Articles of the Day
Brightcove Founder Lays Out Media Vision For A New Video World - Brightcove founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire yesterday challenged media people to prepare for a new form of planning in a world of distributed content where video and advertising travel as far as the viewer wants them to go. Delivering the keynote at Media magazine’s Outfront conference, he also proposed a new online ad format more relevant to the coming wave of longer-form video.
Online Banking and Bill Payment Spur Loyalty - For the first time ever, online bill payments surpassed paper checks among Internet households, according to a CheckFree report titled “The 2007 Consumer Bill Payment Survey.” The report, conducted with The Marketing Workshop and Harris Interactive, found that 74% of all US Internet households pay at least one bill online. Also, 39% of total bill payment volume among US Internet households in January 2007 was online, up 4% over December 2005. Mailed check volume fell 4%, to just 34% of the total bill payment volume.
Social Networking Increases Internet Time - Social networking increases Internet usage, according to a Marketing Evolution study commissioned by MySpace called “Never Ending Friending.” A copy of the study provided to eMarketer reveals that nearly a third of social network users ages 14-40 have increased their Internet usage, while 8% decreased usage. Usage remained the same for the rest of those surveyed.
Google Is Most-Visited Web Publisher - Google continues to blow by its main competitors in just about every area in which they compete. ComScore Inc. on Wednesday said the Web giant had surpassed Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. as the Web’s most-visited site, attracting 528 million visitors in March, squeaking by No. 2 Microsoft, with 527 million. Yahoo, the leader in February, was third with 476.3 million.
YouTube Goes With Pre- And Post Rolls - So the rumors are true: YouTube, which has been frantically searching for a way to court big advertisers and is set to roll out a series of new products for advertisers this summer, which are likely to include pre-, post- and mid-roll video spots. Suzie Reider, YouTube’s head of advertising, said, “We’re looking at executions like a very quick little intro preceding a video, then the video, then a commercial execution on the backside of the content.”
Strong Quarter For Microsoft Belies Mixed Online Results - It was the usual story in the online ad department for Microsoft Corp. during the first three months of the year: Modest growth compared to the company’s core software business. Revenue from Online Services, which includes Live Search, Web portal MSN, and its ad management system, adCenter, grew 11% from a year ago, while overall revenue growth was nearly triple that, at 32%. The online division’s increases came at the expense of a $200 million operating loss–considerably higher than last year’s loss of $24 million. This was due to increased investment in the division.
TG Publishing Acquired by BestofMedia - TG Publishing, a provider of a Web site for PC hardware reviews and news, was acquired by BestofMedia (Puteaux, France) for an undisclosed amount. The company was previously backed by BMP.
PayPerPost Expands; Buys Zookoda Blog Broadcaster - PayPerPost, the controversial firm paying bloggers to write about companies, has acquired Zookoda, a blog broadcasting service provider focused on helping bloggers get better visibility. Zookoda keeps readers updated via email whenever their favorite bloggers issue a new post. Over 2.3 million people opt in to blog newsletters powered by Zookoda technology, according to the company.
Responsys Acquires Loyalty Matrix - Responsys Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of on-demand email and marketing automation solutions, has acquired Loyalty Matrix, a San Francisco-based provider of predictive analytics and contact optimization solutions. No financial terms were disclosed.
Autonomy Exercises Option To Buy Blinkx; Merges With Its Consumer Division; Will IPO It In London - This is among the first such IPOs in the still-nascent online video search space, and almost solves the mystery of the weirdly secretive relationship between the data/information search company Autonomy and video search consumer site Blinkx. Also, keep in mind that Blinkx was on the block for a while two years ago, but a deal never materialized.
TheStreet.com Acquires Remaining Stake In Financial Social Net Stockpickr - That was quick: As TheStreet.com prepares to release its quarterly earnings results Thursday, it has acquired the remaining 50.1 percent stake in social net/financial advice site Stockpickr that it did not already own. Terms of the deal were not revealed. At the start of the year, TheStreet.com made its initial purchase in part of Stockpickr, which operates an online forum where people can trade techniques on how “the rich get richer,” as well as exchange investment strategies.
NBCU Acquires RSS Email Start-Up Rmail - This just in … a smallish but interesting acquisition by NBCU, the new owner of Rmail. Randy Charles Morin, founder of the RSS email start-up, announced the sale late night Wednesday on the company blog: “What does that mean to Rmail users? It means a lot of new stuff is coming, as we finally have the team to make this joyride a rollercoaster.” The most recent numbers on the site boast of 50,000 plus users, 100,000 subscriptions and over 50,000 emails per day.
