying - Over the last few days there’s been a lot of buzz generated (again) by Google deciding to make a move and purchase DoubleClick. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: The agency model as it currently exists is doomed. What Google is doing, though not so silently, is beginning to close the casket door, but it’s not closed yet and there are still a number of things that need to happen. I predict the current agency model of standard media planning and buying and creative development has about 10 years left in it.
