Facebook Has A Lot Of Display Ads; Brand Safety And Online Video; Pew Says We're Showrooming

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Facebook Display Ads

More stats have been released saying Facebook is the display impression king. comScore says Facebook had 27.9% of all the world’s display ad placements by the end of 2011 – up 6% in a year. Yahoo! (11%) and Google (5%) and Microsoft (5%) finished second and tied for third, respectively, says comScore. Read more in the WSJ (subscription). Looking at the display dollars, eMarketer has estimated Facebook cranked out $3.8 billion in ad revenue last year. On its last earnings call, Google said it made $5 billion in display revenue last year. Who’s really in the lead? Depends.

Brand Safety Dance

Everyone’s doing the brand safety dance as TubeMogul announced that it will be scanning web pages for inappropriate content before placing ads. According to the release, its new BrandSafe technology “will be built into every buy on its real-time media buying platform,” and assist in reducing the problem of badly placed online video ads.” Proximic will provide the contextual page scan for TubeMogul as semantic tech continues to be a component of the ad verification world. Read the release. Another interesting data point from the company regarding its pre-roll “sniffing” technology – it says it has blocked over 653 million fake pre-roll impressions. Meaning auto-play stuff.

Monetating

It’s earnings season and landing page optimizer Monetate has decided to offer a bit of insight on how it’s faring even though it’s a private company. The company claims a 278% increase in annual revenue growth. In addition, the company says in a press release that it “is in the midst of an aggressive hiring campaign that will double its service and support staff in 2012.” There’s more. The company had received $15 million in August to grow the company – including its staff.

Caller, Are You There?

Pew Research says, “More than half of adult cell phone owners used their cell phones while they were in a store during the 2011 holiday season to seek help with purchasing decisions.” Read more mobile data. Pew says a third of those calls were part of a growing and powerful trend that retailers such as Target have called “showrooming” (WSJ) where users comparison shop online – while in the store.

Cookies And The Law

Adweek’s Katy Bachman reports that U.S. Congressman Ed Markey is creating new legislation specifically for mobile after news of GPS tracking in some mobile devices. Bachman writes, “The Mobile Device Privacy Act would require companies to let consumers know what types of information are being collected, which companies get the information and how the data are being used. It would also require companies to get consent from consumers before information is collected, shared or transmitted.” Read about it. Meanwhile, BlueCava announced its bringing its cookie-less, device ID technology to the European Union as regulation swirls. Read the release.

Upward And Onward

Down under, Australian display advertising leader ninemsn (a venture of Microsoft and Nine Entertainment in Australia) said that it saw a small increase profit for its news portal while revenues grew nearly 30% last year. ninemsn CEO Mark Britt said, “In 2012, we are watching the economy and market with interest, but expect ninemsn’s results to continue to be strong, as online advertising continues to take revenue share from other media as it catches up to the Internet’s share of the time people spending using media.” Read more.

No Longer Demanding

paidContent’s Ingrid Lunden reports that Demand Media has seen steady exit of senior level executives. Founders and EVPs Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez, and Steven Kydd will leave the company says Lunden. Is this anything more than entrepreneurs vesting, or meeting earn out requirements, and then leaving after their company has been acquired? Read it.

You’re Hired!