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Glam Ceases House Ads — News that ad network Glam Media has chosen to cut certain guaranteed payments to publisher partners had the blogosphere buzzing over the weekend. Preexisting commitments aside, Glam no longer offers “house ads,” which were served for unsold inventory throughout its network, according to an email to publishers last week from Scott Swanson, Glam’s general manager and vice president. In the email, posted online Saturday by industry blog TechCrunch, Swanson said the move was designed to give publishers “more choice when it comes to how you use your unsold inventory.” Yet, the ads are believed to have generated significant incremental revenue for publishers, and at significant cost to Glam. The decision, therefore, is seen by some as merely a cost-cutting measure. As one anonymous publisher told TechCrunch: “Publishers were previously guaranteed $3-$5 CPMs for house ads. By no longer running any house ads, that revenue dies. And given Glam’s fill rates network (sic) wide are only 30%, that’s 70% of traffic (for most publishers) that’s no longer earning revenue from Glam…It’ll basically cause a 30-80% drop in revenue for publishers.”

MyWaves Adds New Advertisers, Launches In-House Studio — Mobile video site mywaves has added a group of new advertisers and launched an in-house studio to help adapt TV spots for cellphone screens. Among the 25 brand marketers on mywaves since it opened up to advertisers in December 2007 are Microsoft, Toyota, Mini and Paramount Pictures.This week, Microsoft kicks off a campaign on mywaves that is geo-targeted to 4 million mobile users in India promoting the MS Office New Day product line. The general awareness effort developed with WPP/Quasar in India will feature animated mobile banner ads. In mid-March, a campaign promoting the new Toyota Matrix launched on mywaves that included both mobile Web banners and 15-second pre-roll spots. The flight runs through April.

Yahoo Hopes To ‘Shine’ With New Women’s Site — Acting on its oft-stated strategy to become the “starting point” for most consumers, Yahoo is focusing on a new audience: Women. With the launch of Yahoo Shine today, the Web portal unveils a one-stop-shop lifestyles site aimed in particular at women ages 25 to 54. The site is organized according to familiar categories including fashion and beauty, food, parenting and health. Each category takes the form of a blog featuring both professional and user contributions. But the venture is far from a free-for-all. Serving as editor in chief is Brandon Holley, who joined Yahoo last year after holding the top editor posts at the now-defunct magazines Elle Girl and Jane. Her staff consists mainly of other magazine and Web veterans, who oversee each of the site’s 10 content areas.

AT&T Pushes Back Mobile TV Debut To May — A year after Verizon Wireless’s similar launch, AT&T has set May 2008 as the date when it will debut mobile TV using Qualcomm’s MediaFlo service. AT&T initially set January 2008 as the launch date for mobile TV but has continually postponed the release. AT&T plans to deliver full-length programming from networks including CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, and MTV. The service will debut on two new handsets, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. It will also add a pair of exclusive channels yet to be named. Separately, Verizon is also launching new Mobile Web 2.0 sites for Viacom-owned cable networks MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and CMT. The carrier’s Mobile Web 2.0 portal launched last year is intended to provide easier access to e-mail, news, sports and weather from partners including ESPN, USA Today and MapQuest.

Bad To Worse: Newspaper Revenues Down 7.9% in 2007, Online Growth Slows — Total newspaper revenues tumbled to $45.37 billion in 2007, down 7.9% compared to 2006, according to a year-end summary released by the Newspaper Association of America. Within the total revenue figure, online revenue grew 18.8%, to $3.16 billion — but failed to offset a much larger drop in print revenues, down 9.4% to $42.2 billion. The 2007 figures confirm that the revenue decline at newspapers accelerated from 2006 to 2007. In 2006, total revenues declined a more modest 0.32%, as well as from quarter to quarter within 2007. Over the course of last year, the slide turned into a free fall with a 4.8% drop in the first quarter, followed by 8.6% in the second, 7.4% in the third, and 10.3% in the fourth.

Original Content Coming To Xbox Live — Who needs Internet TV? The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft just hired a Hollywood producer to create programming that will initially only run on the Xbox 360 console. Its first major deal –”the first of many,” according to Scott Nocas, the global marketing manager for Xbox Live–is with the Safran Company, a Hollywood talent manager representing the producers of such films as “Monster’s Ball” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Safran co. founder Peter Safran told the Times that the first round of programs would be scripted, and would run under 10 minutes. His group plans to focus on comedy and horror–genres that appeal to Xbox Live’s core 18-34 male demographic. The first slate of shows should be available by the fall.

Mobile Marketing Will Have To Wait — Unfortunately, 2008 won’t be the year that mobile marketing finally takes off, says Ad Age’s Alice C. Cuneo. For starters, there simply aren’t enough mobile Web users in the U.S.: of the 219 million nationwide subscribers, a paltry 30 million have data plans. Why? Two reasons: one, the mobile Web isn’t a great experience, and two, it costs too much. Advertising can help the latter problem–but which comes first–a leap of faith on the part of marketers to reduce the cost of mobile content, or a leap of faith on the part of carriers to provide free or low-cost data plans? Probably the latter.

Comcast To Stop Slowing Peer-to-Peer Traffic — Faced with pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, cable company Comcast said Thursday it will end its practice of slowing traffic to peer-to-peer sites. The company said it will work with BitTorrent to develop and implement a new “protocol agnostic” system for handling Web traffic by the end of the year. Comcast has been on the defensive about its network management practices since at least last October, when an investigation by The Associated Press revealed that the company was slowing traffic to peer-to-peer sites.

Google Crawls Stations, Tells Broadcasters ‘TV Ads’ Makes Good AdSense — So far, advertisers interested in Google’s foray into TV ad brokering have been able to participate only if invited. But a top company executive said Thursday that could change “very soon.” When it does, Google’s platform will presumably allow marketers to log into a Google-managed interface and place a buy for a national cable spot without much gate-keeping. The “invitation-only” test phase for Google TV Ads–where vetted advertisers purchase inventory on networks offered by Dish Network–would then morph into what Google refers to as “general availability.”

Break.com Expands Men’s Entertainment Site Internationally — Break.com, an online entertainment community for men, is expanding internationally.The Web site is localizing to a Japanese, German, Spanish and Korean audience. “With the localization of our Website, we are able to provide our audience with video editorial in their own language, while at the same time provide advertisers with a way to optimize their ads and reach the 18-34 year-old male demographic on a global scale,” said Keith Richman, CEO of Break Media.

Will New AdWords Tools Boost Social Media Revenues? — Late last week, Google added new demographic targeting tools to AdWords, allowing advertisers to target ads by age or gender on 31 publishers in its network. The biggest of these test sites were MySpace, Friendster and Google’s own YouTube. AdWords advertisers can already target demographically by site using panel data provided by comScore, but this is the first time they could actually target by user. TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld thinks big social media sites were included in the test because Google is still trying to find a way to make its social media inventory pay off. Remember, the search giant cited weak social networking revenues as one of the reasons it missed fourth quarter earnings. Could demographic targeting by user help turn that around?Schonfeld thinks the tactic should yield better results, but when it comes to the greater problem of attracting meaningful social media dollars, it could be that Web 2.0 users are just better at tuning ads out. In that case, all the targeting in the world isn’t going to help, much.

Amazon meets up with Facebook to bring its e-commerce to a social network — Facebook has a new friend—a big one with lots of e-commerce connections. The social networking site—with 34 million unique visitors in January, according to web measurement firm comScore Inc.—now works with technology from Amazon.com Inc. that makes it easier for Facebook participants to decide what to buy their friends and link to Amazon.com to find and purchase that digital camera or red sweater that suits a friend’s fancy. The Amazon Giver application, which Amazon developed for Facebook, allows users to view friends’ virtual wish lists and link to Amazon.com to purchase gifts. After deciding on a gift, users can link directly to Amazon.com, complete the purchase and ship it to the friend through the friend’s stored Amazon.com address. Users who add the applications must register an account with Amazon—a process that requires entering an address.

Education Lead Gen Firm Innovation Ads Acquires Minority Stake In theU — Online education-focused lead generation agency Innovation Ads has purchased an unspecified minority stake in theU, a social network aimed at college bound high schools students. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the payout was estimated at $3 million, sources said. As part of the deal, theU’s online videos featuring college tours will become part of Innovations Ads’ portal. Secondly, Innovations Ads has also struck a partnership with campus blog network College OTR. The network will allow Innovation Ads the use of some of its posts. For theU, the alliance with Innovation Ads ends its search for a larger partner since closing a first round funding of roughly $1 million two years ago, the company said. Source: PaidContent.

Sirius Satellite Radio Merges with XM Satellite Radio — Sirius Satellite Radio’s proposed USD4.59bn acquisition of XM Satellite Radio Holdings has received US anti-trust approval. The US Justice Department’s ruling removes one of two major obstacles blocking the creation of a single US satellite-radio provider. In approving the deal, the Justice Department noted that a merged entity wouldn’t be able to raise prices profitably due to competition from other forms of audio entertainment, including terrestrial broadcast radio and MP3 players. Sirius and XM are still awaiting approval by the FCC. Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC, says the agency is close to reaching a decision.

Hearst Buys Relationship Advice Site Answerology — Hearst has bought out online relationships advice site Answerology.com, we have learned, and now confirmed through the company. The site, based in New York City and founded in 2005 by Matt Milner, differs from other general Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers and Amazon’s Askville, in that it is focused on relationships and marriage advice. In 2006, it received funding from investors including Jim Treacy, a former president and COO of Monster.com. Terms not disclosed.

ESPN Acquires Girls Basketball Site Hoopgurlz — ESPN has acquired girls-focused basketball site Hoopgurlz.com. The Seattle-based site, which reports on high school and college basketball, offers tournament listings, player profiles, message boards, player blogs and other community features. In a post on the site, founder Glenn Nelson said that for the time being, the site will remain as it is and in its current location, but that changes are on the way. The deal continues a slew of high school sports deals, including ESPN’s acquisition of SchoolSports Inc. last year. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Glam Media Acquires StyleMob — Glam Media, a female-focused online advertising network, has acquired StyleMob, a San Francisco-based social media company focused on fashion. No financial terms were disclosed. Glam has raised over $87 million in VC funding from firms like Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Accel Partners, DAG Ventures and Walden Venture Capital.

Google Paid Clicks Stall In February, Too — No, comScore’s Google paid click data in January was not an anomaly. According to the latest report from the Web measurement firm, February was just as bad, as Google’s sponsored links rose just 3 percent to 515 million over a year earlier. And because the data doesn’t take into account that we had an extra day in February this year, overall growth was probably flat–again. So what gives? Analysts claim it’s the economy: a tanking housing market, higher oil prices and slumping consumer confidence mean that people are shopping less online–and if they’re shopping less online, they’re clicking on fewer ads enticing them to buy stuff. Meanwhile, the downward trend continues month-to-month, as ad clicks fell an additional 3 percent in February after falling 7.5 percent in January. All this leads to what should be another rocky day for Google in the stock market; the company’s stock fell $14.52 to $443.67 in after-hours trading, once the report was released. Google declined to comment for the Bloomberg report.

Social Nets’ Lowly CPMs — Staggering numbers, puny revenues: thus describes the social networking conundrum. Even Google founder Sergey Brin has thrown his hands up in the air: “I don’t think we have the killer best way to advertise and monetize the social networks yet,” he told analysts during an earnings call in January. According to a Wired magazine report, MySpace and Facebook, the undisputed top two of the social networking pile, have achieved an annual rate of growth of over 500 percent since 2005. LinkedIn, a social network for working professionals, has increased by a rate of 182 percent over the same period. And yet, the CPMs for most of these sites remain low. For example, Lookery, a social media ad network that serves display ads on MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, sells ads for 13 cents per thousand times its ads are viewed. By comparison, Yahoo’s average CPM is $13. Meanwhile, video ads on MySpace reportedly go for $25 per thousand compared to CBS, which charges $50, and NBC, as much as $75.

KickApps Launches Video Feature On Yuku Courtesy Of ClipBlast — White-label widget maker KickApps today is launching a new feature on its community-building platform Yuku for members to search, play and share video online. The service is the result of a partnership with Web video-search platform maker ClipBlast, which is providing the one-click video embedding feature. Yuku members can now search and preview video from the ClipBlast video index. Members can then embed the searched video directly in their posts and blogs to share with the Yuku community without having to leave their message to hunt for content.

Amazon Now Second-Largest Music Download Service — Amazon’s DRM-free download policy has accelerated its MP3 sales, making the service second only to Apple’s iTunes in terms of size, according to Amazon itself. The company, which launched its Amazon MP3 music download site last Sep, claims to offer 4.5m songs, compared to iTunes’ 6m. Amazon MP3 claims to be the only online music store to have reached deals with all four major record labels for DRM-free music. While the Apple service includes many small, independent performers, Amazon’s offerings focus on major label artists. iTunes was first to offer DRM-free major label songs in spring 2007, but its unlocked catalogue is restricted to 2m tracks from EMI as well as a variety of independent labels.

Adobe Launches Free Online Photoshop App — Adobe is launching a free, online version of Photoshop that is accessible from any computer and browser. Called Photoshop Express, the application is more basic than its software counterpart, which users must buy - at prices starting from USD649 - and install. However, it allows users to save and access their account online. By launching the application, which is still in beta, Adobe is moving into the sector of web-based services, in which Google has been aggressively expanding. “This is the battlefield where Adobe and Microsoft and Google are going to fight some pretty big battles,” Jon Peddie Research analyst Kathleen Maher tells Associated Press. It will also have to compete with established online photo services such as Shutterfly, Picnik and Photobucket.

Nokia to secure all major labels for music launch — Nokia is increasingly “hopeful” that it will have secured the signatures of all four major labels for the launch of its mobile Comes With Music service, reports the Financial Times. The mobile phone giant, which is due to launch its music service in the second half of 2008, is in talks with three major labels and 10 independents. It currently has just one agreement with Universal. Nokia’s executive VP, Anssi Vanjoki says: “I am hopeful at the time of launch, technically we are able to deliver other labels. Certainly our target is to have other labels on board. We have negotiations and discussions ongoing with all the majors and a number of indies as well.” The news follows an admission earlier this month by the head of EMI Finland who said: “We want to be part of it. I believe strongly that when it launches we will be there, with a full offering.” However, in Nov last year, Warner reportedly said it would not contribute tracks to the service.

Microsoft Partners With Social Networks To Improve Data Portability — Adapting to an increasingly open and wall-less Web, Microsoft on Tuesday agreed to let users of its Windows Live platform share their contact lists with five of the top social networks: Facebook, Bebo, LinkedIn, Tagged and Hi5. The partner sites have each agreed to use the Windows Live Contacts application programming interface (API) so members can import Windows Live contacts–most commonly in the form of Hotmail address books–to their sites. Part of its recently outlined data-portability strategy, Microsoft has launched an Invite2Messenger service for users of those social networks to invite their community of “friends” to join Windows Live Messenger.

Alternative Media Spending To Hit $161 Billion In 2012 — Spending on so-called alternative media, including social networks, digital out-of-home networks and mobile content, will increase 20.2% to $88 billion in 2008, according to a new study. In its first report focusing on alternative media, PQ Media Research further forecasts that the fast-growing sector will hit nearly $161 billion by 2012, accounting for 26.6% of the total U.S. advertising and marketing spending. From 2002 to 2007, alternative media grew at an annual rate of 21.7% to $73.4 billion, making up 16.1% of overall ad and marketing dollars. The biggest alternative sub-categories as of last year were event sponsorships and marketing, search and lead generation, e-direct marketing, online classifieds and displays, and local pay TV.

OpenSocial adds Yahoo! and goes non-profit — Yahoo! will join the OpenSocial application platform championed by Google. The search giant is also partnering with Google and MySpace to create a non-profit support body, the OpenSocial Foundation. Its role, they say, will be to support the OpenSocial project by creating and managing forums to discuss applications and development techniques. It will run as a non-profit body, with assets to be declared and assigned by Jul 1. Heralded by Google as the next step towards true cross-platform interaction, OpenSocial is a set of specifications that lets developers create and run applications across any participating social network. A range of social networks have joined its platform, including MySpace, hi5 and Friendster, and Google claims that more than 200m users currently use applications that are part of OpenSocial. Facebook, however, is notably absent from the project.

authorSTREAM Launches Tool to Let Users Share PowerPoint Presentations on YouTube, Blogs and Web Sites for Free — authorSTREAM, a place to share and discover presentations created with Microsoft PowerPoint™ software, enhanced its service by adding features that allow users to post presentations to any video-sharing platform, such as YouTube, and view on Apple® iPod® as well as other handheld devices. “Business professionals, students, educators, trainers and other people create billions of presentations in PowerPoint format each year and then struggle to find an easy way to share their important content with others,” said Harman Singh, chief executive officer, authorGEN Technologies, the company behind authorSTREAM. “We’re giving millions of PowerPoint users a solution. They no longer have to send files, only post them to authorSTREAM.com to inspire, educate and persuade any audience, anywhere on the Web. There’s no easier way to share presentations.”

Microsoft Is Also Interested In Making Applications For Apple’s iPhone — Earlier this month, Apple said it was licensing Microsoft’s ActiveSync so that the iPhone can seamlessly work with Microsoft Exchange. The same day, Apple announced the iPhone and iPod Touch SDK, which would enable third-party developers to build applications for the popular device. Although in a less obvious way, that too, represents an opportunity for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Fortune reported today that the technology giant is eagerly looking for applications to make money off the iPhone. “It’s really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone,” said Tom Gibbons, corporate VP of Microsoft’s Specialized Devices and Applications Group. Gibbons said it was too early to say what applications they may build, however, Microsoft is in a great position. Its Mac business unit, based in Mountain View, Calif., is one of the largest groups of Mac developers outside of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). In addition, other Microsoft divisions may also be interested, such as Microsoft’s voice recognition unit TellMe.

[Rumor] Online ad network Federated Media to raise USD30m — Online ad network Federated Media (FM) is close to raising USD30m in a round that would value it at USD200m, a “well-placed source” tells VentureBeat - one of FM’s customers. Rumours about the Californian company have circulated for months, with reports in Jan suggesting that it appointed investment bank Savvian to “assess investor interest”. TechCrunch said the company was rumoured to have turned down a USD100m buyout offer, while CNet reported that it was looking to raise between USD20m and USD30m.

Google Unveils Wireless Plan — A Google letter to the FCC reveals the company’s plan for utilising spectrum “white space” - unused broadcast TV channels - to provide broadband wireless internet access spanning the US. “As Google has pointed out previously, the vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused, or else is grossly underutilized,” writes Richard Whitt, Google’s Washington telecom and media lawyer, in the letter to the regulator. “Unlike other natural resources, there is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow.” The company, which was outbid by Verizon Wireless in the recent 700MHz wireless spectrum auction, says it would like to see people surfing the web on handheld gadgets at gigabits-per-second speeds by the end of 2009.

Become.com Strives For Top Comparison-Shopping Engine Status — Who says search is struggling? Financial types may be worried about dips in search traffic and ad clicks on the core engines, but for comparison-shopping engines like Become.com the outlook is bright. While Hitwise is pegging the online comparison-shopping industry to grow by about 30% annually, traffic to Become.com increased by 260% year-over-year. While Hitwise is pegging the online comparison-shopping industry to grow by about 30% annually, traffic to Become.com increased by 260% year-over-year (as per comScore). It’s this phenomenal growth that has helped the engine rake in a $17.5 million Series C investment from San Francisco-based private investment firm TPG Growth.

Catalyst Launches Emerging Media Buying Service — San Francisco-based Catalyst is rolling out a new Emerging Media Buying Service (EMS) that will provide planning and buying expertise for online video, mobile, social media, widgets, and gaming.Catalyst has grown substantially in the last 10 months, expanding to seven people focused on strategy and emerging media. The firm has 14 clients and has carved a niche in emerging media, either building businesses in the category or using the category to re-establish brands.

Bazaarvoice’s ReStyle Lets Marketers Customize User-Generated Content — Bazaarvoice has launched Restyle, A content styling tool that allows marketers to customize the look and feel of the ratings, reviews and Q&A sections of their Web sites. Designed to work with the company’s Ratings & Reviews and Ask & Answer products, ReStyle makes it easy to link a site’s social media content to various promotions–including seasonal promos, such as letting reviewers add hearts to their comments on Valentine’s Day–as well as ongoing ad campaigns or even for a site redesign.

PlattForm Holdings Reorganizes As Ad Venture Interactive — Based in New York and Kansas City, the parent company, AVI, is a full-service interactive marketing and advertising company encompassing three divisions: PlattForm Advertising (PFA), VentureDirect Worldwide (VDW) and Beauty Schools Marketing Group (BSMG). Together, these divisions offer interactive marketing and advertising services to a number of distinct verticals. PlattForm CEO Michael Platt will assume the newly created role of CEO for Ad Venture Interactive. Platt founded PlattForm as a media placement agency in 1988. In the new position, Platt will oversee and integrate all three divisions of Ad Venture Interactive. He will also manage mergers and acquisitions and work closely with the CEOs of each division to develop the long-term strategy for AVI.

Imeem And Splintering of Open Platforms — Imeem has become the latest social media site to release its software development kit to programmers. It’s also the latest OpenSocial member to do so, putting the social music provider in the company of AOL’s Bebo and News Corp.’s MySpace. But why are OpenSocial members bothering to release their owns SDKs? Isn’t a universal platform the point of OpenSocial? Instead, imeem’s move leads to more splintering. Even though imeem claims that support for the Google-led initiative is “coming soon,” OpenSocial is still limited in what it can offer programmers. For example, the networked platform initiative wouldn’t enable programmers to incorporate Imeem’s vast catalog of music in an application on MySpace or Bebo–as third party licensing agreements prevent certain features from one social network being brought to another.

Yaolan.com (a.ka. BabyCare) Raised $17.1 Million 3rd Round — Chinese online community for pregnant and nursing mothers,has raised $17.1 million in third-round funding. Foundation Capital and NSA Investments were joined by return backers Sutter Hill Ventures and Chengwei Ventures.

Mill River Labs Raised $900,000 in Seed Funding — The parent company of online startup company database TradeVibes, has raised $900,000 in seed funding. Backers include Ron Conway, Felicis Ventures and the Kinsey Hills Group.

Nineyou International Ltd. (9you) Raised $100 Million — Shanghai-based online gaming company, has raised $100 million in private equity funding from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The company last year had planned to raise $174 million via an IPO in Osaka, but bailed after licensing conflicts with a pair of Korean gaming companies.

Demand Media Raised $35 Million in Additional Series D — Santa Monica, Calif.-based domain name aggregator and registrar, has raised $35 million in additional Series D funding, according to a regulatory filing. The company had held a $100 million first close last year. Shareholders include Goldman Sachs, 3i Group, Generation Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Spectrum Equity Investors.

Become.com Raised $17.5 Million in Series C — Mountain View, Calif.-based online comparison shopping site, has raised $17.5 million in Series C funding from TPG Growth.

WebCollage Inc. Raised $10 Million in New VC — New York-based provider of online merchandising networks to manufacturers, has raised $10 million in new VC funding. Greylock Partners Israel led the round, and was joined by return backers Sierra Ventures, Cedar Ventures and Gilde Investment Management.

WePlay Inc. Raised $1.87 Million in Series A — New York-based online community for youth sports, has raised $1.87 million in Series A-1 funding, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include Pequot Private Equity, Creative Artists Agency and Major League Baseball

Bihu Raised $ 10 Million — Sequoia Capital China has invested USD10m in Bihu, a Chinese firm that develops technology to place ads within online games.

Google confirms USD1m investment in China’s Comsenz — Google revealed that it invested USD1m in a second funding round for Comsenz, a Chinese provider of technology for community sites such as social networks. The Beijing-based startup was created by former Google board member and Sequoia general partner Michael Moritz. The investment took place in Jul last year and follows a first round of funding in 2006, in which Comsenz raised USD2m from Sequoia Capital China and former Yahoo! China president Zhou Hongyi.

LeadPoint Inc. Raised $6 Million in Series E — Los Angeles-based online leads exchange marketplace, has raised $6 million in Series E funding, according to a regulatory filing. Backers include Redpoint Ventures, Estalea LP and Breakwater Ventures. The company has now raised over $15 million.

Blekko Raised $925,000 of Series B — Redwood Shores, Calif.-based online search startup, has called down $925,000 of a $3.07 million Series B round.

Marchex: Phone-Based Lead Gen Is Key For Smaller Businesses — There’s a reason that venture capitalists pumped nearly $70 million in financing into local online advertising firms like ReachLocal and Yodle late last year. Their business models, which include paid and organic search optimization, Internet yellow page management and phone-based lead generation, are the magic mix that small and medium businesses (SMBs) need to be successful in the age of Web 2.0, according to a new report by Marchex. First, there are more players stepping up to the plate to help SMBs market themselves online–and that the increased agency competition is driving innovation in terms of their technology and service offerings.

LinkedIn Partners With BusinessWeek To Launch Company Profiles — LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has launched profiles of more than 160,000 companies to help members land jobs and climb the corporate ladder. Unlike company or brand pages on MySpace or Facebook, LinkedIn’s profiles aren’t created by companies themselves as online marketing vehicles. Instead, they combine basic corporate information provided by BusinessWeek with LinkedIn’s own data from members who work at the companies profiled. That includes things like a list of company employees within a member’s circle on LinkedIn, new hires and recent promotions (members who recently joined a given company or have been promoted within), and a list of executives who have the most profile views at their companies.

Forbes To Launch Ad Network — Forbes announced today that it will start selling ads this spring for about 400 financial blogs, according to The Associated Press. “The folks at Forbes really understood our business,” said Steve Woit, publisher of Xconomy, a blog joining the Forbes network, according to The AP. “A larger network, whether it’s Google or others, has to deal with every industry and large consumer sites.”

AccuWeather Partners With Opera Software For Link To Mobile Web Site — AccuWeather has partnered with Opera Software to offer a direct link from the Opera Mini start page to AccuWeather.com’s top ten mobile Web site. The Opera Mini browser works on almost every mobile phone–even ordinary feature phones–while providing a Web experience similar to ordinary PC browsing. Opera Mini has more than 35 million cumulative users. The Opera Mini home page offers a link directly to AccuWeather.com, recently rated a top-ten mobile Web site by M: Metrics and easily one of the most popular sources for weather information on the mobile Web. The AccuWeather.com mobile Web site offers free, ad-supported content such as radar and satellite images and local 10-day forecasts and current conditions.

Wikimedia Seeking New Ways to Generate Revenue — Wikipedia is one of the 10 most popular Web sites in the U.S., but it makes almost no money. In fact, all the money that the community-edited encyclopedia makes comes from donations-a great irony when you consider the company Wikipedia keeps as one of the most visited Web destinations: Amazon, News Corp., Yahoo, Google, etc. It comes as little surprise, then, that Wikipedia, more mature now, has started to look longingly at the success of its neighbors. Right now, the Wikimedia Foundation, the encyclopedia’s parent, is pondering a number of changes to the site to help bring in revenue; among them is selling advertising. As Wikipedia founder and chairman Jimmy Wales says, the Web firm’s bureaucratic system and structure has strengths and weaknesses. “The strength is, we don’t do anything randomly, without lots and lots of lots of discussion,” he says. “The downside is we don’t get anything done unless we actually come to a conclusion.” Wikimedia’s financial situation isn’t all that bad: the company raked in $2.2 million in cash contributions last year, up from $1.3 million in 2006. Meanwhile, the foundation’s budget this year is $4.6 million.

Alibaba Considers Yahoo Stake Purchase — Alibaba’s leadership is considering buying back Yahoo!’s (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) 39% stake in the Chinese portal because it fears a Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) takeover, according to news reports. That asset is significant to Yahoo!. In a financial report released Tuesday, Yahoo! valued its stake in Alibaba.com, the Chinese portal’s publicly traded business-to-business marketplace, at $3.2 billion, or $2.25 per share. So would losing Alibaba dampen Microsoft’s enthusiasm for buying Yahoo!–or cause it to drop its offering price? Nope, say analysts. Microsoft is too focused on competing with Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) in the mainstream advertising markets to get discouraged now. “The Asian footprint is important, but it’s a ‘nice-to-have’ for Microsoft and not the main reason to buy Yahoo!,” Morningstar analyst Larry Witt says.

IMedix: Health Search With Social Edge — IMedix is a service that blends a robust health search engine with a social network. For example, a user searching for “diabetes” will find a sidebar alongside the standard results, featuring members that are interested in the subject and willing to talk about it. “This takes advantage of some big psychological strengths in the health field–namely the need to “not be alone” when dealing with health issues,” says Rand Fishkin. “I’d imagine that iMedix’s community is held together by stronger bonds than most, and that, potentially, gives them a powerful edge.”

WebVisible Inc. Raised $12 Million in Series B — Irvine, Calif. based provider of online advertising search solutions for small businesses, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. Sutter Hill Ventures led the round with $8 million, while return backers Redpoint Ventures contributed $4 million. The company had raised a $5 million Series A round back in 2005.

Car Advisory Network Raised Around $6.5 Million in Series A — Seattle-based developer of an online portal for automobile information, has raised around $6.5 million in Series A funding. Backers include Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

GizMoz Raised $6.5 Million in Series B — San Francisco-based social expression and user-generated media service, has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding. DoCoMo Capital led the round, and was joined by NGI Capital and return backers Benchmark Capital and Columbia Capital.

Gamook Inc. Raised $1.5 Million in “Series 1″ — Menlo Park, Calif.-based casual gaming company with an advertising component, has raised $1.5 million in “Series 1″ funding from U.S. Venture Partners.

Provider of Mobile Social Networking Software Mobiluck Seeking EUR 5M –The company is currently raising a EUR 5M round of financing, according to Venture Source.

SendMe Raised $15 Million in Series C — San Francisco-based developer of mobile entertainment applications, has raised $15 million in Series C funding. GrandBanks Capital led the round, and was joined by Amicus Capital, Spark Capital and True Ventures. The company had previously raised $6 million.

Isango Raised $8 Million in VC Funding — UK-based travel website, has raised $8 million in new VC funding. Spark Ventures led the round with $4 million, and was joined by Beringea and undisclosed existing shareholders

FixYa, Raised $6 Million in Series B — San Mateo, Calif.-based online technical support startup, has raised $6 million in Series B funding. Mayfield Fund led the round, and was joined by fellow return backer Pitango Venture Capital

DisqusRaised $500,000 in Series A — San Francisco-based blog system, has raised $500,000 in a series A financing. Union Square Ventures led the funding. Other participants include Knight’s Bridge Capital Partners and angel investors Naval Ravikant and Aydin Senkut

VoloMedia Received $3.5 Million in Venture Financing — provider of advertising, metrics, and reporting solutions for downloadable media, has received $3.5 million in venture financing from investment firm Leader Ventures.

Small World Labs Raised $1 million Toward a Series A — Austin, Texas-based provider of enterprise social media solutions and online community building expertise, has received more than $1 million toward a Series A funding round which it will closeout in the next 60 days. Jordan Rohan, of Clearmeadow Partners, is one of the participating investors.

CafeMom Raised $12 Million More in Funding — The latest round includes previous investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Highland Capital Partners. CafeMom is a New York-based social networking Web site for mothers.

Retrevo Raises $8 Million In Second Round — The second-round venture financing was led by Alloy Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. The capital will be used to fund product development, new partnerships and consumer marketing efforts.

SplashCast Raises $4 Million in 1st Round — SplashCast, a developer of social marketing applications, raised $4 million in a 1st round of financing. Emergent Growth Fund and individual investors participated in the deal.

Radar Networks Raises $13 Million in 3rd Round — Radar Networks, a developer of semantic Web applications intended to make it easier for people to find and use information online, raised $13 million in a 3rd round of financing. Led by Velocity Interactive Group, the round also included funding from Vulcan Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Sprint First To Offer Direct Access to MySpace Mobile - Sprint has become the first U.S. wireless carrier to offer customers with Web-capable phones direct access to MySpace Mobile on its wireless portal. The deal lets users edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends, post to blogs, and exchange MySpace messages, among other things, via a direct link from Sprint’s mobile deck at no extra cost. Sprint’s MySpace advantage may be short-lived, however, as the social networking site plans to announce similar direct-access arrangements with other wireless carriers in the coming weeks. By saving mobile users from having to type in the MySpace WAP address, the company aims to boost traffic to the mobile site.

Newspaper Consortium Strikes Deal With Quadrant - OneThe Newspaper Consortium, a group of 26 newspaper publishers, has agreed to offer online ad space on a consistent basis to quadrantONE, the online ad sales network launched last month by Gannett Co., Hearst Corp., The New York Times Co., and Tribune Co. QuadrantONE is owned by its four founding companies, but has actively sought affiliate partners to create a larger pool of online ad inventory for national advertisers.Of the consortium’s 425 newspaper sites, 138 are being made available to quadrantOne immediately, while more are expected to be added in the future. The initial boost nearly doubles the size of the quadrantOne network to about 250 newspapers.

Buyers Can Assess Contextual Performance And Take Action Via ADSDAQ Tool - ContextWeb, Inc., a contextual advertising company and operator of the ADSDAQ Exchange, has launched the ADSDAQ Exchange Agency Trading Desk: a technology platform that will enable media buyers to see how their online ad campaigns are performing and–more importantly–offer a way to instantly adjust buys accordingly. With the push of a dashboard button, buyers can purchase more inventories in the better-performing contextual areas and offer to sell inventory that is underperforming. The trading desk can track campaigns running outside of the ADSDAQ Exchange system, giving media agencies an efficient and effective way to track campaign performance against more than 386 contextual categories of inventory.

Mefeedia Rolls Out Comprehensive Multimedia Search Features - The Burbank, Calif.-based video portal’s video search tool combs through clips from over 15,000 video Web sites, including massive aggregators like YouTube and Veoh–using video titles, user tags and meta descriptions to make finding clips easier. In addition to the core video search engine, Mefeedia also debuted a search tool for TV shows, which pulls content from sites like NBC’s Hulu and allows users to find episodes and clips from all the major broadcast and cable TV providers in one place. Users in search of audio clips, including music videos, can try Mefeedia’s new music search tool–and the same goes for podcasts.

Google’s Successful Spectrum “Strategy to Lose” - Google didn’t acquire any spectrum in the latest FCC auction–Verizon and AT&T went home the big winners–but analysts say the “loss” could turn into a victory because it still stands to get access to mobile networks without having to spend tens of billions of dollars building one. Indeed, the Wall Street analysts claim that Google has succeeded in its strategy of “bidding to lose.” Verizon Communications won the C-block spectrum that Google bid on, but under the auction rules, the telecom giant will be forced to allow devices and applications from other companies run on the new network.

Nickelodeon Preps WAP Sites; Nick Focuses On Intersection Of Mobile Web And Online Gaming - Apart of embarking on the first phase of its major push into online gaming this week, Nickelodeon/MTVN (NYSE: VIA) Kids and Family Group’s other big focus this year is on mobile, the company told us. The Viacom kid-focused unit is rolling out three new mobile websites related to its branded content from its Nickelodeon, The N and ParentsConnect main sites. The new mobile websites focus on the group’s target demos: kids and tweens, teens and parents. But for the most part, given the usage of mobile devices among that grouping rests with kids 13-years-old and up, that’s where Nickelodeon is aiming. Each WAP site will include a variety of kids’ games, pictures, and flipbooks, teen-oriented quizzes and blogs. The WAP sites will also have parenting info, events and news from its list of local city online channels. I spoke with Steve Youngwood, the group’s EVP for digital media, who offered a glimpse of the company’s mobile strategy.

Microsoft Acquires Ad Tech Firm Rapt - Aiming to fill out its set of tools for Web advertisers and publishers, Microsoft Corp. plans to acquire ad technology firm Rapt Inc. Rapt’s “yield management” software helps publishers adjust pricing and inventory for display advertising based on changes in demand. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Rapt’s “yield management” software helps publishers adjust pricing and inventory for display advertising based on changes in demand.

Expedia Acquires CarRentals.com - Expedia acquires CarRentals.com, an online car rental aggregation and marketing firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the New York-based company will become a division of Hotwire, Expedia’s discount travel brand. CarRentals.com will continue to operate as an independent entity, as Expedia has said that it has no plans to make changes to the car rental service’s brand name, operations or employee base. “And the senior leadership team will remain intact,” the company said in a statement.

GCap Media, Acquired Majority Stake in Social Network, WeLoveLocal.com - Commercial radio firm, GCap Media, has acquired a majority stake in social network, WeLoveLocal.com for an initial cash sum of USD912, 000 (GBP450, 000). Further staged payments of USD304, 000 are to be made over the coming weeks, bringing the total value of the deal to USD1.2m. The move comes as GCap is being targeted in a takeover bid by Global Media for some USD737.3m. The purchase follows GCap’s Feb restructuring policy in which it said it would pull out of DAB broadcasting and focus on its more cost-effective and popular broadband and FM activities.

NBCU Acquires Stake In DriverTV - NBC Universal has acquired a 35% stake in Car content company driverTV. DriverTV produces and distributes content for car shoppers and enthusiasts online, as well as across cable TV and video-on-demand platforms. Building on that model, NBCU now plans to expand driverTV’s distribution to include NBC.com and MySpace, among other destinations. DriverTV has existing distribution deals with Web portals like AOL, along with various cable outlets Charter, Comcast, Cox, the Hotel Network, Insight, and Time Warner.

LiveWire Acquires Music Provider Groove Mobile - LiveWire had acquired mobile music provider Groove Mobile for $14.5 million. LiveWire, a unit of NMS Communications Corporation, said the deal would help the company expand its mobile offerings spanning ringtones, music tracks and videos. Among the dozen wireless carriers that use Groove’s mobile music service are Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility. The company also has relationships with major music labels including EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. With the addition of Groove, which had more than $7.5 million in revenue in 2007, LiveWire Mobile expects to hit revenue of more than $30 million in 2008.

Odeo buys search service, Blogdigger — Podcast and MP3 site Odeo has acquired Blogdigger, an RSS and blog and search engine, for an undisclosed sum. Under the deal, Blogdigger’s aggregation and search technology will be incorporated into Odeo’s newly revamped site. Currently in private beta, Odeo’s new services will include more audio and, for the first time, video content. Blogdigger founder and CEO, Greg Gershman worked as a consultant during the design and development of Odeo’s new site and joins the company as VP of Search and Engineering. The deal follows Odeo’s acquisition of video player startup, FireAnt, for USD400,000 in Sep 2007, which was when Odeo was first rumoured to be interested in buying Blogdigger. Odeo was acquired by e-commerce startup, SonicMountain in May 2007 for a price rumoured to be in excess of USD1m.

CNET Partners With Univision For Tech-Focused Site - Seeking new and untapped markets, CNET has partnered with Univision Online to launch a Spanish-language technology-focused Web site at Univision.com. The site is furnished with product reviews, breaking technology news about, and original videos for Spanish-speaking consumers to navigate today’s digital world. CNET and Univision.com together will offer product reviews in five key categories including cell phones, MP3 players, televisions, computers, and digital cameras.

Facebook Closing In On MySpace’s Global Traffic - Facebook is catching up with MySpace in terms of its international traffic. The college-focused social network had 100.7m unique visitors worldwide in Jan, nearly as much as MySpace’s 109.3m unique visitors, according to comScore figures. Facebook already overtook MySpace globally in terms of average daily visits last Nov, when it had 26.4m unique daily visits, according to comScore. MySpace, however, still dominates Facebook in the US. The News Corp-owned network had 68m total unique visitors in Jan according to comScore, more than double Facebook’s 32.4m. Similarly, it had 17.7m average daily visitors that month, compared to Facebook’s 8.6m.

Adobe Launches DRM For Flash Web Plug-In - Adobe launched digital rights management for the Flash Web plug-in that powers most online video. Competing products such as Apple’s QuickTime and Microsoft’s Windows Media Player both include digital rights protection. Because Flash has been used mainly for streaming rather than downloading video, that limitation hasn’t been a big issue. But the new Adobe media player set to launch next month will let users download Flash files to the desktop, according to the Beet.TV blog. Separately, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said Tuesday that the company will develop a new version of Flash specifically tailored to the iPhone. Last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was reported as saying Adobe’s mobile version of Flash hadn’t been adopted for the iPhone because of performance and technical issues.

Sprint’s Boost Mobile Launches Ad Platform With Amobee Media - Sprint launched a new advertising platform with Amobee Media Systems geared to Boost’s 4.6 million mostly under-30 customers. Mobile ads will initially appear on the Boost home page and the BoostLive digital storefront, with advertising in messaging and other applications to follow. Automaker Acura and Fox Searchlight Pictures are the debut advertisers on the Boost platform. Fox has already begun running mobile ads promoting the April 11 release of “Street Kings,” while Acura will soon kick off a campaign for its new 2009 TSX. Amobee has previously formed a partnership with Winstar Interactive to sell mobile inventory and develop relationships with major advertising agencies.

GM To Spend $1.5 Billion Online Through 2010 - In what could be “the online marketing shot heard ’round the automotive world.” GM is saying it will dedicate half of its $3 billion marketing budget to digital and one-to-one marketing over the next three years. Because of the marketer’s size–GM is the country’s third-largest advertiser–some think its stated commitment to digital advertising could have a significant ripple affect across all U.S. brands. GM is looking to focus on search, gaming, mobile and a broad array of other interactive application. The move represents yet another step in the migration of auto advertising to the Web, as manufacturers increasingly accept that the buying process now frequently begins and ends online. Hyundai, for example, plans to double its online spending in 2008 over the previous year.

Google Increases its Share of Search Audience — Americans spent less time searching the Web in February, but they spent more of that time with Google, according to the latest numbers from comScore. Google increased its share of the search audience over Microsoft and Yahoo last month, scoring 59.2 percent of all core searches. That number is up from 58.5 percent in January. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s share fell from 22.2 percent to 21.6 percent, and Microsoft’s share dropped from 9.8 percent to 9.6 percent. Overall, Americans conducted 9.9 billion searches in February, a 6 percent decline from January, according to the Chicago-based research firm.

Sports Social Network Loop’d Launches H20 Audio Branded Community — Sports social network Loop’d has launched a branded community for H2O Audio, a maker of headphones and mp3 cases designed specifically for water sports. H20 Audio is expected to leverage the site to interact one-on-one with targeted consumers in order to build lasting relationships. Other brands presently working with Loop’d include Monster Energy, PacSun and Oakley.