13th August 2008
Google and Yahoo partially disclose terms of advertising deal
Google and Yahoo! on Friday 8 released excerpts of their search advertising partnership contract in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but omitted any financial ties and the extent of other ties between the two.
This is an unusual move for both parties, as typically Internet companies try to guard the terms of such contracts with the aim of being able to aggressively negotiate pricing at variable terms with other customers.
Critics of the Yahoo! advertising have suggested that the deal threatens competition for advertising that runs alongside search engine results, appearing next to and above the results as Sponsored Links or a similar term. The agreement is limited to the United States and Canada, but congressional leaders have conducted hearings to investigate what impact the partnership could have on the global marketplace.
11th August 2008
Miva rejects Blinkx's $40m takeover offer
C23Media Search Engine Marketing News - Miva has rejected the $1.20 a share takeover offer from video search engine Blinkx, which valued the digital media company at $40m.
After a board meeting on Friday, Miva said that it believed that Blinkx's takeover offer undervalued the company.
Larry Weber, Miva's chairman, said: "After careful evaluation, the Miva board believes that Blinkx's proposal significantly undervalues Miva's assets, including our technology, brand recognition and network.
11th August 2008
Google sells Performics to Publicis
C23Media Search Engine Marketing News - Google has offloaded its Performics Search Marketing business to Publicis Groupe for an undisclosed sum.
Perrformics helps businesses improve the performance of their advertising by advising them on how to maximise their visibility on sites such as Google. It has over 130 search engine marketing clients, representing over 200 global brands.
Google acquired Performics as part of its acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick, and due to the conflict of interest, had been looking for a buyer ever since the DoubleClick deal was finalised.
10th August 2008
Search Continues to Rise
C23Media London - A recent report from Pew Internet & American Life Project has shown that the use of search engines has increased by 69% since 2002 and that now just under half of all internet users will utilise a search engine at least once on a typical day. This figure has grown significantly over the past six years, in 2002 only a third of users were using a search engine on an average day, The New York Times reports.
The use of search engines is now closing the gap on the most used site category, internet based email application, such as hotmail. The study also shows that men (53% likelihood of using a search engine on a typical day) are more likely to use a search engine than women (45%) and younger users are more prone to utilising search engines than older users.
As the number of sites on the net grows and search engines become more reliable at retuning results people may be eschewing bookmarks in favour of searches. This can be seen in the high number of navigation searches in which the user knows where they want to go and search for the site rather than go to the URL directly.
8th August 2008
Mozilla introduces a buddy for Firefox: Snowl
C23Media London - Mozilla's new baby, Snowl, is an experimental project that the company hopes will allow users to gather all their inbound communications, from email to Twitter posts, in one place for easy management.
The new feature, which is currently in a very basic form, is designed to fit neatly with Mozilla's much-loved Firefox web browser and make way for seamless web browsing and message administration without needing to switch between the two.
In a recent blog post, Mozilla outlines the big question on its mind: is it possible for a web browser to help users follow and continue their online discussions?
6th August 2008
Google Analytics - coming to a TV near you?
C23Media London - Rumours are abuzz in the industry that Google isn't as effective as it normally is in marketplace dominance when it comes to TV advertising, and that its Google TV Ads service is up against the wall and not performing very well. However, recent reports suggest that Google is happy to let people find out for themselves, by introducing functionality within the free Google Analytics service which allows users to track the progress of their TV campaigns.
According to the official Google Analytics blog, the service allows users to send their TV ad to a list of participating channels, partnered with Google, across the entirety of the US. The system then tracks the impressions delivered compared to the number of times the ad plays whilst the advertising spot is running. The service then compares the findings to timescales whilst providing information about the cost of the campaign.
Google says that audio campaigns and TV campaigns are especially useful for users taking advantage of the offline advertising options within Google Adwords, although claims about the campaigns being extremely trackable leave something to be desired. As with all above the line marketing, and especially brand based exposure such as TV advertising, there is no solid way to track whether a user spike at a certain time is coming to your site because of your advertising campaigns, or some other unknown factor, and as such there can never be an ideal solution.
6th August 2008
Facebook overtakes eBay to become 3rd top UK website
C23Media London - Social Media phenomenon, Facebook, has become the third most visited site in the UK and is closing in on second placed Hotmail, the online email service owned by Microsoft. According to internet monitoring company, Hitwise, Facebook received 2.75% of UK internet traffic last month beating eBay at 2.46%. The top site is, obviously, Google.
Facebook and eBay are both extremely addictive, almost hypnotic sites with strong social elements to them as well as a powerful brand. Both have a very loyal base of users who return regularly to the site and spend a lot of time on site for each visit.
According to Hitwise, visitors to Facebook are more likely to be female and are younger on average. They are also more likely to live in London and the South East of England.
6th August 2008
Yahoo! SSP vs. Google Base
C23Media London - Google and Yahoo! have been going head-to-head in the search market for years now. Initially Yahoo! was king of the castle, but two years or so after Google launched, the Mountain View contenders stole Yahoo!'s throne.
Here at C23Media we've always watched search battles with keen interest and now we propose that Google Base and Yahoo! SSP get the gloves out, engage in some brutal fisticuffs and show us which is better for the digital advertiser.
If you have been living in a cubby hole for the past 3 years, or you are new to the digital marketing world, you may not know what Google Base (formally Froogle) or Yahoo! SSP are:
6th August 2008
Beijing Olympics: TV or online streaming?
C23Media London - For the first time in Olympic history, there will be complete global online coverage of the events. And major broadcasters such as NBC and BBC, technology providers like Adobe and Microsoft and content networks like Google's Youtube are all getting ready for the online battle.
The Athens 2004 Olympics broke all global TV viewing records with near 4 billion unique people watching the games at least once, and a cumulative audience at around 40 billion. Online broadcast coverage was only available to a few territories at the time.
Beijing 2008 may manage wrest away the title of most watched Olympic games, especially thanks to being celebrated in the world's most populated country, but it will surely be difficult to beat the Athens television global audience due to the fierce competition provided by online streaming video.
6th August 2008
Warner-ing sale imminent for AOL
C23Media London - Time Warner is moving forward with its plans to formally separate AOL's portal and advertising and dial-up access businesses and selling off the parts, but just how much is the company expecting? When Google invested $1 billion in AOL a few years ago for a 5% stake, that valued the business at $20 billion, it seemed an awfully high figure even back then. Today, it's speculated that Time Warner would be lucky to get even a quarter of that for all of AOL.
Be that as it may, Time Warner reportedly wants $10 billion just for the advertising and content business, meaning there are only two serious potential bidders - Microsoft and Yahoo!, a situation made all the more complicated by the two's recent failed takeover talks, and Time Warner's interference in Yahoo!'s selection of new board members.
Based on Time Warner's current stock price - around $14 - some analysts value the advertising and content business at no more than $3 billion to $4 billion.
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