Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Browsers Blocking Tracking
Mozilla, makers of Firefox, and Google, which makes Chrome, announced that their respective browsers will be outfitted with technology that makes the blocking of cookies a snap. Read more from Mozilla. And, read the Google Public Policy blog about Chrome opt-out enhancements which are available today. The two implementations are very different. Read Ars Technica for the overview.
BlueKai Buying
PaidContent’s David Kaplan notes that data exchange BlueKai sold $6.7 million worth of stock according to a new SEC filing. Read about it. John Cook of TechFlash follows up with a quote from the company about an acquisition it has made, “As part of an ongoing effort to provide the most innovative data solutions in the marketplace, BlueKai has purchased another company in an all stock acquisition. Additional details on the acquisition will be introduced in the coming weeks.” Read more.
Auditude Gets New CEO, Funds
Video ad network and platform Auditude announced that not only has it raised $11 million in new funds in an investment led by Granite Ventures, but it has also hired former United Online executive Jeremy Helfand as its CEO. Read more. Former Auditude CEO Adam Cahan will continue to serve as an advisor according to the release.
On The Online Journalism Review’s site, scarcity strategy has penetrated publisher thinking according to Robert Niles who writes, “Allow me to offer you a completely counter-intuitive piece of advice – one that’s nevertheless helped me to increase income from the networked ads I publish on my websites. To earn more money, try showing fewer ads.” Read it.
Competition In The Ecosystem
The New York Times’ Micahel Zimbalist reports on his recent Consumer Electronics Show visit and writes, “The media marketplace now resembles an ecosystem with a variety of device “species” coexisting side-by-side. Each of these species competes for a scarce resource – our attention.” Sounds like another ecosystem I know! Read more.
When Fraud Comes Calling
Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth sheds light on more fraudster anecdotes as 24/7 Real Media realized it was being targeted by cybercriminals posing as an agency looking to make a buy. The goal: get the ad network to run the fraudsters ad tags which delivered malware to consumers. Read what happened.
Pushing Audience
Lotame is featured in a MediaWeek piece by Mike Shields as Lotame’s Crowd Control platform is being utilized by Condé Nast. Shields writes, “According to [Condé Nast] digital sales vp Josh Stinchcomb, using Crowd Control Condé has isolated 20 distinct audience groups, which its sales teams have recently begun pitching to brands.” Read more.
NYT Paywall Update
The Wall Street Journal (ironically) reports that The New York Times is on the verge of announcing its paywall strategy and claims, “he Times will sell an Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site, as well as a broader digital package that bundles the Times online with its application on the iPad.” Read more.
Yahoo! To Report
Yahoo! will report its Q4 2010 earnings later today and all signs point to profit but slow growth according to an article by Bloomberg. Read more. Wall Street analysts expect earnings of 23 cents per share on revenue of $1.19 billion. How will display net out? Drum roll, please!
The Media Outlook
Fresh off its well-attended media conference last week, Jordan-Edmiston Group has released its new media trends outlook done in partnership with e-Consultancy. According to the report, “Media industry executives are optimistic about the health of their markets coming out of the economic downturn, as 82% identified ‘organic growth’ as the primary growth driver in the next 12 to 24 months.” Download the report (PDF).
Agencies Innovate With Tech
Forrester’s Sean Corcoran offers his predictions for agencies in 2011on his research company’s blog and offers, “Technology innovation becomes the new creative. Agencies are often hired based on their ability to generate ‘ideas’ (though I would argue it is only one of many reasons they’re hired). This won’t change moving forward, but …” Read more.
The Good And The Bad
Rubicon Project’s Josh Wexler reacts to yesterday’s AdExchanger.com article which suggested in part that most of the innovation has been focused on the demand side saying, “This is good. Yet premium publishers have not seen the majority of the value created by these technologies. Not even close. This is bad.” Read more.
4As Preps Agenda
The agency trade organization known as the “4As” has released its agenda and ad targeting takes a slot during the March 7-9 convention in Austin, Texas. Jack Myers moderates a panel that includes Evidon (was Better Advertising), GroupM, Mediabrands and Quantcast. Visit the site. And, download the agenda (PDF). Agency trading desks are notably absent from the agenda.
Monthly comScoring
comScore released its “Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for December 2010” with Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft landing at the top. comScore’s pay-for-play statistics for U.S. ad networks showed little change from November as Google and Yahoo were at the top there, too, and others such as Turn, Collective and AdBrite rounded out the top 10 by unique visitor reach for the month Download the release (PDF).
Tweeting Ad Revenues
eMarketer takes a stab at annual Twitter ad revenues and comes up with $150 million and growing to $250 million in 2012. See the graphic. Compare that to the microblogging company’s reported valuation of $3.7 billion after its last round of funding.
Inviting Investment
Invite Media CTO Scott Becker is taking some of the “winnings” from his company’s sale to Google and is entering the world of angel investing with an early stage investment in a company called Parse.ly. Read the release.
New Website
Aggregate Knowledge has taken the acronym by which they have been informally known (“AK”) and re-branded with a new logo and website. See it.
But Wait, There’s More!
- BlueCava Forms Advisory Board of Industry Executives to Expand Industry Reach in Privacy, E-Commerce… – press release
- Ad network startup secures R15m VC funding for int’l expansion – memeburn
