Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Google May Expose AdSense Rev Share
Schwaaaa??? From Davos, Switzerland, Jeff Jarvis reports for The Business Insider on Eric Schmidt’s and other Google execs’ meeting with reporters where a Google rep told Jarvis, “They would consider giving more transparency about revenue splits in Adsense.” Read more from the news conference.
The End Of Flash?
Robert Scoble thinks that Adobe is scared that its Flash technology is going dinosaur as developments such as Apple’s iPhone and iPad which doesn’t use Flash becomes popular and due to the ongoing adoption of HTML 5. Scoble writes, “Based on my talks with developers: they are not including Flash in their future web plans any longer.” Read more.
First Round’s Startup Fund Reaction
Last week’s announcement that First Round Capital has started a fund that will allow its entrepreneurs to share in each other’s success has been welcomed by many such as COO Andrew Weissman at Betaworks who wrote on his blog, “I think this has the potential to be truly disruptive and innovative for at least five reasons: (1) Removes some entrepreneurial stress…” and then he lists four other reasons here. Sensing the end of capitalism, Richard Ehrenberg from IA Capital Partners isn’t so sure about the fund. Ehrenberg doesn’t buy the philosophy saying, “It sounds like communist rhetoric to the ears of someone use to the hurly-burly ‘Pay me for what I do’ mantra of Wall Street.” Read more.
Quantcast Compliant
Quantcast says that it has adopted the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards for audience measurement and has made it available to Quantcast publishers according to the Quantcast blog here. Quantcast says the report “estimates how many pixel requests likely came from the same page, what fraction of page views are caused by auto-refresh, and what fraction of a publisher’s traffic is generated by robots and spiders.”
DataLogix and Real-World Data
DataLogix which “operates the online platform for Real-World Data, and claims to have the industry’s largest database of SKU-Level consumer discretionary purchasing behavior” announced a deal with automotive research company R.L. Polk. Polk will combine its own technology with DataLogix’s to amp up targeting for automotive audience targeting. Read more.
Google Displaying In Search
Former Lookery CEO Scott Rafer noted a new ad unit on the Google search engine result pages from his Tumblr blog here. It’s a “green “Special Offer” bubble.” See it!
UK Conservatives Love Digital
ClickZ’s Jack Marshall says that in an effort to reach out to its more digitally-inclined voter base, the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party is building a dedicated in-house digital team and selecting agency partners who “will help it capitalize on opportunities to woo voters in the digital sphere.” Hear here.
DSP Vs. Ad Network
On Imedia Connection, Jay Friedman of Goodway Group, which owns the Beep! automotive ad network, discusses the differences between demand-side platform and ad networks. Regarding ad networks, Friedman writes, “Networks that pre-buy believe they have an advantage because they get first pick of inventory from popular sites.” But, Friedman adds that his ad network does not pre-buy similar to Invite Media and Media Math. Read more.
Burst Media Pre-Announces
Not scheduled to report their quarterly earnings for the period ended December 31, 2009, until April, display ad network Burst Media pre-announced its performance saying quarterly revenues will be “‘at least in line with market forecasts” which say the company will gross $31.3 million. Read more from IBTimes.
Citysearch Expands Local
Citysearch says that its new City Grid service is on fire, in a good way, as it looks to exploit the local, online advertising and content network market. In a release, the IAC-owned company said, “In December 2009, CityGrid aggregated more than 500K paying advertisers, enhanced listings and content for 15M businesses, and reached more than 100M unique users across 100 web and mobile sites.” Read more.
Creating The Need
Sounds like big brother doesn’t it? And not the TV show, either. Robert Verganti says on the Harvard Business Review website that Apple is a master of creating need and the iPad is yet another example of its marketing prowess. Verganti writes, “Insights do not move from users to Apple but the other way around. More than Apple listening to us, it’s us who listen to Apple.” Read it.
More NYTimes.com Pay Wall News
According to PaidContent’s Staci Kramer, it looks like VP of Advertising Paul Smurl will be “on the hook” for getting the online subscription model for the New York Times to work as he will have a new title called VP of Paid Products. Read more. Just turn on the subscription page, Paul – this isn’t tough! I have my credit card ready.
CPX Interactive Working The Weekends
CPX Interactive put out a press release on a Saturday about its new advisory board. CPX said that with its advisory board “The ad network is bringing together executives with backgrounds spanning the spectrum of media-related industries.” One from cable, one with radio background. Is CPX preparting for a cross-channel digital future? Read the release.
MBAs And Startups
Charlie O’Donnell, EIR at First Round Capital, has a few bones to pick with MBAs who come waltzing into a startup’s office for a job opportunity. O’Donnell has tired of MBAs who think that they have “the tools” when what they need is “ninja skillz.” If he does take an MBA’s meeting, O’Donnell suggests, “Just tell me right off the bat what you can do for [insert First Round portfolio company] and why, when I pass you off, that CEO is going to thank me a million times over for sending you over—because if you’re not of immediate and immense value, you’re just a time sink.” Read more.
AdExchanger 2009 Report – Hard Copy Edition
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