Friday, July 28, 2006
Can Google tackle tiny upstarts in key new markets? - MarketWatch:
"'Google hasn't succeeded in most things it has tried outside of search,' said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research. 'They just don't seem to have done a lot of other things right.'
Over the past five years, Google has introduced dozens of new features beyond just Internet search in an effort to widen its business beyond search. There's been Gmail, its free, Web-based email; Google Finance for information on stock markets and Google Earth, its beloved satellite imagery and mapping feature, to name just three.
But those efforts were, to a large degree, a matter of Google trying to match widely used features in which big corporate rivals were already established. Gmail competes with Web-based email that's been available from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft and Time Warner's AOL. Another relatively new Google feature, Google Finance, is a competitor of Yahoo Finance.
This year, it's trying to make headway in three new areas of business that are relatively new for both Google and its major competitors. As it's discovering, branching out hasn't had any impact yet on its bottom line..."
"'Google hasn't succeeded in most things it has tried outside of search,' said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research. 'They just don't seem to have done a lot of other things right.'
Over the past five years, Google has introduced dozens of new features beyond just Internet search in an effort to widen its business beyond search. There's been Gmail, its free, Web-based email; Google Finance for information on stock markets and Google Earth, its beloved satellite imagery and mapping feature, to name just three.
But those efforts were, to a large degree, a matter of Google trying to match widely used features in which big corporate rivals were already established. Gmail competes with Web-based email that's been available from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft and Time Warner's AOL. Another relatively new Google feature, Google Finance, is a competitor of Yahoo Finance.
This year, it's trying to make headway in three new areas of business that are relatively new for both Google and its major competitors. As it's discovering, branching out hasn't had any impact yet on its bottom line..."
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Cracking the social network code - MarketWatch:
"...Back in 2000, I recall sitting down with Internet executives at one of those ancient Internet Summit conferences, run by John Battelle, famed author of 'The Search.'
The discussion: 'How will Google make money?'
Back then, sponsored search was hardly a money maker, online video was running at a painful 15 frames per second on the Web, the word 'iPod' would have raised an eyebrow, email marketing seemed really promising, my space was typically used to describe an area around someone's physical presence, Lance Armstrong had only won the Tour de France twice, and the big debate was whether subscription or branded ad-supported models worked best on the Web.
One possibility raised years ago was that Google could charge $5 a month for usage. Many said that if Google were to charge, its popularity would be usurped by a free alternative. As most observers know, Google eventually copied Overture's (now part of Yahoo) brilliant paid-per-search business model. Some say Google even serendipitously tweaked its model by factoring in the number of clicks as well as price per click to determine the ranking of the ads. Today, sponsored search based on the price an advertiser pays and the popularity of an ad -- in other words, the Google way -- is the No. 1 way to make money on the Web.
Google reported last week that it generated $2.46 billion in sales in the second quarter. Of that amount, just over $1 billion dropped to its cash-flow line, estimates Goldman Sachs. No one fathomed this possibility five years ago. Good thing Google didn't charge. Its quarterly revenue is more than what people paid for all Web content last year. Its cash flow alone in the latest quarter is twice the $503 million that all the Web dating sites generated in sales in 2005. And, online dating from popular sites, such as InterActiveCorp's (IACI : iac interactivecorp com new Match.com or Yahoo Personals, were the No. 1 service people paid for between 2002 and 2004, according to the OPA.
What about social networks?..."
"...Back in 2000, I recall sitting down with Internet executives at one of those ancient Internet Summit conferences, run by John Battelle, famed author of 'The Search.'
The discussion: 'How will Google make money?'
Back then, sponsored search was hardly a money maker, online video was running at a painful 15 frames per second on the Web, the word 'iPod' would have raised an eyebrow, email marketing seemed really promising, my space was typically used to describe an area around someone's physical presence, Lance Armstrong had only won the Tour de France twice, and the big debate was whether subscription or branded ad-supported models worked best on the Web.
One possibility raised years ago was that Google could charge $5 a month for usage. Many said that if Google were to charge, its popularity would be usurped by a free alternative. As most observers know, Google eventually copied Overture's (now part of Yahoo) brilliant paid-per-search business model. Some say Google even serendipitously tweaked its model by factoring in the number of clicks as well as price per click to determine the ranking of the ads. Today, sponsored search based on the price an advertiser pays and the popularity of an ad -- in other words, the Google way -- is the No. 1 way to make money on the Web.
Google reported last week that it generated $2.46 billion in sales in the second quarter. Of that amount, just over $1 billion dropped to its cash-flow line, estimates Goldman Sachs. No one fathomed this possibility five years ago. Good thing Google didn't charge. Its quarterly revenue is more than what people paid for all Web content last year. Its cash flow alone in the latest quarter is twice the $503 million that all the Web dating sites generated in sales in 2005. And, online dating from popular sites, such as InterActiveCorp's (IACI : iac interactivecorp com new Match.com or Yahoo Personals, were the No. 1 service people paid for between 2002 and 2004, according to the OPA.
What about social networks?..."
Friday, July 21, 2006
Advertising Age - Wal-Mart Tries to Be MySpace. Seriously:
"...'The second you try to create boundaries and draw a line around content and put a box around content, it becomes something else. Teens aren't searching for what a company deems relevant, but what they deem relevant,' Mr. Stock said. 'You can't own it. When anyone tries to own it too much, then it becomes a problem. That's the impression I get on this site.'... "
"...'The second you try to create boundaries and draw a line around content and put a box around content, it becomes something else. Teens aren't searching for what a company deems relevant, but what they deem relevant,' Mr. Stock said. 'You can't own it. When anyone tries to own it too much, then it becomes a problem. That's the impression I get on this site.'... "
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
YouTube: 100 Million Videos a Day:
"Back in March at PC Forum, when someone from YouTube stepped up at a session and mentioned that the video service was streaming 30 million videos a day, I thought she had misspoken. Had to be 30 million a month, I thought.
logo_tagline_sm.gif
No, I was wrong. And today, YouTube just hit 100 million a day.
I have trouble even comprehending this. But I also think that the folks who wonder if YouTube can ever make a business out of it have no imagination. How can you NOT make a business from all those people watching videos?..."
"Back in March at PC Forum, when someone from YouTube stepped up at a session and mentioned that the video service was streaming 30 million videos a day, I thought she had misspoken. Had to be 30 million a month, I thought.
logo_tagline_sm.gif
No, I was wrong. And today, YouTube just hit 100 million a day.
I have trouble even comprehending this. But I also think that the folks who wonder if YouTube can ever make a business out of it have no imagination. How can you NOT make a business from all those people watching videos?..."
Search Engine Journal � Social Search Engines Having the Answers?:
"The LA Times is featuring an Associated Press article which addresses the question of social search & social media and whether the human powered suggestion and citation model will grow to become more useful than, or a cherished and fact checking partner to more ‘traditional’ bot & link based search algorithms.
The article, Do ‘Social’ Search Engines Have the Answers?, goes beyond the happenings at Yahoo Social Media and Google with a featurette on PreFound.com;
At PreFound, launched this year, users contribute to the knowledge pool by submitting clusters of websites that they believe would appeal to like-minded people. As an incentive, the largest contributors even get a share of PreFound’s advertising money.
A visitor looking for information on, say, New Jersey beaches can get the user-recommended sites, grouped by users. One user’s cluster gives you restaurants, Internet cafes and other information on the coastal town of Ventnor City, N.J.
The more people contribute sites, the better the results.
The article also discusses the adaptation of social search over the last year by Google and how Yahoo has repositioned its search offering and presence to a mantra of Social Search. Recently Yahoo launched what might be their most user friendly, revenue building and relevant social media product to date, Yahoo Trip Planner which is chocked full of searchable travel blogs, photos, ratings and suggestions.
More on Yahoo:
Eckart Walther, vice president of product management for Yahoo, said that although traditional search technology could be refined, it would probably remain best for fact-based searches. Social search, he said, provides the promise of answers to more subjective questions.
“If you asked me what the best hotel in San Francisco is, we’re different people, have different friends and different opinions,” Walther said. “Search engines are terrible at answering these kinds of questions.”..."
"The LA Times is featuring an Associated Press article which addresses the question of social search & social media and whether the human powered suggestion and citation model will grow to become more useful than, or a cherished and fact checking partner to more ‘traditional’ bot & link based search algorithms.
The article, Do ‘Social’ Search Engines Have the Answers?, goes beyond the happenings at Yahoo Social Media and Google with a featurette on PreFound.com;
At PreFound, launched this year, users contribute to the knowledge pool by submitting clusters of websites that they believe would appeal to like-minded people. As an incentive, the largest contributors even get a share of PreFound’s advertising money.
A visitor looking for information on, say, New Jersey beaches can get the user-recommended sites, grouped by users. One user’s cluster gives you restaurants, Internet cafes and other information on the coastal town of Ventnor City, N.J.
The more people contribute sites, the better the results.
The article also discusses the adaptation of social search over the last year by Google and how Yahoo has repositioned its search offering and presence to a mantra of Social Search. Recently Yahoo launched what might be their most user friendly, revenue building and relevant social media product to date, Yahoo Trip Planner which is chocked full of searchable travel blogs, photos, ratings and suggestions.
More on Yahoo:
Eckart Walther, vice president of product management for Yahoo, said that although traditional search technology could be refined, it would probably remain best for fact-based searches. Social search, he said, provides the promise of answers to more subjective questions.
“If you asked me what the best hotel in San Francisco is, we’re different people, have different friends and different opinions,” Walther said. “Search engines are terrible at answering these kinds of questions.”..."
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
eMarketer.com - Blogs, Blogs and More Blogs:
JULY 18, 2006
Welcome to the blogstream.
According to the latest figures from comScore Media Metrix, blogs are not merely becoming mainstream, they are turning into a flood of information. Or, as iMedia Connection put it, "blogs are now as ubiquitous to the web as reality shows are to television."
Scary.
Nevertheless, comScore reports that the traffic to blogs continues to grow, up 56% over the past year to 58.7 million visitors, and that represents 34% of the total Internet audience.
Perhaps more importantly, in a very real way blogs are an indication of how the Internet is shifting from a medium where users gather information into a medium where they disperse information. Willy-nilly the web is tranforming itself into a democracy, a community of millions of voices and opinions.
It is early days, however. Blog visitors still skew young. Users between the ages of 12 and 17 are 21% more likely than average to visit blogs. But, as with other past Internet usage trends, the older population may soon be following in their mouse clicks.
Blog visitation also tend to come from higher income households, with households with incomes of least $75,000 and higher 8% more likely than the average to check out blog material.
"Blogs combine the power of word of mouth with the efficiency of the Internet," said eMarketer Senior Analyst James Belcher. "Companies that want to know what's being said about them should be monitoring the blogosphere, where word — good and bad — spreads quickly."
While comScore makes no claim to tracking the entire online universe of blogs, when it comes to blog networks the researcher found the top-rated blog network was Blogger.com, with 20.8 million visitors in May 2006. MySpace Blogs was second with 14.4 million visitors, and MSN Spaces was third with 9.6 million visitors.
For more information on blogs, read eMarketer's recently-published report The Business of Blogging..."
JULY 18, 2006
Welcome to the blogstream.
According to the latest figures from comScore Media Metrix, blogs are not merely becoming mainstream, they are turning into a flood of information. Or, as iMedia Connection put it, "blogs are now as ubiquitous to the web as reality shows are to television."
Scary.
Nevertheless, comScore reports that the traffic to blogs continues to grow, up 56% over the past year to 58.7 million visitors, and that represents 34% of the total Internet audience.
Perhaps more importantly, in a very real way blogs are an indication of how the Internet is shifting from a medium where users gather information into a medium where they disperse information. Willy-nilly the web is tranforming itself into a democracy, a community of millions of voices and opinions.
It is early days, however. Blog visitors still skew young. Users between the ages of 12 and 17 are 21% more likely than average to visit blogs. But, as with other past Internet usage trends, the older population may soon be following in their mouse clicks.
Blog visitation also tend to come from higher income households, with households with incomes of least $75,000 and higher 8% more likely than the average to check out blog material.
"Blogs combine the power of word of mouth with the efficiency of the Internet," said eMarketer Senior Analyst James Belcher. "Companies that want to know what's being said about them should be monitoring the blogosphere, where word — good and bad — spreads quickly."
While comScore makes no claim to tracking the entire online universe of blogs, when it comes to blog networks the researcher found the top-rated blog network was Blogger.com, with 20.8 million visitors in May 2006. MySpace Blogs was second with 14.4 million visitors, and MSN Spaces was third with 9.6 million visitors.
For more information on blogs, read eMarketer's recently-published report The Business of Blogging..."
Monday, July 17, 2006
Report: Click Fraud Rises in Q2 & High-Priced Keywords Click Fraud Rate At 20.2%:
"...
- The overall industry average click fraud rate was 14.1 percent, slightly higher than the average of 13.7 percent for Q1
- The industry average click fraud rate for high-priced search terms was 20.2 percent. High-priced terms are defined as terms that cost over $2.00. These high-priced terms often make up the majority of an advertiser’s total spend.
- The industry average click fraud rate for companies running online advertising campaigns through:
o Tier 1 search providers, such as Yahoo! and Google, was 12.8 percent vs. 12.1 percent in Q1
o Tier 2 search providers was 20.3 percent vs. 21.3 percent in Q1
o Tier 3 search providers was 27.1 percent vs. 29.8 percent in Q1
- The average pay per click term cost for the top key terms across the five biggest search advertising industries – Retail, Financial Services, Health & Fitness, Technology, and Entertainment – for Q2 was $4.51. This compares to $4.75 from Q1.
- The greatest percentage of click fraud, over 88 percent, originated from within the U.S. and Canada. Outside North America, the greatest amount of click fraud originated from within India. Unwanted click activity originating from India increased 26 percent during Q2.
“One of the most interesting findings from our Q2 data was the difference between the overall average industry click fraud rate and the click fraud rate for the most expensive search terms,” said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics, LLC. “For the first time, we have industry data that clearly shows what many have expected – organizations purchasing higher-priced search terms are significantly more vulnerable to click fraud...”
"...
- The overall industry average click fraud rate was 14.1 percent, slightly higher than the average of 13.7 percent for Q1
- The industry average click fraud rate for high-priced search terms was 20.2 percent. High-priced terms are defined as terms that cost over $2.00. These high-priced terms often make up the majority of an advertiser’s total spend.
- The industry average click fraud rate for companies running online advertising campaigns through:
o Tier 1 search providers, such as Yahoo! and Google, was 12.8 percent vs. 12.1 percent in Q1
o Tier 2 search providers was 20.3 percent vs. 21.3 percent in Q1
o Tier 3 search providers was 27.1 percent vs. 29.8 percent in Q1
- The average pay per click term cost for the top key terms across the five biggest search advertising industries – Retail, Financial Services, Health & Fitness, Technology, and Entertainment – for Q2 was $4.51. This compares to $4.75 from Q1.
- The greatest percentage of click fraud, over 88 percent, originated from within the U.S. and Canada. Outside North America, the greatest amount of click fraud originated from within India. Unwanted click activity originating from India increased 26 percent during Q2.
“One of the most interesting findings from our Q2 data was the difference between the overall average industry click fraud rate and the click fraud rate for the most expensive search terms,” said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics, LLC. “For the first time, we have industry data that clearly shows what many have expected – organizations purchasing higher-priced search terms are significantly more vulnerable to click fraud...”
Friday, July 14, 2006
Search Engine Journal � Weighing MySpace.com & Yahoo Popularity:
"Yesterday Hitwise sent out a press release stating that MySpace.com was the most popular site on the Internet during the first week of July. More popular than Yahoo Mail and more popular than Google.
The Hitwise statement and numbers which back it up have caused some questioning by some, including Yahoo, of the practices of Hitwise and its metrics, along with the news channels which have covered the MySpace study.
The simplest way to sum up the Hitwise statement is that the domain, the page, MySpace.com, was the most visited single page last week. And that page experienced more visits than Yahoo Mail, or mail.yahoo.com, last week. Previously, according to Hitwise tracking, mail.yahoo.com was the most visited single domain page online.
MySpace.com is not more popular or visited than Yahoo. Hands down, Yahoo is the most popular property online, and they’ve sent out the numbers to prove it.
The report that Hitwise released yesterday with the headline “MySpace Moves Into #1 Position for all Internet Sites” is misleading. The Yahoo! network is made up of many domains and it is not accurate to compare MySpace.com to just Yahoo!’s mail.yahoo.com domain. When taking into account all of Yahoo!’s domains together as an entire network, Yahoo! clearly remains the number one property in terms of audience share, duration share, page view share and days visited per month.
In the U.S. alone, Yahoo! attracts 129 million unique visitors per month, which represents 74 percent of the online population; in comparison, MySpace reaches only 30 percent of the online population with an audience of 52 million unique visitors. In addition, Yahoo! has the largest share of online time spent than any other property: Yahoo! accounts for 13 percent of users’ online time, while MySpace has only 3.2 percent share in users’ online time.
Yahoo! maintains its leadership position as the world’s most trafficked Internet destination online, with a community of more than 500 million unique monthly visitors from around the globe.
Add source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2006
So, yes, we did not try to be misleading by reporting that MySpace.com was more popular than Yahoo in yesterday’s post MySpace.com Most Popular Site in America;
“In a sign of the times, MySpace.com has overtaken Yahoo Mail and Google Search as the most visited web site (page) last week. Hitwise, the web traffic and behavior tracking people, say that MySpace attracted 4.46% of all US visits, which pushed Yahoo Mail down to 2nd place and tops all other web portals.”
Despite the difference in being the most popular site online and the most visited single domain online, it is hard to question the rapid growing popularity of MySpace. Here is a figure from HitWise:
To put MySpace’s growth in perspective, if we look back to July 2004 myspace.com represented only .1% of all Internet visits. This time last year myspace.com represented 1.9% of all Internet visits. With the week ending July 8, 2006 market share figure of 4.5% of all the US Internet visits, myspace.com has achieved a 4300% increase in visits over two years and 132% increase in visits since the same time last year..."
"Yesterday Hitwise sent out a press release stating that MySpace.com was the most popular site on the Internet during the first week of July. More popular than Yahoo Mail and more popular than Google.
The Hitwise statement and numbers which back it up have caused some questioning by some, including Yahoo, of the practices of Hitwise and its metrics, along with the news channels which have covered the MySpace study.
The simplest way to sum up the Hitwise statement is that the domain, the page, MySpace.com, was the most visited single page last week. And that page experienced more visits than Yahoo Mail, or mail.yahoo.com, last week. Previously, according to Hitwise tracking, mail.yahoo.com was the most visited single domain page online.
MySpace.com is not more popular or visited than Yahoo. Hands down, Yahoo is the most popular property online, and they’ve sent out the numbers to prove it.
The report that Hitwise released yesterday with the headline “MySpace Moves Into #1 Position for all Internet Sites” is misleading. The Yahoo! network is made up of many domains and it is not accurate to compare MySpace.com to just Yahoo!’s mail.yahoo.com domain. When taking into account all of Yahoo!’s domains together as an entire network, Yahoo! clearly remains the number one property in terms of audience share, duration share, page view share and days visited per month.
In the U.S. alone, Yahoo! attracts 129 million unique visitors per month, which represents 74 percent of the online population; in comparison, MySpace reaches only 30 percent of the online population with an audience of 52 million unique visitors. In addition, Yahoo! has the largest share of online time spent than any other property: Yahoo! accounts for 13 percent of users’ online time, while MySpace has only 3.2 percent share in users’ online time.
Yahoo! maintains its leadership position as the world’s most trafficked Internet destination online, with a community of more than 500 million unique monthly visitors from around the globe.
Add source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2006
So, yes, we did not try to be misleading by reporting that MySpace.com was more popular than Yahoo in yesterday’s post MySpace.com Most Popular Site in America;
“In a sign of the times, MySpace.com has overtaken Yahoo Mail and Google Search as the most visited web site (page) last week. Hitwise, the web traffic and behavior tracking people, say that MySpace attracted 4.46% of all US visits, which pushed Yahoo Mail down to 2nd place and tops all other web portals.”
Despite the difference in being the most popular site online and the most visited single domain online, it is hard to question the rapid growing popularity of MySpace. Here is a figure from HitWise:
To put MySpace’s growth in perspective, if we look back to July 2004 myspace.com represented only .1% of all Internet visits. This time last year myspace.com represented 1.9% of all Internet visits. With the week ending July 8, 2006 market share figure of 4.5% of all the US Internet visits, myspace.com has achieved a 4300% increase in visits over two years and 132% increase in visits since the same time last year..."
eMarketer.com - What is the Youth Market's Fave Site?
"It's not MySpace or Facebook.
By Debra Aho Williamson - Senior Analyst
What Web site is most favored by young people? MySpace? YouTube? CollegeHumor.com?
Nope, think more vanilla than that. It's Google, according to a survey of the top 10 favorite Web sites by researcher Youth Trends.
Google was chosen as a favorite site by 34% of males and 31% of females ages 16-25. The quarterly survey was conducted in July 2006 among a representative sample of 1,200 US teens and college students. Respondents were asked, on an unaided basis, to list their three favorite Web sites.
There were some strong differences in responses between males and females. Females were more likely to list social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook among their favorites than males were. Facebook was the second most popular site among females, with 29% calling it a favorite site, but it was the fourth most popular among males (17%). Females placed MySpace third, while males ranked it fifth on the list.
"Among male respondents, Google, ESPN and Yahoo! (not necessarily always in that order) have consistently been the top three favorite sites for some time," said Josh Weil of Youth Trends.
Research by comScore agrees that Facebook and MySpace are more popular among female college students than among males.
Young females also are very interested in photo sharing – hence the appeal of Flickr. And females were more likely to list shopping sites: their favorites include eBay, Target and Amazon (the latter also a favorite among males).
"For females on the Web right now, posting and sharing photos is big, so you can essentially say: females are to digital photos as males are to sports," Weil said.
The Youth Trends survey also asked young people to list their favorites in other media. Among the choices:
Top TV show, males: Family Guy (31%)
Top TV show, females: So You Think You Can Dance (23%)
Top magazine, males: Sports Illustrated (21%)
Top magazine, females: Cosmopolitan (28%)
Top video game, males: FIFA World Cup 2006 (29%)
Top video game, females: Katamari Damacy (21%)
Find detailed analysis of US teens' Internet use in eMarketer's Kids and Teens: Blurring the Line Between Online and Offline report..."
"It's not MySpace or Facebook.
By Debra Aho Williamson - Senior Analyst
What Web site is most favored by young people? MySpace? YouTube? CollegeHumor.com?
Nope, think more vanilla than that. It's Google, according to a survey of the top 10 favorite Web sites by researcher Youth Trends.
Google was chosen as a favorite site by 34% of males and 31% of females ages 16-25. The quarterly survey was conducted in July 2006 among a representative sample of 1,200 US teens and college students. Respondents were asked, on an unaided basis, to list their three favorite Web sites.
There were some strong differences in responses between males and females. Females were more likely to list social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook among their favorites than males were. Facebook was the second most popular site among females, with 29% calling it a favorite site, but it was the fourth most popular among males (17%). Females placed MySpace third, while males ranked it fifth on the list.
"Among male respondents, Google, ESPN and Yahoo! (not necessarily always in that order) have consistently been the top three favorite sites for some time," said Josh Weil of Youth Trends.
Research by comScore agrees that Facebook and MySpace are more popular among female college students than among males.
Young females also are very interested in photo sharing – hence the appeal of Flickr. And females were more likely to list shopping sites: their favorites include eBay, Target and Amazon (the latter also a favorite among males).
"For females on the Web right now, posting and sharing photos is big, so you can essentially say: females are to digital photos as males are to sports," Weil said.
The Youth Trends survey also asked young people to list their favorites in other media. Among the choices:
Top TV show, males: Family Guy (31%)
Top TV show, females: So You Think You Can Dance (23%)
Top magazine, males: Sports Illustrated (21%)
Top magazine, females: Cosmopolitan (28%)
Top video game, males: FIFA World Cup 2006 (29%)
Top video game, females: Katamari Damacy (21%)
Find detailed analysis of US teens' Internet use in eMarketer's Kids and Teens: Blurring the Line Between Online and Offline report..."
Microsoft: "Enterprise Search Is Our Business" (It's Not) & Google Can't Have It (They Don't) :
"Microsoft to Google: Hands off enterprise search from News.com and a similar report from The Register both cite Microsoft Chief Operating Office Kevin Turner declaring 'enterprise search is our business, it's our house and Google is not going to take that business.'..."
"Microsoft to Google: Hands off enterprise search from News.com and a similar report from The Register both cite Microsoft Chief Operating Office Kevin Turner declaring 'enterprise search is our business, it's our house and Google is not going to take that business.'..."
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
TechCrunch � Blog Archive � Bebo Shuns $550 Million Acquisition Offer:
"San Francisco based social network Bebo, which recently raised $15 million from Benchmark Capital, rejected a £300 million ($552 million) acquisition offer from British Telecom Group “a few weeks ago”, according to an insider on the transaction. Bebo’s asking price? North of $1 billion.
A Benchmark representative wouldn’t comment on whether or not the rumor was accurate, but did stay on the phone with me long enough to say that “there has been a lot of interest from a lot of people around Bebo”.
Bebo has been on fire recently, and now has more than 25 million registered users and 3 billion monthly page views. Myspace, for comparison, has 70+ million users and nearly 30 billion monthly page views.
The success of Myspace (controlled by Fox Interactive Media) has led to a series of buyout offers on its competitors. Facebook was rumored to have turned down offers nearing $1 billion from Viacom and Yahoo. It looks like Kleiner’s recapitalization of troubled Friendster late last year for a few million dollars may have been a good bet.
Bebo
This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site."
"San Francisco based social network Bebo, which recently raised $15 million from Benchmark Capital, rejected a £300 million ($552 million) acquisition offer from British Telecom Group “a few weeks ago”, according to an insider on the transaction. Bebo’s asking price? North of $1 billion.
A Benchmark representative wouldn’t comment on whether or not the rumor was accurate, but did stay on the phone with me long enough to say that “there has been a lot of interest from a lot of people around Bebo”.
Bebo has been on fire recently, and now has more than 25 million registered users and 3 billion monthly page views. Myspace, for comparison, has 70+ million users and nearly 30 billion monthly page views.
The success of Myspace (controlled by Fox Interactive Media) has led to a series of buyout offers on its competitors. Facebook was rumored to have turned down offers nearing $1 billion from Viacom and Yahoo. It looks like Kleiner’s recapitalization of troubled Friendster late last year for a few million dollars may have been a good bet.
Bebo
This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site."
Saturday, July 08, 2006
SuperPages For Sale:
"Verizon has formally filed with the SEC to sell its directory unit, which contains the print yellow pages and online yellow pages/local search businesses. A likely sale could bring as much as $15 billion. And because AT&T does not look like it's going to spin off its directory business, SuperPages could fetch a significant premium.
Verizon has been by far the most experimental and innovative of the US directory publishers to date, embracing PPC marketing and PPCall (including in the print directory). It has also sought to expand the product definition by integrating web search, Shopping.com, eBay listings, ratings and reviews and other content to broaden the utility and usage frequency of SuperPages.com.
Indeed, the company has sought to expand from the notion of a “yellow pages” site into something more like a local shopping portal. The company has also reconceived its role, vis-à-vis local businesses, from strictly a yellow pages publisher to a local marketing agency, which sells print and online yellow pages in addition to other products (including SEM).
Read a longer version of this post on my blog..."
"Verizon has formally filed with the SEC to sell its directory unit, which contains the print yellow pages and online yellow pages/local search businesses. A likely sale could bring as much as $15 billion. And because AT&T does not look like it's going to spin off its directory business, SuperPages could fetch a significant premium.
Verizon has been by far the most experimental and innovative of the US directory publishers to date, embracing PPC marketing and PPCall (including in the print directory). It has also sought to expand the product definition by integrating web search, Shopping.com, eBay listings, ratings and reviews and other content to broaden the utility and usage frequency of SuperPages.com.
Indeed, the company has sought to expand from the notion of a “yellow pages” site into something more like a local shopping portal. The company has also reconceived its role, vis-à-vis local businesses, from strictly a yellow pages publisher to a local marketing agency, which sells print and online yellow pages in addition to other products (including SEM).
Read a longer version of this post on my blog..."
Search Engine Journal - eBay Shakes Up Management While Banning Google Checkout:
"Not only did eBay take the questionable move of blacklisting Google Checkout from its approved forms of buyer to seller payment, but now it seems that the Google snowball has eBay shaking up their management team at PayPal. Forbes reports that eBay let one of their heads of PayPal go today; Jeff Jordan, will be leaving the company as part of a major overhaul of senior management.
More from Forbes:
Raji Dutta, formerly eBay’s chief financial officer and currently head of eBay’s Internet-based phone service, Skype, will replace Jordan at PayPal’s helm.
Jordan was well respected in the investment world and was viewed as a potential successor to eBay’s chief executive officer Meg Whitman. He was head of eBay North America from 2000 to 2004 and PayPal from 2004 to 2006.
Other changes include Skype Vice President of Products Alex Kazim’s promotion to president of Skype and the appointment of Lorrie Norrington, president and chief executive of Shopping.com (nasdaq: SHOP - news - people ), as president of eBay International. Norrington replaces Matt Bannick, who will work on eBay’s corporate philanthropy initiatives..."
"Not only did eBay take the questionable move of blacklisting Google Checkout from its approved forms of buyer to seller payment, but now it seems that the Google snowball has eBay shaking up their management team at PayPal. Forbes reports that eBay let one of their heads of PayPal go today; Jeff Jordan, will be leaving the company as part of a major overhaul of senior management.
More from Forbes:
Raji Dutta, formerly eBay’s chief financial officer and currently head of eBay’s Internet-based phone service, Skype, will replace Jordan at PayPal’s helm.
Jordan was well respected in the investment world and was viewed as a potential successor to eBay’s chief executive officer Meg Whitman. He was head of eBay North America from 2000 to 2004 and PayPal from 2004 to 2006.
Other changes include Skype Vice President of Products Alex Kazim’s promotion to president of Skype and the appointment of Lorrie Norrington, president and chief executive of Shopping.com (nasdaq: SHOP - news - people ), as president of eBay International. Norrington replaces Matt Bannick, who will work on eBay’s corporate philanthropy initiatives..."
John Battelle's Searchblog: Clickfraud cost an est. $800m last year:
"Clickfraud cost an estimated $800 million for advertisers in false hits last year, reports the Financial Times today, based on study by a media firm called Outsell.
And 'more than a quarter of them have reduced their spending as a result...' Google, Yahoo and MSN, 'have avoided putting a number on the incidence of click fraud but Outsell said it averaged 14.6 per cent of all clicks billed to advertisers, even after Google and others had filtered out those ones they believed to be invalid. The 14.6 per cent equates to $800m of the $5.5bn US search engine market in 2005.'
However the number could be off by magnitudes in either direction, Danny Sullivan points out that 'half the advertisers in the survey also reported they do nothing to audit whether they have click fraud happening or not. So Outsell asked them to estimate the percentage of clicks that are fraudulant, and half of them essentially guessed � and that�s making up this industry stat? It could be far less or far more than this guesswork is stating.'... "
"Clickfraud cost an estimated $800 million for advertisers in false hits last year, reports the Financial Times today, based on study by a media firm called Outsell.
And 'more than a quarter of them have reduced their spending as a result...' Google, Yahoo and MSN, 'have avoided putting a number on the incidence of click fraud but Outsell said it averaged 14.6 per cent of all clicks billed to advertisers, even after Google and others had filtered out those ones they believed to be invalid. The 14.6 per cent equates to $800m of the $5.5bn US search engine market in 2005.'
However the number could be off by magnitudes in either direction, Danny Sullivan points out that 'half the advertisers in the survey also reported they do nothing to audit whether they have click fraud happening or not. So Outsell asked them to estimate the percentage of clicks that are fraudulant, and half of them essentially guessed � and that�s making up this industry stat? It could be far less or far more than this guesswork is stating.'... "
John Battelle's Searchblog: Dear Warner: Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot - Free Bugs (Again!)! :
"John Kricfalusi, creator of the wonderful Ren & Stimpy series and an all around worthwhile fellow to know (and new FM author) just pinged me with the news that YouTube is disallowing his linking of old Bugs cartoons on his site. Why? Because Warner Brothers, who now owns the copyrights, has no idea how powerful a marketing tool John's blog can be, that's why. All they want to do is prevent folks who might buy DVDs, merchandise, and view ads next to webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs from, well, buying DVDs, merchandise, and looking at webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs. Hey Warner, aren't you paying any attention to what is happening out here in the real world? You don't want to upset the creator of Ren & Stimpy, and force YouTube, which is providing a great service, to do the dirty work! Instead, figure out a way to work with the man! He'll help you sell far more stuff. As he pointed out to me:..."
"John Kricfalusi, creator of the wonderful Ren & Stimpy series and an all around worthwhile fellow to know (and new FM author) just pinged me with the news that YouTube is disallowing his linking of old Bugs cartoons on his site. Why? Because Warner Brothers, who now owns the copyrights, has no idea how powerful a marketing tool John's blog can be, that's why. All they want to do is prevent folks who might buy DVDs, merchandise, and view ads next to webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs from, well, buying DVDs, merchandise, and looking at webisodes of Ren & Stimpy and Bugs. Hey Warner, aren't you paying any attention to what is happening out here in the real world? You don't want to upset the creator of Ren & Stimpy, and force YouTube, which is providing a great service, to do the dirty work! Instead, figure out a way to work with the man! He'll help you sell far more stuff. As he pointed out to me:..."
Thursday, July 06, 2006
eMarketer.com - US Internet Ad Spend to Climb by 25%...Or Is That 33%?:
"When looking at ad spending figures, always ask what is being counted
By David Hallerman – Senior Analyst
When Universal McCann announced its latest 2006 ad spending projections at the end of June, two revisions from the firm's December 2005 estimates stood out. While US total media spending in 2005 increased by only 2.8% (in contrast to the earlier 4.6% figure), Internet ad spending in 2006 is now expected to soar by 25% (in contrast to the previous 10% prediction).
With those growth rates moving in two different directions, the picture is clear: more and more ad dollars are moving from traditional media to the Internet. Take national cable TV. In Universal's initial projection for this year, the expectation was for 7.0% growth; now that's at a more realistic 4.5% gain. Similarly, local radio ad spending growth estimates fell from 4.0% to no gain.
There is nothing wrong with amending ad spending projections. All researchers revise as new information becomes available. What's striking about Universal's 25% growth rate for the online space is how it does not include paid search ad spending—the giant that contributes a 40%-plus slice to the entire Internet pie.
Paid search is growing even faster than most other online ad vehicles. When you look at how Google's US advertising revenue (minus traffic acquisition costs, to eliminate double-counting) in Q1 2006 grew by 84% compared to last year's Q1, it appears that even Universal's revised 25% gain might be conservative. And Yahoo!, the bellwether of Internet advertising with its combined search and branding strengths, grew revenues by 35% in Q1.
Since the entire Internet ad space truly includes paid search ad spending along with other online advertising formats such as display ads, video and classifieds, eMarketer predicts a 33.2% jump in US online ad spending this year, to a total of $16.7 billion.
For even more useful information on ad spending, consult the new eMarketer report Local Online Advertising: Measuring the Potential..."
"When looking at ad spending figures, always ask what is being counted
By David Hallerman – Senior Analyst
When Universal McCann announced its latest 2006 ad spending projections at the end of June, two revisions from the firm's December 2005 estimates stood out. While US total media spending in 2005 increased by only 2.8% (in contrast to the earlier 4.6% figure), Internet ad spending in 2006 is now expected to soar by 25% (in contrast to the previous 10% prediction).
With those growth rates moving in two different directions, the picture is clear: more and more ad dollars are moving from traditional media to the Internet. Take national cable TV. In Universal's initial projection for this year, the expectation was for 7.0% growth; now that's at a more realistic 4.5% gain. Similarly, local radio ad spending growth estimates fell from 4.0% to no gain.
There is nothing wrong with amending ad spending projections. All researchers revise as new information becomes available. What's striking about Universal's 25% growth rate for the online space is how it does not include paid search ad spending—the giant that contributes a 40%-plus slice to the entire Internet pie.
Paid search is growing even faster than most other online ad vehicles. When you look at how Google's US advertising revenue (minus traffic acquisition costs, to eliminate double-counting) in Q1 2006 grew by 84% compared to last year's Q1, it appears that even Universal's revised 25% gain might be conservative. And Yahoo!, the bellwether of Internet advertising with its combined search and branding strengths, grew revenues by 35% in Q1.
Since the entire Internet ad space truly includes paid search ad spending along with other online advertising formats such as display ads, video and classifieds, eMarketer predicts a 33.2% jump in US online ad spending this year, to a total of $16.7 billion.
For even more useful information on ad spending, consult the new eMarketer report Local Online Advertising: Measuring the Potential..."
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Another Social Networking Site?:
"Another day, another social networking site. A group of former Microsoft and Apple employees this fall plan to formally launch iBloks, a sort of digital scrapbooking site that lets users customize music, games and photos.
The company hopes to make money off selling 'mods' that can be downloaded and used with the different forms of media. At an unveiling of the beta in San Francisco, for instance, company execs showed a simple drag and drop process for creating a Valentine's card. Drop in a video, type in some captions, then add some photos, and the recipient who receives it in an email or instant message (if they have the applet installed on their pc) will see them in perfect order. For casual games like tic tic toe, you can change the X's and O's to avatars or, potentially, your own picture.
It all seems a little too attention-deficit disorder for my tastes, but the company has gotten some big backers. It announced on Monday it had received $3 million from Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz's venture firm Maveron, after several big media execs participated in the angel round. Seems with the early successes of social networking sites, a lot of people still believe there's room for more..."
"Another day, another social networking site. A group of former Microsoft and Apple employees this fall plan to formally launch iBloks, a sort of digital scrapbooking site that lets users customize music, games and photos.
The company hopes to make money off selling 'mods' that can be downloaded and used with the different forms of media. At an unveiling of the beta in San Francisco, for instance, company execs showed a simple drag and drop process for creating a Valentine's card. Drop in a video, type in some captions, then add some photos, and the recipient who receives it in an email or instant message (if they have the applet installed on their pc) will see them in perfect order. For casual games like tic tic toe, you can change the X's and O's to avatars or, potentially, your own picture.
It all seems a little too attention-deficit disorder for my tastes, but the company has gotten some big backers. It announced on Monday it had received $3 million from Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz's venture firm Maveron, after several big media execs participated in the angel round. Seems with the early successes of social networking sites, a lot of people still believe there's room for more..."
TechCrunch » Blog Archive » Markaboo is awesome open-source social bookmarking:
"Markaboo is a fantastic new social bookmarking tool developed by Christian Romney and Jean Thomas from a company called tglo. It’s open source and has a great feature set.
I’ve used del.icio.us for my social bookmarking for some time, largely out of habit. Other social bookmarking tools have features that are very appealing to me, but none have been compelling and usable enough for me to seriously consider leaving del.icio.us - until now.
The bookmarklet to save to Markaboo includes all the basic fields for URL, title, tags and description. There is a nice option to view all your tags and click those you want to apply.
Users can also enter notes pages and upload files as separate items in their archives; Markaboo is for saving far more than just URLs. One of the best features is that photos and notes can be saved, titled and tagged by mobile phone and email.
Bookmarks and favorites can be imported in a number of different formats. There are simple, unobtrusive google ads on the item pages. The Markaboo user community is made up of programmers right now, but the system is so easy use that the shared bookmarks will likely diversify quickly..."
"Markaboo is a fantastic new social bookmarking tool developed by Christian Romney and Jean Thomas from a company called tglo. It’s open source and has a great feature set.
I’ve used del.icio.us for my social bookmarking for some time, largely out of habit. Other social bookmarking tools have features that are very appealing to me, but none have been compelling and usable enough for me to seriously consider leaving del.icio.us - until now.
The bookmarklet to save to Markaboo includes all the basic fields for URL, title, tags and description. There is a nice option to view all your tags and click those you want to apply.
Users can also enter notes pages and upload files as separate items in their archives; Markaboo is for saving far more than just URLs. One of the best features is that photos and notes can be saved, titled and tagged by mobile phone and email.
Bookmarks and favorites can be imported in a number of different formats. There are simple, unobtrusive google ads on the item pages. The Markaboo user community is made up of programmers right now, but the system is so easy use that the shared bookmarks will likely diversify quickly..."
TechCrunch » Blog Archive » Wetpaint Launches: Wikis Evolve:
"Seattle based Wetpaint has been in private beta since March. On Sunday night they launched to the world, allowing anyone to create a free wiki on any topic..."
"Seattle based Wetpaint has been in private beta since March. On Sunday night they launched to the world, allowing anyone to create a free wiki on any topic..."
Shimon Sandler - Blog Archive - Pay-Per-Percentage vs. PPC:
"Microsoft Research is studying & developing advertising auction systems that are “highly robust to fraud”. One researcher has identified Pay-Per-Percentage as a viable alternative to PPC. This is when the advertiser pays-per-percentage of the impressions instead of a Pay-per-click model.
Pay-Per-Percentage is immune to both click fraud and impression fraud. The challenge is that the ads must be shown in a truly random way, across the percentage of impressions purchased. The paper describes prefix-match: which is a system that is similar to broad-match, “but more compatible with pay-per-percentage”..."
"Microsoft Research is studying & developing advertising auction systems that are “highly robust to fraud”. One researcher has identified Pay-Per-Percentage as a viable alternative to PPC. This is when the advertiser pays-per-percentage of the impressions instead of a Pay-per-click model.
Pay-Per-Percentage is immune to both click fraud and impression fraud. The challenge is that the ads must be shown in a truly random way, across the percentage of impressions purchased. The paper describes prefix-match: which is a system that is similar to broad-match, “but more compatible with pay-per-percentage”..."
FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Ebay looks to cash in on blogs:
"By Eoin Callan
Published: July 4 2006 17:34 | Last updated: July 4 2006 17:34
Ebay wants to create software tools that will allow the online auction company to cash in on the rapid growth of blogging, a senior executive told the Financial Times.
The group’s plans reflect a wider push by many of the world’s largest companies to tap into the potential revenues from blogs. More than 75,000 blogs are created each day, adding to a current total of about 35m, according to Technorati, which tracks blogs. This rate of expansion has attracted interest from executives from a range of industries.
But many are unsatisfied with their current options for engaging with the fragmented and independent-minded community of bloggers.
Courtney Holtpeter, a strategist at Universal Music, said: “There are not enough touch points between the places that music fans, for example, are finding out about new things and the places they can buy those things.”
Ebay wants to build bridges by developing software which it can then put in the hands of bloggers, allowing them to create links between niche communities and relevant products.
“Our approach would be to develop new tools that we can turn over to bloggers, so they can define the natural shape of the marketplace on their own. That is how Ebay originally developed,” Doug McCallum, UK managing director of Ebay, said in an interview.
He said some of the ideas for this software were likely to come from Ebay’s open-source network.
While Ebay’s plans are still in very early stages, similar software is being launched this week by MeCommerce, a venture-backed company that will allow bloggers to insert product listings inside their blogs and keep 50 per cent of the profits.
The service reflects the kind of embedded approach companies have been groping for.
The idea behind the software is to allow bloggers to recommend music, books, DVDs and T-shirts to readers who can make impulse purchases without leaving the blog. MeCommerce provides the inventory and the distribution using the same partners as Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, and uses payment systems such as Google Checkout..."
"By Eoin Callan
Published: July 4 2006 17:34 | Last updated: July 4 2006 17:34
Ebay wants to create software tools that will allow the online auction company to cash in on the rapid growth of blogging, a senior executive told the Financial Times.
The group’s plans reflect a wider push by many of the world’s largest companies to tap into the potential revenues from blogs. More than 75,000 blogs are created each day, adding to a current total of about 35m, according to Technorati, which tracks blogs. This rate of expansion has attracted interest from executives from a range of industries.
But many are unsatisfied with their current options for engaging with the fragmented and independent-minded community of bloggers.
Courtney Holtpeter, a strategist at Universal Music, said: “There are not enough touch points between the places that music fans, for example, are finding out about new things and the places they can buy those things.”
Ebay wants to build bridges by developing software which it can then put in the hands of bloggers, allowing them to create links between niche communities and relevant products.
“Our approach would be to develop new tools that we can turn over to bloggers, so they can define the natural shape of the marketplace on their own. That is how Ebay originally developed,” Doug McCallum, UK managing director of Ebay, said in an interview.
He said some of the ideas for this software were likely to come from Ebay’s open-source network.
While Ebay’s plans are still in very early stages, similar software is being launched this week by MeCommerce, a venture-backed company that will allow bloggers to insert product listings inside their blogs and keep 50 per cent of the profits.
The service reflects the kind of embedded approach companies have been groping for.
The idea behind the software is to allow bloggers to recommend music, books, DVDs and T-shirts to readers who can make impulse purchases without leaving the blog. MeCommerce provides the inventory and the distribution using the same partners as Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, and uses payment systems such as Google Checkout..."
eMarketer.com - YouTube: 0 to 20 Million in Less Than a Year:
"Site's popularity may leave some asking, 'What's a boob tube?'
By Debra Aho Williamson - Senior Analyst
Anyone who caught the "Today" show anchor team singing the praises of YouTube last week had to be amused at the turn of events.
A few weeks before, NBC Universal was battling with YouTube over copyrighted videos available on the site, even though these videos, which included a clip from "Saturday Night Live", earned a the network significant publicity and attention. But with a deal announced on June 27, NBC seems to have come around. As part of the deal, NBC will promote shows on YouTube, buy ads on the site and mention YouTube in on-air promotions.
Use of YouTube has exploded since the site was launched just over a year ago. According to comScore Media Metrix, the number of unique visitors to the site has grown from 58,000 in August 2005 to more than 12 million in May 2006.
Nielsen//NetRatings says YouTube's visitor rate is even higher; it reported that the site got 20 million unique visitors in May, more than half of whom were between the ages of 35 and 64. Anyone who thought YouTube's audience did not overlap with NBC's target demographic should probably think again.
comScore and Nielsen generally agree in their breakdowns of YouTube's users by age. comScore reports that just under half of the users are between 35 and 64. Its figure for the 18-24 age group is higher because the data includes university users, while NetRatings does not.
Whatever the detail, there is no denying that YouTube generates some impressive usage statistics. In May, each unique visitor viewed an average of 43 pages and spent a total of 36 minutes on the site during the month, according to comScore.
What's next for YouTube? Advertising, for one. The Wall Street Journal says the company is working on a system "with Google-scale ambitions" that will place ads alongside videos.
YouTube also clearly has ambitions in the social network realm; it recently added networking features that enable users to create a profile and link to friends to share messages and videos. At the moment, the site and MySpace, a company that has seen a similarly huge trajectory of users and attention, remain on friendly terms. MySpace users regularly post videos from YouTube to their page and YouTube receives a large amount of traffic from the MySpace site.
Find detailed data on US online video ad spending in eMarketer's Online Video Advertising: Promises and Challenges report..."
"Site's popularity may leave some asking, 'What's a boob tube?'
By Debra Aho Williamson - Senior Analyst
Anyone who caught the "Today" show anchor team singing the praises of YouTube last week had to be amused at the turn of events.
A few weeks before, NBC Universal was battling with YouTube over copyrighted videos available on the site, even though these videos, which included a clip from "Saturday Night Live", earned a the network significant publicity and attention. But with a deal announced on June 27, NBC seems to have come around. As part of the deal, NBC will promote shows on YouTube, buy ads on the site and mention YouTube in on-air promotions.
Use of YouTube has exploded since the site was launched just over a year ago. According to comScore Media Metrix, the number of unique visitors to the site has grown from 58,000 in August 2005 to more than 12 million in May 2006.
Nielsen//NetRatings says YouTube's visitor rate is even higher; it reported that the site got 20 million unique visitors in May, more than half of whom were between the ages of 35 and 64. Anyone who thought YouTube's audience did not overlap with NBC's target demographic should probably think again.
comScore and Nielsen generally agree in their breakdowns of YouTube's users by age. comScore reports that just under half of the users are between 35 and 64. Its figure for the 18-24 age group is higher because the data includes university users, while NetRatings does not.
Whatever the detail, there is no denying that YouTube generates some impressive usage statistics. In May, each unique visitor viewed an average of 43 pages and spent a total of 36 minutes on the site during the month, according to comScore.
What's next for YouTube? Advertising, for one. The Wall Street Journal says the company is working on a system "with Google-scale ambitions" that will place ads alongside videos.
YouTube also clearly has ambitions in the social network realm; it recently added networking features that enable users to create a profile and link to friends to share messages and videos. At the moment, the site and MySpace, a company that has seen a similarly huge trajectory of users and attention, remain on friendly terms. MySpace users regularly post videos from YouTube to their page and YouTube receives a large amount of traffic from the MySpace site.
Find detailed data on US online video ad spending in eMarketer's Online Video Advertising: Promises and Challenges report..."
