Articles of the Day
Widgets Craze In Full View - The ratio of widget views to actual users is a key metric to consider when evaluating widgets, said speakers at an OMMA panel on Tuesday. Also, what’s the difference between widgets and portable applications, and does it even matter?
Digitas Sees Mobile on Margins, Widgets At Forefront - Because of its present inability to scale, mobile will remain on the margins of Digitas’ media planning strategies, according to its vice president and media director Jordan Bitterman. But he and his peers can’t get enough of widgets.
Exponential To Serve Contextual Ads On Tribal Fusion - Exponential has announced the launch of EchoTopic, a contextual advertising solution that will serve ads onto sites within the Tribal Fusion network according to specific topics — as opposed to keywords.
Radio Newest Competitor In Online Classifieds - It’s official: everyone wants a piece of online classifieds. The latest competitor to throw a hat in the ring is Citadel Interactive and ABC Radio Networks, both divisions of Citadel Broadcasting. All this cross-platform action is more bad news for newspapers.
Microsoft Launches Assault Against Google - Microsoft is taking solid aim at a business outside its core competence: advertising. And it is deliberately facing off against a specialist: Google. Chief combatant Brian McAndrews joined Microsoft last month and knows the Internet ad business well, having run aQuantive, the advertising company that Microsoft acquired for $6 billion last month.
AOL-ValueClick Buyout Rumor Resurfaces - Rumors are swirling that Time Warner Inc.’s AOL LLC business is considering buying ValueClick Inc. to boost its online advertising properties. The company is one of few publicly traded companies in its sector that hasn’t yet been gobbled up by a major technology company. In the past year, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and WPP PLC — among others — have acquired a variety of public and private companies in the space. The company’s units include an affiliate marketing business, which could be of interest to AOL since AOL has shown interest in buying such companies.
Amazon Music Store Takes On Apple iTunes - Discount online retailer Amazon.com jumped into the digital music download business Tuesday by offering 2.3 million songs that can play on any portable device — including the popular Apple iPod. More than 1 million of the tracks are being sold at 89 cents — a dime less than tracks at Apple’s iTunes store.
End Of Online Pay Models - The shift by The New York Times to abandon its subscription Web site may now influence a broad change across the entire newspaper industry. The Times officially walked away from its subscription model last week, deciding it could make more money by making its content free online — including its vast digital archive that users have paid to access in the past.
AOL’s Co-Founder Backs Internet Pay System - AOL co-founder Steve Case’s investment company Revolution LLC has launched an Internet-based payment system which would slash merchants’ costs for accepting credit cards by some 75%. Revolution Money’s first two products will be an online money-transfer service and a credit card with “significantly lower interchange fees” for companies that accept it, Revolution said.
