Articles of the Day
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.
