Articles of the Day
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.
