Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
$7 million More For OwnerIQ
OwnerIQ has received $7 million in additional funding according to an article by Laurie Sullivan on MediaPost. Read more. Adding up the Crunchbase numbers, this gives the company $20 million in financing since 2007. OwnerIQ has an SEO-friendly network of product-support sites called ManualsOnline and according to its website it gets over 4 million uniques per month. This is a similar strategy to ValueClick’s Investopedia strategy where the ad network leverage its media skills with ownership of a website with high-value users and the intent data that pours off the website. The trend: ad networks/DSPs/etc. in the publishing business -this includes ad networks like Ad.com which helps monetize Aol.
Facebook Display Prognostications
Ad Age’s Edmund Lee examines the latest eMarketer ad revenue predictions and finds Facebook “is estimated to book $2.19 billion in ad revenue in the U.S. this year, all of it classified as display.” Emarketer also says Google is predicted to make $1.15 billion in 2011 and predictions for Yahoo come in at $1.62 billion. Read more.
America’s Favorite Video Ad Network
Many, if not all, marketers, would like to somehow have their ad appear as content rather than an ad. It appears that in online video, marketers may be getting their wish – to a degree – as new U.S.-only comScore data shows: “Video ads accounted for 12.6 percent of all videos viewed and 1.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.” Tremor Video, BrightRoll Video Network and Break Media round out the top 3 U.S. video ad networks by reach in the pay-for-play measurement for May. Read more.
On Adotas, Ajay Sravanapudi, CEO of demand-side platform LucidMedia, revisits predictions he made “many moons ago” about the display advertising and demand-side platform business. He begins with a past prediction about agencies: “Agencies won’t be able to absorb true self-service.” Sravanapudi offers his analysis, “Almost all of the smaller agencies run campaigns with DSPs in ‘managed service’ mode. The DSP typically gets a CPM rate. Some of the larger holding companies have made significant investments in people to build up internal expertise. They still use a third-party platform. They still profess independence from any one vendor.” Read more.
Crowdsourcing The Ground Troops Of Search (Display?)
Crowdsourced, search marketing, marketplace Trada (AdExchanger.com Q&A, April 2010) announced that it has entered into an agreement with Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance paid search, certified reseller. In return, Yahoo/Microsoft will supply Trada with “technical and co-marketing support and incentives for helping the Search Alliance reach SMBs. Trada is one of a few selected resellers for the Search Alliance, according to the release. Read more. It will be interesting to see if display can be be brought to Trada’s crowd-sourced solution. Among the hurdles will be display’s complexity and the dearth of knowledgeable display ad marketers versus search marketers today.
Thinking About MDMD, DGIT
ThinkEquity analyst Robert Coolbrith offered his take to investors on the acquisition of MediaMind (stock market ticker symbol is MDMD) last week by DG (ticker: DGIT): “1) MDMD is a leader in rich-media ad serving and faces multiple potential growth opportunities including incremental penetration of the U.S. market, incremental platform customer relationships, China, Facebook, and data-driven display, 2) DGIT expects to realize $15M of cost synergies within 12 months of acquisition close, 3) we believe that DGIT can drive revenue synergies, particularly among its U.S. agency/marketer relationships, and 4) we believe that MDMD’s international footprint can accelerate DGIT’s push to expand internationally. We believe that the acquisition premium is reasonable given potential revenue/cost synergies and the option value of MediaMind’s third-party ad serving footprint as we believe that MDMD can materially expand its addressable market opportunity over the next 3-5 years.”
Facebook Display Buzz
AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley tells Forbes’ Agustino Fontevecchia, “Everyone is waiting to see what Facebook does,” as Facebook display momentum goes under the microscope. No mention of the Facebook ad network but O’Kelley sees potential and notes, “that Mark Zuckerberg’s company has done a good job within its ‘closed’ platform (externally served ads aren’t really allowed on Facebook), and could soon be looking for ways to open it up.” Read more.
Search-Display Means Search-Retargeting
Covario SVP Harrison Magun puts it simply in how is company is bringing search and display together in an article in eMarketer. Magun says, “Search and retargeting makes for a one-two punch. Ninety-five percent of the clicks you buy in search don’t convert. Retargeting lets you reach those users again, at the right time, and move in for the sale.” Read more.
NYT On Tech Bubble
- Investors Provide Millions to Risky Start-Ups – The New York Times
- Within the Industry, an Urge to Cash Out – The New York Times
- Small Group Rode LinkedIn to Big Payday – The New York Times
But Wait. There’s More!
- Justice Department to Review Google’s Admeld Deal – The New York Times
- Admen and marketers to woo geeks at Cannes (subscription) – The Financial Times
- The 87.5% Category According to Luma – Lots of Acquisitions – Darren Herman
- Lessons in Longevity, From I.B.M. – The New York Times
- Let’s Make A Deal: Coupon Codes Are Now Live! – isocket blog
