Ebay Optimizing Digital Shelf Yield With Hunch; Jumptap's Mobile Ad Audience; Fixing Media Mix Modeling

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Ebay Looking For Recommendations

In an effort to apparently maximize yield for its digital shelf space, Ebay is buying Chris Dixon’s Hunch – or so says indefatigable blogger Mike Arrington who estimates the prices at around $80 million and adds, “The Hunch recommendation technology will be used by Ebay to revamp their own ecommerce recommendations. Dixon will take over Ebay’s existing 50 person recommendations team, and start a new office in New York.” Read it. Improving the recommender – it’s the yield optimizer for Ecommerce. Ebay hopes it bought a good one.

The Mobile Ad Audience

Jumptap revealed some stats from its mobile ad network showing that the mobile audience can be a fickle bunch. From the release, “Samsung smartphone users access applications 27 percent more than iPhone users. On the flip side, iPhone users are twice as active on the mobile web as Samsung smartphone users.” Read more. Gaming apps appeal to the younger crowd on Samsung says Jumptap, and news and entertainment rules with older audience on the iPhone. The more appealing demographic is… it depends what you’re targeting.

Subscribing To Digital Ads

Venerable magazine The Atlantic says that, in October, for the first time its digital revenues have overtaken its traditional, magazine revenues. The New York Times’ Jeremy Peters writes, “The Atlantic, which expects to make about $18.6 million from advertising this year, or slightly more than half of its total revenue, said the growth in its online share of business was not because of a decline in the share of print revenue.” Read it.

Right Video, Right Audience

Max Knight of full-service media buying and data management platform Turn reviews what it takes to make video campaigns work online. No surprise here as Knight pours from a pitcher of data-driven Kool-aid, “Audience targeting capabilities. This is important in display and no less so with video. Marketers need to be able to reach the people they want and to control the frequency with which their targets are reached.” Read it.

Relationships Vs Tech

Speaking like your favorite “premium” publisher, Apple Store builder Ron Johnson says in the Harvard Business Review, “People come to the Apple Store for the experience — and they’re willing to pay a premium for that.” Think about it online – is your store an experience or just another clunky ecommerce site? Johnson says that success starts with people: “The staff isn’t focused on selling stuff, it’s focused on building relationships and trying to make people’s lives better.” Read it.

Creating The Right Mix

On the comScore Voice blog, Frank Reding discusses the intricacies of Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM). He admits, “One criticism of MMM is that because its insights aren’t available until after an advertising campaign has run, they are not actionable.” He ultimately agrees and says that creative is the big wild card in marketing mix modeling. Redick champions pre-testing creative. Read it.

Do-Not-Tracking It

In this past Sunday’s New York Times, the publishing company’s editorial team urges lawmakers to adopt a Do-Not-Track law and “act on the F.T.C.’s recommendation to establish a system that would allow consumers to effectively opt out of all tracking of their online activities.” Read “A Push For Online Privacy.” On his Buzz Machine blog, Jeff Jarvis responds – Balderdash!. Actually, he writes, “I do not object to any of these tracking behaviors. They are, in my opinion, necessary to pay for the content we get from The Times and The Journal and much of the rest of media. They are used to reduce noise, repetition, and irrelevant advertising and content.” Read it.

But Wait. There’s More!