Browsing Future; Slow Holiday

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

Browsing Future

Mozilla’s executive chair, Mitchell Baker, talked to CNET about what the company is up to and its expansion into mobile. She told CNET, “One thing that has shifted is the ability to access the abilities of the phone using Web apps. The new mobile computing environment is accessible and controllable from the Web. That is utterly Mozilla.” The company also reported a huge bump in revenue, thanks to Google, from $163 million in 2011 to $311 million in 2012. Read more.

Slow Holiday

Retailers are showing holiday ads earlier in the season, but the volume of holiday ads has decreased by 8.2%, according to AceMetrix. “The ads are a little lighter on the music, a little heavier on the background decorations. It’s a more subtle way of saying the holidays are here than to hit them with big Christmas trees,” Jonathan Symonds of AceMetrix told Ad Age. Read more.

Video CPMs

On Digiday, Josh McDermott reviews The New York Times’ investment in digital video and how advertising picks up the tab. McDermott writes, “The Times, which declined to disclose the cost of its ad inventory, could charge anywhere between $25 and $40 CPM for pre-roll ads on its site, according to ad tech executives. One exec said that the Times might be able to command a video ad CPM at $50. (…).” Read more. Meanwhile, eMarketer ran an interview on Friday with NY Times CEO Mark Thompson, who reiterates the video emphasis and says, “The important part is working hard on premium custom advertising. In addition, we’re very focused on building video advertising and on taking a more proactive view of programmatic.” Read that one.

Tracking Search Marketing

On Business Insider, Adchemy CEO Murthy Nukala discusses the “state of” his marketing tech company. Nukala reveals that his company has 30 clients using its new search marketing product and says that average budgets range in the $200k range. “Adchemy’s new product is intended to structure a retailer’s online catalogue so that it responds with product listing ads in Google by extracting that meaning, rather than by simply matching keywords,” writes BI’s Jim Edwards. Read more. And read AdExchanger’s interview earlier this month after Adchemy sold its lead-gen biz to XL Marketing.

Leaving AOL

Nathan Richardson is stepping down as president of AOL Live, according to POLITICO, only two and a half months after taking the position. Richardson was working on a live-streaming video channel, and a program called “770 Live From AOL,” which is now on hold. AOL didn’t give any comment on the situation. Read more.

ComScore Rankings

Late last week, comScore publicly announced the October rankings – by U.S. reach – for its pay-for-play ad network list known as “Ad Focus.” Among the highlights, comScore saw 225 million U.S. uniques in October, it’s breaking out “desktop-only” traffic and, finally, it looks like retargeter Criteo has decided not to pay to play and has dropped off the list (but was on it in September). Could this signal a strategic shift by Criteo?

Mobile Adoption

IBM conducted a study that found 90% of global companies are willing to sustain or increase their investment in mobile technology in the next 12-18 months, according to Mobile Marketing Watch. “It is far too limiting to define mobility simply as a device or a channel for transactions. The organizations that come out ahead will be the ones that prioritize mobile and redefine its use to drive a new set of business expectations and user experiences,” says IBM’s Kevin Custis. Read more.

But Wait, There’s More!