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Telcos must invest in web 2.0 firms, says KPN exec - Telcos must strike deals and partnerships with web 2.0 companies, and run them much in the same way as investment companies would, says Stan Miller, head of KPN International. “We must partner with web 2.0 companies because they have skills that we don’t have,” Miller told StrategyEye, at the Telecom Finance conference in London. “Typically we should take a small stake in the company” and “maybe one of these will become a Google.”

DirectoryM Relaunches Local Ad Platform After Company Buyback - Less than a year after an employee buyback, DirectoryM is relaunching its ad platform, bridging the gap between local businesses, news and radio outlets, and content publishers like the New York Times, and AutoByTel.

Yahoo! in talks with majors over music download store - Rumour - Yahoo! is holding early stage talks with major record labels about the creation of a DRM-free, MP3 download store, according to reports by the AP. The news service cites “two record company executives familiar with the talks,” who claim confidential, preliminary discussions were held last month. Details are reportedly not finalised, and is not clear whether downloads will be offered free on an ad-supported basis or as part of a regular paid-for model.

Record Audiences For Newspapers Online - While their print editions continued to slide, newspapers enjoyed an online audience boom in 2007, according to the Newspaper Association of America, which says the total unique audience for newspaper Web sites increased 9% in the fourth quarter to an average 62.8 million per month, compared to the same period in 2006, The figure from October, when 63.2 million people visited a newspaper Web site, is an all-time record.

Hulu Discusses Beta Progress, Sets March Launch Date - Despite being an invite-only phenomenon, the joint online video venture from News Corporation and NBC Universal has “several hundred thousand users,” according to CTO Eric Feng. These users have submitted “tens of thousands” of feedback messages, which helped developers tweak the user interface (Hendrickson says the search engine is much better, for example). Nearly 85 percent of the site’s content is viewed at least once per day.

Despite Ad Downturn, Web Will be Safe - Traditionally, a recession really hurts the advertising industry because marketers scale back spending when the economy slows. Advertising execs Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis Groupe, and Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, two of the largest ad holding firms, agree that clients will eventually scale back their budgets, but not until 2009. This is partly due to three major global events in 2008: America’s presidential election, the Olympics in Beijing and soccer’s European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Levy says the big-ticket events could add as much as 1 percent growth to global ad spending, off-setting any economic weakness this year.

Mainstream portal, IMDb, buys indie distributor, Withoutabox - The Amazon-owned online film site, the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), is acquiring online independent film distributor, Withoutabox, for an undisclosed sum. The deal, which allows the independent to continue to operate as a standalone operation, is a good one for the non-mainstream, audio-visual, production industry, providing it with a combined online distribution and intelligence ‘hotspot’.

Yahoo! to buy music app maker, FoxyTunes - Rumour - Yahoo! is looking to buy FoxyTunes, the maker of a web browser music plug-in, according to rumours on technology blog, TechCrunch. The site claims that rumours of the deal are circulating in Silicon Valley, but cites no individual source. It is not yet known how much the deal would be worth, but the acquisition would fit with recent Yahoo! music developments.

WPP’s Sorrell Makes A New Run, Bids To Acquire Canada’s Nurun - Acquisitive WPP chief Martin Sorrell is on the prowl again, and this time he’s making a play for Nurun Inc., one of Canada’s leading online ad services companies. Sorrell has submitted a written offer to Quebecor Media, which controls Nurun, to acquire the interactive marketing services company in a cash deal valued at $5.25 a share, Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail reported this morning.

WPP Rumored to be acquiring Spot Runner and Video Egg - WPP may be about to buy small digital ad firms such as SpotRunner, VideoEgg, Visible or JumpTap, reports the New York Post, after the ad giant admitted it was about to boost its digital assets. “We’ll be making one or two announcements of further digital acquisitions,” Sir Martin Sorrell says, adding that the purchases won’t be “big ones.” Over the past year, WPP has made a series of digital acquisitions, buying 24/7 Real Media for USD649m, 75% of Indian online media agency Quasar Media, and taking over Vancouver-based Blast Radius and US-based Schematic.

HouseValues.com buys into ActiveRain for USD2.75mm - ActiveRain, a social networking and blogging platform for real estate professionals, says it has received USD2.75mm in funding from HouseValues.com. HouseValues.com’s website allows US users to find their home’s current market value and a suggested selling price. With its funding move, the company is taking a minority stake in ActiveRain. Last Nov, HouseValues.com acquired Realty Generator, a provider of marketing and technology solutions to US real estate brokerage companies.

Questex Media Group Inc. acquires FierceMarkets - Questex Media Group Inc., a Newton, Mass.-based B2B media company owned by Audax Group, has acquired FierceMarkets, an online B2B media company. No financial terms were disclosed. Jordan, Edmiston Group advised FierceMarkets on the deal.

GSI Commerce Aims To Expand Internet Marketing Via Acquisition - Aiming to boost sales, e-commerce service provider GSI Commerce Inc. has acquired e-mail marketer e-Dialog for $157 million in cash and stock. The deal broadens GSI’s interactive marketing services and gives the company a larger presence in Europe. It also positions the company to expand beyond retail into other online markets.

USA Today Acquires Action Sports Destination BNQT.com - USA Today on Thursday announced the acquisition of Banquet, the operator of action sports destination BNQT.com along with the Cold War Collective action sports ad network of over 20 affiliated Web sites and blogs.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 1:31 am and is filed under Internet, Digital Media & Software, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.