IBM Acquires Yet Another Analytics Firm, This Time for $1.7 Billion. Apple Clears Way for Google's Ads on Its Devices. Jack Marshall | September 13, 2010 | 0 Comments inShare0 Move may have come in reaction to regulatory scrutiny.
Apple's move to revise the terms of its application developer agreement, revealed last week, suggests the company now intends to allow competitor Google to sell and serve mobile advertising into applications on its devices, having previously barred it from doing so. The update has removed language that stipulated developers were not permitted to make use of third-party advertising or analytics products from companies that are "owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices," which includes AdMob thanks to parent company Google's involvement in the mobile device market with its Android operating system.
The revised agreement will also allow developers to port across applications built with Adobe's Flash technology, which it had previously prohibited. Weezer Reverses YouTube Strategy, Hopes Sales Beat 'Pork And Beans' Christopher Heine | September 15, 2010 | 1 Comment inShare0 Pop band enlists so-called YouTube celebrities to spread the word for its new album.
Weezer has been innovative in using the video site for the last year, but an increase in sales has yet to happen. It appears Weezer wants to be to YouTube just like Buddy Holly was to late 1950s radio. Ooh wee ooh, indeed. And if the Los Angeles-based pop band's campaigns on the video site last year didn't get the attention of entertainment marketers, the one it launched yesterday likely will. Ben Patterson, president of DashGo, which is helping run Weezer's digital campaign, said 14 of the YouTubers have created a video with the band so far.
Twitter Talks About New Video Ads, Movie Marketers Can't Wait. Christopher Heine | September 16, 2010 | 0 Comments inShare15 The micro-blogging site's multimedia opportunities for brands follows Facebook's entry into online video advertising.
Microsoft Overtakes Yahoo in Search, Says Nielsen. Zachary Rodgers | September 14, 2010 | 0 Comments inShare4 Yahoo is unseated as the No. 2 search provider after a year of steady declines.
Yahoo has been unseated as the #2 search provider in the U.S. by Microsoft's search properties, according to Nielsen's August data. During the month, Microsoft's Bing/MSN/Windows Live sites achieved market share of 13.9 percent, a rise of 2 percentage points compared to July and a leap of 30 percentage points compared to August 2009. Paid Celebrity Endorsements On Facebook: They're He-e-r-r-re. Christopher Heine | September 17, 2010 | 2 Comments inShare0 Ad.ly says celebrities will write posts for big brands on its 'micro-endorsement' platform.
One retailer is testing the idea on reality TV star Heidi Montag's Facebook page. Will celebrities like Heidi Montag be able to move the sales needle when they make transparently commercial posts for a company on their Facebook pages? Evidently, Ad.ly has already convinced a handful of big brands that people such as Montag - with a large number of Facebook "likers" - will do just that. The Beverley Hills, CA-based advertising platform announced Wednesday that it offers marketers the opportunity to pitch products through so-called influencers on the social site. "Basically, the advertisers want more reach," said Sean Rad, president of Ad.ly. One small retail brand, PetFlow, has leveraged Ad.ly's automated platform via Montag's Facebook page. Startup Transforms Annoying Captchas Into Ad Opportunity. Susan Kuchinskas | September 20, 2010 | 5 Comments inShare0 Solve Media aims to address a common consumer headache while providing a new revenue source for publishers.
Rosetta Acquires Digital Agency Level Studios. Jack Marshall | September 20, 2010 | 0 Comments inShare0 Agency says acquisition will add strength around emerging devices and technologies.
New Jersey-based Rosetta has announced it will acquire digital-focused agency Level Studios, and claims the deal will make it the fifth largest digital outfit in North America with over 1,000 staff and 10 offices across U.S. and Canada. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Level offers a range of digital services, including media strategy and buying, creative, and support for emerging devices and technology. AmEx Courts Twenty-Somethings With New Site. Douglas Quenqua | September 23, 2010 | 1 Comment inShare0 Latest foray into publishing, called Currency, aims to educate young people on finances.
American Express is taking another leap into publishing with a new site called Currency that aims to help young people be smarter about their finances. Launched this week in collaboration with Federated Media, Currency offers an impressive amount of original content for a branded platform: articles on the hidden costs of living alone and planning for the future; blogs from financial consultants and journalists; and online "courses" on paying taxes and managing student loans. The centerpiece of the site is Social Currency, an app powered to Foursquare that lets users upload pictures of their purchases, along with captions and other text, at check-in locations.
"They feel this is a niche that really isn’t being tapped," he said. Google Instant – more searches, less thought. High performance access to file storage Analysis Google is on a mission to make web search as fast as the human brain will allow.
Leaked Google docs out top search ad spenders. High performance access to file storage Following its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP went from spending about $57,000 a month on Google search ads to an enormous $3.6m outlay for the month of June alone, according to a report citing internal Google documents.
Documents obtained by Ad Age list BP as Google's sixth largest advertiser in June. Early that month, BP began purchasing ads for keywords such as "oil spill" not only on Google but on Yahoo! And Microsoft as well, pushing netizens to its "www.bp.com/oilspillnews" site, where they could, in the company's words, find "Info about the Gulf of Mexico Spill" and "Learn More about How BP is Helping". According to Ad Age, BP also purchased video search ads, which send surfers straight to its online videos designed to spin the oil-spill news. The leaked documents also list other top Google advertisers for the month of June. What Big Brands Are Spending on Google - Advertising Age - Digital. Virgin America's Geo-Social Loss Leader Gets Huge Response.
Google Introduces Branded Map Icons. Kate Kaye | September 2, 2010 | 0 Comments inShare0 The paid feature is in beta with companies like HSBC, and will be available for mobile devices soon. Google on Wednesday said it is allowing advertisers to brand the generic icons representing banks, restaurants, and other types of businesses on Google Maps. In the initial beta stage, a handful of brands including HSBC now feature their logos in place of the standardized images Google has been using when users zoom in closely on a map area. Apple May Channel Netflix; Amazon Explores Subscription Video. The invite to Wednesday’s Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) event shows a guitar, which usually suggests music, but that hasn’t stopped the buzz about video. The current Apple TV is too expensive at $269 and too limited in the kinds of content it delivers.
With that in mind, expectations include a cheaper, more competitive set-top with expanded content. Google faces antitrust investigation in Texas. Top 10 endpoint backup mistakes Google is facing an antitrust investigation in Texas over claims the company unfairly manipulated results on its search engine. The news was first reported on Friday by Search Engine Land, which said it received a tip that the investigation was underway. Search Engine Land said that Google confirmed the investigation, and five minutes later, Google published a blog post that discusses the matter at length.
Google pays $8.5m to settle Buzz privacy invasion suit. High performance access to file storage Google has agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit claiming it violated the privacy of Gmail users when it released Google Buzz, a Gmail bolt-on that turned the email service into a Tweetbookish social networking tool. The suit in question consolidates several civil cases filed against the company over Google Buzz, which was rolled out to all Gmail users in February – before it had been publicly tested.
By default, Buzz automatically exposed users' most frequent Gmail contacts to the public internet. You did have the option of hiding the list from the public view, but many complained that the checkbox that let you do so was less than prominently displayed.