Articles of the Day
AOL Launches Technology Hub — As part of a larger effort to align its disparate Web assets, AOL has launched a technology hub encompassing its popular Engadget network, along with related blogs from its Weblogs network. AOL’s new Technology Network will offer a resource to gather information about technology news and products, and perhaps more importantly, enable advertisers to more easily integrate ad campaigns across related AOL properties.
Blockbuster To Bring Streaming To TV sets –Blockbuster is about to launch a set-top box for streaming online movies directly on TV sets, says The Hollywood Reporter. The home video giant may launch the service as early as this month. The firm, however, would only say it is “talking to numerous companies” to provide “access to media content across multiple channels”. If confirmed, the move would mark Blockbuster’s expansion into the VoD sector, where it would compete with the likes of Apple TV, Vudu and NetFlix, which will debut in partnership with LG. Blockbuster’s move is likely to be linked to its acquisition of movie download service, Movielink, last summer. At the time, Blockbuster said it would use Movielink’s assets to expand into the “digital download business”.
Lyris Plans Ad:Tech Launch Of Interactive Marketing Portal — Lyris, provider of an integrated technology platform for online marketers, will announce the launch of www.LyrisHQ.com at the ad:tech conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. The interactive marketing portal will offer online marketing best practices knowledge with practitioners globally. The site will feature daily marketing blog posts, content devoted to specific online marketing channels, including email marketing, web analytics, site optimization, guest editorials from industry leaders, and an opportunity for marketing professionals to post comments on each editorial piece.
IAC Partners With Black Web Enterprises For Search Engine — Iac has partnered with Black Web Enterprises (BWE) to launch RushmoreDrive.com, an online search engine. The new search engine combines basic search results, with mainstream findings, to deliver information specifically tailored to a Black audience. “Mainstream search engines and professional networking communities fail to easily provide information relevant to a Black audience and current search tools often do not deliver search results from Black Web sites in the first several pages of results,” said RushmoreDrive.com President and CEO Johnny Taylor.
AdBrite Launches Open Targeting Exchange — AdBrite has launched the Open Targeting Exchange (OTX), an open and competitive marketplace for ad targeting technologies. San Francisco-based AdBrite claims the OTX system delivers superior yield and advertiser effectiveness by leveraging multiple targeting methods and algorithms, and allowing them to compete for the right to match advertisements to publisher web pages. OTX is an integrated element of AdBrite’s network, so publishers and advertisers automatically benefit from competition among targeting providers. Each time a page is viewed on an AdBrite publisher’s site, OTX scans multiple eligible targeting algorithms to determine the most relevant and valuable advertisement for the given site, user, and geography.
MSN Releases Major Upgrades To Live Maps — Microsoft has released a host of upgrades to its Live Maps (and Virtual Earth) properties. Live Maps now uses ClearFlow (a technology developed in-house) to better reroute driving directions. “When you choose the ‘Route around Traffic’ option you will get much more accurate travel times and improved routes,” wrote the Virtual Earth team. “We have also added a bunch more cities that we are covering with Traffic flow data from Traffic.com.” The team has also started improving their 3D views of major cities like Las Vegas and Dallas, with more attention to the surrounding suburbs, higher resolution and greater detail.
Ziff Davis Enterprise Restructures, Issues Layoffs — Tech publisher Ziff Davis Enterprise is cutting an unspecified number of jobs, according to B2B magazine. The layoffs were handed down by Steve Weitzner, who was named chairman-CEO of ZDE in January.
Aside from the layoffs, ZDE, the publisher of Baseline, CIO Insight and eWEEK, also promoted a number of executives. Kirk Laughlin is moving to the managing director post of the Live Event unit, after serving as senior editorial director. Also, Kevin Neary, formerly CFO at Primedia, has joined ZDE as exec VP-CFO.
MySpace And ShineReveille Partner On International TV Distribution — MySpace has signed a distribution deal with UK TV production house ShineReveille that’s intended to expand the reach of their original programming internationally and online, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The terms call for ShineReveille to manage international TV, home video and merchandising rights for MySpaceTV properties. MySpace holds on to U.S. and online syndication. The deal is not exclusive, though it is designed as a two-way street: ShineReveille gets to test and promote their shows to MySpace’s users, while the Fox Interactive social net gets its hands on some potential hit programs. Plus, ShineReveille could help it build on any web successes with the TV or home video market. Jamie Kantrowitz, MySpace International’s VP for marketing: “With this deal, we can think about how to convert (webisodes) into a TV format or DVD format… Producers who start off doing internet content for us will have the opportunity to work with us to turn it into a multiplatform property.”
IAC Set To Jump Into Crowded How-To Space With Life333.com — You could almost see this one coming: IAC (NSDQ: IACI) is prepping a fresh entrant into the crowded “how-to” space, as part of its strategy to incubate a string of homegrown start-ups, paidContent.org has learned. A launch could come in the next couple of months. This has become a suffocatingly crowded area, with a new start-up announcing funding seemingly every couple of weeks. The site, which will be called Life333.com (a lookup confirms the domain is registered to IAC), will offer a mix of content types, including video, but definitely not limited to that.
Buzznet Inc. Acquired Stereogum — Los Angeles-based social media community focused on music and pop culture, has acquired music blog Stereogum. No financial terms were reported. Buzzznet also recently acquired social media company Qloud, and reportedly raised $25 million in new VC funding from Interscope Records, Redpoint Ventures and Anthem Venture Partners.
The Nielsen Co. Acquired IAG Research — Nielsen Co. has agreed to acquire IAG Research, a New York-based provider of analytics for television ad effectiveness. The deal is valued at $225 million, and is expected to close later this quarter. IAG had raised over $71 million in VC funding since 2001, including a $47.5 million Series E round in 2006 from Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.
News Corp’s Ad Network Buys UK’s Utarget — News Corp’s online ad unit - Fox Networks - is strengthening its UK presence through the acquisition of a majority stake in London-based ad firm Utarget. The deal was signed for an undisclosed sum, believed to be “in the low-eight-figure level”, according to a Fox source quoted by Reuters. Utarget will now be rebranded ‘Utarget.Fox’ and start selling its products through Fox Networks and Fox International Channels. Founded in 2000, Utarget specialises in ‘banner-pop-under’ ads, which are video ads running in a separate window displayed under the web browser. These media, also known as subsites, start playing automatically once the ad window comes into focus.Last week, reports suggested that Fox Networks was finally rolling out in the UK, selling ads on News Corp local sites, such as Sun Online, Times Online and The News Of The World. Fox Networks is already operating in 16 countries, and plans to become the largest network, in terms of global coverage, with a presence in more than 20 countries.
Imeem Inc. Acquired Snocap — Palo Alto, Calif.-based social media network, has acquired Snocap, a Palo Alto–based provider of digital rights and content management solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. Imeem has raised over $5 million led by Morgenthaler Ventures and Sequoia Capital, while Snocap has raised over $25 million from Morgenthaler, Walden Venture Capital and Court Square Ventures.
Yahoo! Buys Assets Of Web Analytics Firm Indextools — Yahoo! is acquiring the assets of Hungarian web analytics firm Tensa Kft, better known as IndexTools, for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2000, privately-held Tensa provides web analysis software that monitors web traffic and consumer behaviour. Its main unit, IndexTools, claims to compete with Webtrends, Visual Sciences, Omniture and Coremetrics. The companies expect to close the deal by Jun 31.Yahoo!, itself the target of a takeover bid by Microsoft, says the acquisition will help expand its analytics services with new tools, including plans to let developers monitor and optimise the traffic on their applications. The search giant expects that the more than 150,000 small and medium-sized businesses which use Yahoo! for their online advertising will be the first to benefit from the new tools.
Vignette Buys Video-Hosting Service Vidavee For USD6.6MM — Online portal solution provider Vignette is acquiring video hosting and publishing site Vidavee for USD6.6m. New York-based Vidavee, which is backed by VC firm Trident Capital, provides video monetisation and hosting services for online publishers. Its has developed a ‘heat map’ system that shows how web surfers interact with online content, allowing website owners to see which sections of video streams are generating the most interest. It then leverages the data to help insert advertising or other revenue-generating content.Texas-based Vignette declined to comment on how it would incorporate Vidavee in its service. Reports suggest that the video hosting functions will be added to Vignette’s large-scale web portal creation packages as an aggressive move into the white-label rich media site solution sector.
Hachette Filipacchi UK Buys Entertainment News Site DigitalSpy — French media group Lagardere is acquiring UK-based entertainment news site DigitalSpy through its subsidiary Hachette Filipacchi UK, for an undisclosed sum. DigitalSpy launched in 2000 and initially provided TV-related news and message-boards, before branching into a wider range of entertainment and celebrity news and gossip areas. The site, estimated to be the fourth largest online entertainment news provider in the UK according to comScore, will be added to Hachette Filipacchi’s digital media division, joining its previous acquisitions of Sugarscape.com and ElleUK.com.
