YuMe Says Screen Size Matters; Google+ Milestone

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Screen Size Matters

It makes sense that the more screen space you have, the opportunities for bolder creative and less clutter are more pronounced. Video ad platform YuMe collaborated with IPG Media Labs to find out just how much of a difference screen size makes — and found that size isn’t everything. “Consumer attention is fragmented across screens amid a dizzying array of content, and viewing habits differ by time of day. This year’s study takes these factors into account and finds that clutter-free ad environments give advertisers the greatest ROI, regardless of screen size,” Ed Haslam, YuMe’s SVP of marketing, said. Read the release.

Google+’s Meaningless Milestone?

As part of Google’s welcome to its latest acquisition, photo app maker Nik Software, Google+, the search giant’s social network answer to Facebook, says it now has 400 million registered users and 100 million monthly active users. Read the blog post. As The Next Web’s Emil Protalinski notes, the most important number is the latter one – and with Facebook having passed 955 million active users this summer, Google+ still looks like an also ran. Still, having 400 million registered users may just be enough of an achievement for Google+; after all, as long as those users stay logged in, it’s still pretty easy to track their web movements, whether or not they post or view anything on the social net.

Data-Driven Commerce

Fresh from its acquisition of of retargeter MediaForge two weeks ago for its Rakuten LinkShare subsidiary, Japanese ecommerce company Rakuten has made an investment in Daily Candy-esque “Daily Grommet.” AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher explains, “Both Daily Grommet and Rakuten have focused on linking small and medium retailers directly with consumers, using discovery and social tools and large marketplaces. Daily Grommet was already working with Rakuten’s U.S.-based Buy.com site.” Read it. Rakuten, 10,000 employees strong, is steadily tying together a data-driven, ecommerce business.

Self-Serve Rant

Arnie Gullov-Singh, formerly of Ad.ly and Fox Audience Network, now of AdKnowledge, writes on his personal blog, “Having built 3 self serve ad platforms (at Overture, Fox and Adly) and been a customer of over 50 others (yes there are over 50 self serve ad platforms), the one issue that seems to arise in the lifecycle of every new cost per click ad platform is that of the minimum cost-per-click bid.” Read why he thinks this is w-r-o-n-g.

Pepsi Startup Challenge

The soft-drink maker is cozying up to the Silicon Valley set, offering marketing advice to startups and hoping some tech savvy qualities are imparted to it, in return, AdAge’s Natalie Zmuda reports. Read it. Pepsi is touting its role as a tech funder and incubator with its Digital Labs project, as it looks to augment the 10 percent of its ad budget spent on startups. “[Digital Labs] grew out of this need to not always rely on agencies or partners to bring us ideas or introductions to not just startups but to a lot of the disruptive marketing products that are reaching consumers,” said Andrea Harrison, director of digital engagement at PepsiCo.

Paid, Owned and Earned

Nielsen shares some nice data and graphics on the media biz, including what consumers trust most and least when it comes to ad messaging. In the study, no surprise – recommendations from a friend are most trusted. But on the least trusted side of things- mobile text ads. Who knew? Display ads on mobile and PC finished second and third from the bottom, respectively. See it now.

Attribution Chasm

On Econsultancy, Encore Media Metrics CEO Steve Latham reviews whether attribution analytics are crossing into the mainstream of marketing tools and requirements. He writes, “Given that the year is now 2/3 over, I am not holding my breath for rapid transformation in 2012. But there are many positive signs, fueled in part by Big Data fever that has everyone atwitter. Mass adoption will happen when advertisers start demanding better metrics, deeper insights and demonstrable improvement in ROI from their agencies.” Read it.

But Wait. There’s More!