Articles of the Day
Google’s Feedburner Grab Would Impact Personalized Search, Analytics - Google’s rumored acquisition of Feedburner for $100 million seems small compared to the recent spate of billion-dollar ad network deals. But insiders say it was only a matter of time before the Web’s predominant RSS supplier would be snatched up by one of the “big three.”
AOL’s Falco Outlines Strategy To Run Fewer Ads - As part of a strategic “decluttering,” AOL is reducing the number of ads it features and expects to create a more inviting environment for both consumers and advertisers — lifting revenues as a result, CEO Randy Falco told the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference yesterday.
Diller: Microsoft/Yahoo Would Be Good for Ask.com - IAC Chairman and CEO Barry Diller wouldn’t make any predictions about a possible Microsoft buy of Yahoo, but said such a transaction would be good for IAC’s Ask.com, which still gets its ads from Google under a deal that expires at the end of this year.
Disney Internet Sees Future Growth From Content - The Walt Disney Internet Group will bring in $1.5 billion in revenue this year, and is expecting 30% annual growth rates in the areas of media, services and mobile, according to president Steven Wadsworth
Google’s Tower of Babel - At yesterday’s Goldman Sachs Internet Conference, Google execs said the company accepts that some projects will never have an associated revenue stream. Case in point: Google Translate.
CBS Audience Network Adds 13 Community, Social Partners - Continuing to spread its online content around the Web, the CBS Audience Network has added 13 partners in the social- and community-network realms. The agreements are designed to empower the embedding of clips from CBS shows into user profiles, Web sites, blogs, wikis, widgets and community pages.
Kelsey Group Sees Online Video As Local Ad Paradigm - Online video’s popularity with consumers is driving the development of cost-effective video advertising options for local and small business advertisers, according to a new report from The Kelsey Group.
The Broadcast Media Internet Audience - An in-depth look at the Internet audience for broadcast media during the last week in April, 2007, including destinations, demographics, advertisers, ad sizes and delivery methodology.
More Innovation From Google News - Newspaper companies love to hate Google’s article aggregation and search site Google News. On the one hand, the free service drives traffic to their sites. On the other, Google News displays articles from just about every news outlet, so a newspaper company’s work can easily get lost in the glut of information. Also, they have no control over how the news service ranks stories.
CNN To Make Video Service Free - CNN is ditching the idea of charging a subscription fee for its CNN Pipeline video news service, which will now be absorbed into a newly designed Internet package. Launched in late 2005, the $25-per-year service (which was later $2.95 per month and $.99 per day), provides four streams of video with footage of breaking news. The international news service doesn’t say how many subscribers Pipeline has, but on its best day–the fifth anniversary of 9/11–Pipeline pulled in 1.2 million viewers, a day when Pipeline was free.
MTV Adds More Virtual Networks - As promised, MTV Networks is developing several more virtual worlds as part of its bold strategy to capitalize on its more popular brands. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference in Las Vegas, MTVN Global Digital Media President Mika Salmi pointed to the company’s more than 230 microsites containing TV, games and other forms of content, saying it would add more virtual worlds for its shows and different music genres.
Vivendi Plans Multimedia Website To Sell Content - Vivendi plans to launch a multimedia website which will offer music, video, film and games content both from Vivendi and partners, reports Forbes quoting French daily Les Echos. It’s described as an effort to compete with social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace, but will be a paid service.
Disney’s Digital Revenues To Cross $1.5 Billion This Year - Though what it counts as digital is a broad spectrum, hence that big figure: includes online advertising revenue from sites like ESPN.com and ABC.com, sales from mobile services, e-commerce revenue derived from TV show and movie downloads on Apple iTunes and reservations for Disney theme parks that were booked online. In fact, about half of the total digital revenue should come from travel bookings, reports MediaBiz blog on CNNMoney.
Linden Lab Promises To Enhance Second Life With WindWard Mark Graphics Buyout - Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, has acquired graphics technology from Windward Mark Interactive. Specifically, Linden Lab will own two WindWard Mark products: 3D graphics technology WindLight and Nimble, a realistic 3D cloud simulator. The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, also gives Linden Lab the 3D associated intellectual property and interests.
Electronic Arts To Invest $167 Million in Chinese Online Game Firm The9; Will Own 15 Percent - The rumors to this effect have been swirling for the last couple of months, and the deal is finally completed: Electronic Arts plans to make about $167 million equity investment in The9…upon closing, EA will own about 15 percent of the Chinese online-game operator. As part of the investment, EA will grant exclusive publishing rights to The9 for its EA Sports FIFA Online product in mainland China. Details in release.
Travel Channel Buys World Hum To Augment Website - The Travel Channel has acquired online tourism magazine World Hum. The Cox Communications-owned cable channel plans to integrate World Hum’s content into its TravelChannel.com site. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
$100 Million Payday For Feedburner - Rumors about Google acquiring RSS management company Feedburner from last week, started by ex-TechCrunch UK editor Sam Sethi, are accurate and are now confirmed according to a source close to the deal. Feedburner is in the closing stages of being acquired by Google for around $100 million. The deal is all cash and mostly upfront, according to our source, although the founders will be locked in for a couple of years. The information we have is that the deal is now under a binding term sheet and will close in 2-3 weeks, and there is nothing that can really derail it at this point.
Axel Springer, PubliGroupe Acquire Online Marketing Firm Zanox.de For $289 Million Cash Plus - Axel Springer AG and PubliGroupe AG have agreed to a joint acquisition of Berlin-based online marketing/ad tech firm Zanox.de AG for EUR214.9 million ($289 Million) plus an earn out. (via VentureBeat.) Axel Springer (Berlin) is covering 60 percent of the cost with PubliGroupe (Lausanne) paying 40 percent. The company will be split in two on a geographic basis with each buyer holding a majority interest in one and a minority interest in the other. Founders Thomas Hessler (CEO), Jens Hewald (CTO) and Heiko Rauch (COO/CFO) will run the two companies.
Tribal Fusion Parent Buys Techbargains.com - Emeryville, Calif.-based Exponential has acquired Techbargains.com, and intends to offer the site’s consumer technology product deals through its online advertising network Tribal Fusion.
