Articles of the Day
Internet Ad Spending Up 16.7%; Financial Services Leads - First-quarter Internet display ad spending hit $2.7 billion for the first quarter, a 16.7% increase over 2006, TNS Media Intelligence reports. The financial services category led the way at $488.7 million, up 51.2% year-over-year. IAC/InterActive Corp., meanwhile, was the leading online advertiser.
Joost’s Volpi Touts ‘Targetability’ - Web TV startup Joost handed the reins to Michelangelo Volpi on Tuesday, naming the seasoned Cisco executive as its CEO. He explained the power of Joost in one word: targetability. “Our biggest asset is targetability, and our belief is that TV advertisers want a high degree of targetability,” he said. “From an advertiser perspective, we know exactly who’s watching what content.”
Google Streams Roll On In comScore’s Video Rankings - Nearly a third of U.S. Internet users streamed video through YouTube and other Google sites in March, according to the latest comScore Video Metrix rankings. The Google sites accounted for 57.4 million unique “streamers,” or 32.3% of all Web users. YouTube by itself had 53.5 million unique streamers.
Brand Marketers Use Direct Methods - Brand and mass marketers are now using direct techniques in their campaigns, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s “The Integration of DM and Brand” report. More than half (56%) of respondents to the DMA survey used one or more direct marketing channels in conjunction with their brand awareness advertising. Specifically, 50% used Web marketing with direct response mechanisms included, 48% used trackable offers and 45% used call-to-action on Web pages.
Net Ad Rev Soars To $5 Billion In 1Q - The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached a new record of $4.9 billion for the first quarter of 2007. The 2007 first-quarter revenues represent a 26% increase over 1Q 2006 at $3.8 billion and a 2% increase over the fourth quarter of 2006 at $4.8 billion.
Friendster Thrives Overseas - The talk in the Web industry these days is about Facebook, MySpace, Second Life and the virtual worlds catering to kids. Many may be wondering what happened to Friendster, the original Web 2.0 social network? It just moved to Asia (sort of). Incidentally, business is good, too-very good.Friendster is still live in the U.S., but nobody over here is taking much notice (including the company), because some 70% of the social network’s traffic now comes from Southeast Asia. It’s the most popular Web site in the Philippines and the second most popular site in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Virtual Worlds: The Anti-MySpace - Virtual worlds are hot. The press can’t stop talking about their potential as acquisition targets, which surely means–if the myriad “unnamed sources” that likely come from VC firms and acquisition-happy Web companies are to be believed–that some action is in the offing.
Google On More PCs Than Windows XP - Various statistics were hurled at reporters by Google CTO Michael Jones on Tuesday at an industry conference. The most eye-opening was the revelation that Google Earth has drawn more installations than Microsoft’s Windows XP. “That attracts attention,” Jones said, adding that the program has drawn praised from French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. President George Bush. Never mind the contention that Google Earth is a potentially useful tool for terrorists, too.
The Best Videos, Delivered Daily to Your Inbox - Are you tired of the glut of bad online video out there? Michael Caruso, the former editor of Men’s Journal, believes he has the answer: He’ll find the good stuff for you. His new project, called The Daily Tube, plans to send its editorial staff out to online video sites across the Web to bring back a list of the day’s best videos for its users, organized by category.
Users Bullish On Video Clips - Online video users tend to watch clips fairly frequently, with the vast majority viewing Web videos at least once a month, according to a new report by the Online Publishers Association. Forty-four percent of 1,422 U.S. online video users surveyed by the OPA reported that they watch clips at least weekly while 73% do so at least once a month. What do they watch? News and humor are among the most popular content, with 14% of online video users reporting that they view news clips daily, while 45% say they view such at least weekly. Nine percent say they watch humor videos daily, while 39% watch comic clips at least once a week.
