Articles of the Day
CNN Renews, Extends Google AdSense Partnership - CNN announced that it has renewed its Google AdSense partnership, a multi-year deal that will make Google the exclusive provider of auction-based text ads throughout CNN.com in the U.S. The deal will also open up the extensive inventory on CNN.com to AdWords advertisers, but both companies were mum on the deal’s financial details.
Tribal Fusion’s Dynamic Ads Offer Quick Customization and Targeting - Exponential Interactive’s Tribal Fusion ad network has rolled out Dynamic Ads, allowing advertisers to target users by crafting customized messages from a single creative unit.
IDC: Social Nets’ Revenue Could Reach $1 Billion In ‘07 - PROJECTING THAT SOCIAL NETWORK REVENUES will more than double this year to as much as $1 billion from $400 million in 2006, a new IDC study found nonetheless that, “so far, little advertising can be found” on them. In the study, titled “Social Networking Services in the U.S.–Popular, Yes, But How to Monetize Them?” IDC found that most social network services will employ a mix of business models in the future, including advertising, subscriptions, and ecommerce–with only advertising scaling well enough to make social networks interesting for portals and major media companies.
Buyers Transact at All Retail Channels - The distinction between online and offline retail is eroding, at least in consumers’ minds, according to a Sterling Commerce survey of US adults conducted in June and July of 2007. Sterling found that 55% of consumers thought it was important to be able to complete orders in a store, on the store’s Web site or through a call center, regardless of which channel was used to initially place the order. Nearly two-thirds of consumers also expected to be able to cancel or modify orders through any channel.
Report: Google To Announce Mobile OS - Google’s mobile phone operating system is getting ready for a formal unveiling, possibly next month, according to their sources. The tech blog has christened the Linux-based system the “Gphone OS,” which it says is a long time in coming. Google in 2005 acquired the mobile software company Android, whose former president and CEO Andy Rubin has been spearheading big G’s OS project. Apparently, Rubin’s team is currently shopping the program around to handset makers and carriers, whose various agreements Google needs to establish distribution. Engadget expects an OS announcement with distribution partners to come sometime after Labor Day.
An Online Video Conundrum (Still) - There may be some 135.5 million Americans watching online video, but no one is cashing in on the phenomenon. Even with 89 percent growth this year, eMarketer predicts that online video spending will represent just 3.6 percent of the Internet ad pie, or $775 million. By 2011, the Web research firm expects the market to expand to $4.3 billion, but that would still only be around 10 percent of the greater market. Web video has a long way to go before it rivals search marketing, much less the huge numbers racked up by television advertising. Judging by its numbers, eMarketer doesn’t expect online video and online TV usage to overtake digital cable anytime soon.
Hulu Scoop: NBCU/News Corp. “Online Venture Named - The much-hyped online joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal that will stream full episodes of hit series such as “The Simpsons” and “My Name is Earl” finally has a name: Hulu.com. An invitation to get on the beta waiting list went live today. “Why Hulu?” wrote the venture’s CEO Jason Kilar on the site.
Google Shifts Into Local Gear With BMW ConnectedDrive - Google’s relationship with luxe auto maker BMW just got deeper, as the search giant will now serve info from Google Maps directly into cars equipped with the BMW ConnectedDrive driver information and comfort system. With a feature called In-Car Google Local Search, BMW ConnectedDrive model owners can search for and navigate to any Google Maps-listed business, and the service even has click-to-call functionality.
Mary Meeker’s YouTube Math - From Silicon Alley Insider: Morgan Stanley’s Internet analyst Mary Meeker was a good deal more optimistic than we and most others about the revenue impact of YouTube’s new overlay ads. Specifically, Mary concluded that the overlays could immediately add $4.8 billion of gross revenue and $720 million of net revenue to Google’s annual results. This compared to the tiny $12 million to $360 million of gross revenue that we projected. Well, we were baffled at how Mary could be so amazingly bullish, so, on a tip from a reader, we checked her numbers. And, Mary, it may be time to scream at yet another research assistant. Why? Because, in advertising lingo, “CPM” means “Cost Per Thousand” not “Cost Per One.” When Mary updates her model to divide by 1,000, therefore, we expect she will wish to revise her conclusions.
