Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
VideoEgg Buys SixApart, Then Re-brands
Six Apart, makers of the MovableType and TypePad blogging platforms, has been acquired by video ad network VideoEgg, which is re-branding itself as Say Media. ClickZ’s Zach Rodgers says, “The main driver of the acquisition was scale in social media. Six Apart’s ad network reached approximately 90 million U.S. unique users on thousands of sites in April, according to comScore.” Read more.
Web Ads And The TV
The “Web connected TV” business gets some air-time in a piece by Suzanne Vranica and Jessica Vascellaro in The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google are all featured as their plans to deliver advertising – or are at least thinking about it – through digital delivery channels connected to a TV. But, Microsoft’s Scott Ferris says, “In order for there to be a viable alternative model for distribution (such as ad-supported), a majority of media companies are going to have to be in a place where they can stomach the shift from subscription to advertising.” Read more.
Google Display Ads In Times Square
Google is broadening its display ad campaign to the carnival of New York City’s Times Square where the New York Times’ Claire Cain Miller reports, “The Times Square billboard, which will be 35 feet wide and 13 feet tall and stand 3 feet off the ground, will show a Web page with the words ‘Display ads are big. They’re gonna be huge.’ Below the tag line, “Watch this space,” an arrow points to an empty space where a display ad could be.” Read more.
WebMediaBrands Targeting Semantics
Alan Meckler’s WebMediaBrands is expanding its semantic web portfolio as it acquired Semantic Technology Conference (SemTech) and the SemanticUniverse.com blog from Wilshire Conferences according to PaidContent’s David Kaplan. Read more. In the release, Meckler discussed the acquisition’s relevance, “The Semantic Web is a rapidly growing technology that is affecting search marketing, retail marketing, and publishing and media markets.” Read it.
Privacy Lawsuits In The NYT
Tanzina Vega takes a look at the recent controversy around Adobe’s Flash cookies in The New York Times. She notes five recent class action lawsuits and summarizes the contents of several of the suits such as one for data company Clearspring. Vega adds, “more filings are expected as early as this week.” Read more.
Digital Agencies Bubbling
The WSJ’s Suzanne Vranica continues the coverage of Dentsu’s interest in agency AKQA and also says that New Jersey-based Rosetta is interested agency Level Studios. She writes, “Digital ad firms -which help companies pitch their products on the Internet and through mobile devices- are of particular interest to ad and media companies as online ad spending continues to grow and other mediums struggle.”
Read more. In fact, Rosetta bought Level Studios according to Ad Age.
Wireless Hockey Stick
On his personal blog, Paul Kedrosky publishes Goldman Sachs data which shows the “hockey stick” occurring in wireless data which includes an expected 24% compound annual growth rate over the next 10 years. See the graph.
Making A Travel Buy
Hollis Thomases reviews your options for travel buys on the web on ClickZ. She says that some travel sites are leaving money on the table, “As a media planner, I would love to be able to say, ‘Serve my ads to anyone who comes to your site and searches for “Baltimore”.’ Talk about targeted!” Read more.
