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Google Expands Its Ad Reach With FeedBurner Deal - Google added the rapidly growing world of distributed content in the form of RSS feeds to its advertising arsenal with the acquisition of FeedBurner. The long-rumored pairing was described as an “almost too perfect fit.”      

360i’s Management Buys Back Agency; Stakes Claim As Nimble Independent - Innovation Interactive took back its power with a management-led buyout from parent Livedoor Japan. The marketing services firm consists of an online ad network, as well as digital agency 360i and SearchIgnite. The buyout was funded in part by ABS Capital Partners, which manages a $1.5 billion investment fund.    

Digitalsmiths Molds Seamless Video Ad Platform - Building upon a successful video search platform that has allowed TV series producers to index contents of their episodes, Digitalsmiths plans to enter the online video ad business with VideoSense.    

Are TV Ads Best for Product Intros? - TV ads are the best way to reach and engage online consumers with new product information, according to the American Marketing Association’s “Mplanet” survey, conducted with Opinion Research Corporation prior to the 2006 holiday season. However, respondents said other traditional media like newspapers, magazines and radio all trailed the Internet, e-mail and online newsletters as good ways to reach them with new product information. Only 1% of respondents said social networking sites were the best place for retailers to reach them.

Teens and Tweens Take to Virtual Worlds - Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, in which users assume the role of avatars, or personas they create, are slowly creeping into the mainstream–especially among kids. The adult-oriented virtual worlds of Warcraft and Second Life may get lots of attention, but–thankfully for advertisers–the most popular social media outlets are decidedly PG in nature, like Stardoll, Doppleganger, and Gaia Online, frequented by youngsters across the Web.    

Widgets: Advertising Will Never Be The Same - Widgets are on the verge of changing advertising as we know it. A spate of recent announcements by companies like Google and Facebook indicate that both see a big future in the development of third-party content for their Web sites. Widgets are mini pieces of software developed for Web sites, and in some cases, the desktop. They offer access to Web-based content and information without requiring that users visit a specific site.

Facebook As Important As Windows, Web - It’s been a good year for Facebook. Last fall, the social network opened its doors to everyone to make to grow beyond its stagnating user base of around 10 million. Then about 10 days ago, the company, now 25 million strong, gave developers the freedom to use Facebook’s platform to either create applications for the social network or to develop their own networks using the company’s free tools, a move that has been met with almost universal applause. Why? Because development and usage have already exploded beyond 300 apps. For example, music network iLike, a competitor to CBS’ Last.fm, began offering a plug-in through Facebook, and is growing at about 200,000 new users per day. Prior to the Facebook launch, iLike had about 3 million members–it doubled that figure through Facebook after just four days.

Hearst-Argyle Makes Local Deal With YouTube - Hearst-Argyle has cut a deal to distribute video clips on YouTube, the companies announced today. With the arrangement, news, weather, and clips from other local programs in five markets - - Boston, Manchester in New Hampshire, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore - - will be available on the video-sharing site, as well as clips of high school sports, among other material.

Real Intros ‘Transformative’ Video Player - The new RealPlayer, available in beta this month, allows consumers to “download Internet video instantly” from YouTube, Yahoo and virtually anywhere else on the Web. Viewers can then build a library for full-screen playback either on PCs or, after burning to disc, on TV sets.    

The Widget Way to Wealth - eBay has long touted an affiliate program that rewards smaller sites for sending traffic to the online marketplace. Now start-up AuctionAds promises to help Web publishers earn more from eBay via a downloaded widget that shows auction ads related to content on their sites.

TV’s Blurry Image Across the Pond - WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell seems to believe that, rather than television disappearing, the boundaries between it and the Internet will become increasingly blurred. But there are very clear differences between my computer and my TV set. Let me help his knightliness understand them.

BestBuy, Blockbuster To Enter Movie Downloads; Deals With Lionsgate - Someone needs to tell Lionsgate not to pre-announce its deals before the partners want it done (good for us journalists, though): in its earnings call today, CEO Jon Feltheimer listed its digital movies partners, which includes existing ones such as Apple and Amazon.com, and he also included Best Buy and Blockbuster, neither of which has yet announced its plans in the space, reports Variety.

Audio Interview: Rob Glaser, CEO, RealNetworks - Where does RealNetworks figure in this whole online video revolution going on? Shouldn’t it have been at the center of it all, with its pioneering efforts starting more than 12 years ago? What does Rob Glaser think about YouTube and the likes? I asked him some of these questions in an interview earlier today in Carlsbad, at the sidelines of the D conference.

Microsoft And Google Battle For Publishers’ Hearts At BookExpo - Microsoft and Google unveiled more details about their respective digital library plans at this week’s BookExpo America in New York. Both sought to couch their individual projects in the friendliest terms to publishers. Microsoft is building up its seven-month-old Live Books Search tool as it seeks to offer a direct challenge to Google’s books-scanning initiative, Reuters reported.

Comedy’s Future is on the Web - The future of funny is online. Who needs standup comedy when the layman can easily produce something more polished and post it to the Web? Who needs network television and its censorship rules when a guy like Will Ferrell can reach 30 million people with a video clip that took 45 minutes to produce?

CBS Buys Last.fm For $280 Million; Aims To Attract Younger Demographic - CBS is acquiring Last.fm for $280 million, ending months of speculation as to the likely buyer of the UK-based social music recommendation engine.“Last.fm is one of the most well-established, fastest-growing online community networks out there,” CBS CEO Leslie Moonves is cited as saying in a statement LA Times said it obtained ahead of an official announcement Wednesday. “Their demographics also play perfectly to CBS’ goal to attract younger viewers and listeners.”

Halyard Education Partners has acquired WorldClass Strategy - Halyard Education Partners acquires WorldClass Strategy, one of the leading providers of performance-based interactive marketing services to the higher education industry. Through this acquisition Halyard Education Partners has created one of the largest networks of websites and capabilities that support the post-secondary education market with online marketing services for student acquisition and retention. With the addition of WorldClass Strategy, Halyard Education Partners will generate nearly 3 million unique visitors a month and, in turn, deliver more than 2.4 million prospective students to institutions this year alone.”

eBay Acquires Browsing Tool StumbleUpon For $75 Million - eBay has bought browsing tool StumbleUpon for approximately $75 million; a spokeswoman said the deal was all cash. StumbleUpon lets users rate sites and suggests web pages for users to discover (or, “stumble upon”). The tool works with IE and Firefox and bases recommendations on “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” votes from others with shared interests.

Google Buys Geo-Photo Platform Panoramio; Aims For Off-line Apps - Google has been active on the acquisition trail and in product launches this week. The search site announced the planned acquisition Alicante, Spain-based Panoramio, which lets users store photographs online together with geographic data to create place-based documentaries. Panoramio had already been offered via Google Earth on a third-party basis.