Articles of the Day
Yahoo strikes exclusive ad deal with Bebo - Yahoo! is striking an exclusive deal with Bebo to sell display and video ads on the social network’s UK and Ireland sites, which boast 11.6m members. Financial details were not disclosed. The multi-year deal is a coup for Yahoo!, which had not yet signed a deal with a major social network, unlike Google and Microsoft which already have deals with MySpace and Facebook respectively.
Largest online advertiser in US spends USD51m in Aug - Low Rate Source, which provides online mortgage quotes, was the top online advertiser in the US in Aug, spending more than USD51m with over 25bn of its ads rendered for viewing according to a recent survey by Nielsen//NetRatings of the top 10 online advertisers in the US. The firm was followed by comparison shopping site NexTag, spending almost USD50m with 23.6bn ads rendered for viewing and in third place credit report agency Experian, with an almost USD41m ad spend for 14.9bn rendered ads. InterActive Corp which owns Ask.com, TicketMaster and Lending Tree spent USD35.5m with 8.8bn ads rendered for viewing.
Online Display Ads Grew 17.7% to $5.52B For First Half: TNS - The financial services category led the way as overall Internet display advertising registered a 17.7% year-over-year increase to $5.52 billion for the first six months, TNS Media Intelligence reported Tuesday.
Ask.com And You Shall Receive: Embedded, Customizable Maps - Ask City has a new feature that allows users to embed an interactive map onto their Web site or blog — complete with local business information and driving directions. Users can customize the map with a number of drawing tools, then search inside (or outside of) the chosen area. Ask’s local, city-focused map tool also features information on specific attractions, like a movie theater’s showtimes. Google added the embed option to its maps service this summer — and Ask City’s move illustrates how the race for innovation in the local search and mapping space is heating up.
Revenue Science Finds BT Ads 22% More Effective - A new Revenue Science study conducted by JupiterResearch found that for online shoppers, behaviorally targeted (BT) ads outperformed contextual ads–in some cases by up to 22%.
Online Display Ads Grew 17.7% to $5.52B For First Half: TNS - The financial services category led the way as overall Internet display advertising registered a 17.7% year-over-year increase to $5.52 billion for the first six months, TNS Media Intelligence reported Tuesday.
eMarketer: Pharma Industry Failing at Web 2.0 - Despite accounting for an ever-increasing share of online ad spending, the pharmaceutical industry is still failing to embrace the Web 2.0 strategies that could help it better engage consumers looking for health care assistance, according to eMarketer research.
Yahoo Opens Up - Yahoo is taking a cue from Facebook’s playbook, encouraging outside developers to create new software programs that would make Yahoo’s pages “stickier.” The company has already released the source code for Yahoo Mail and aims let users embed non-Yahoo products and services into their My Yahoo homepages. The company hopes that developers’ programs, also called widgets, will entice users to hang around Yahoo’s pages longer.
ABC In Online Video Distribution Talks - The networks, confused about what to do with their Web distribution strategy, are trying to make friends with the Web’s major audience holders. News. Corp.’s Fox and GE’s NBC partnered with MSN, Yahoo, News Corp.’s own MySpace and others to create a digital distribution venture called Hulu. CBS Corp. has also forged distribution deals with many of the same players for its CBS Interactive Audience Network, and ABC is now looking to do something in the same vein.
CBS Adds Affiliates To Audience Network - CBS Corp. is adding its local TV and radio station Web sites to its Web distribution venture, CBS Interactive Audience Network, which will place its programming on the Web sites of some 29 CBS owned and operated affiliates, 144 CBS Radio Web sites and 183 additional sites owned by CBS affiliates across the U.S. The move will assuage the network’s nervous local affiliates, which feared they would be left behind as CBS and others move forward into new Web ventures.
Video Games Expand Audience - For the $13 billion-and-expanding video game industry, it’s all about newbies this Christmas. Professionals in the 30-year-old-plus industry are counting on a sizable chunk of sales coming from a whole new audience this holiday season, as video games become more mainstream. Most of these so-called “noobs” will be casual gamers crossing over to console gaming. In a way, video game makers owe their expected growth to the proliferation of casual games on the Web.
