More than 10 Billion Videos Viewed Online in the U.S. in February
Number of Online Videos Viewed in the U.S. Jumps 66 Percent Versus Year Ago
RESTON, VA, April 16, 2008 – comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released February 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, indicating that U.S. Internet users viewed more than 10 billion online videos during the month, representing a 3-percent gain versus January (despite February being two days shorter) and a 66-percent gain versus February 2007.
Google Sites Extends Lead in Online Video Market Share
In February, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 3.6 billion videos viewed (35.4 percent share of all videos), gaining 1.1 share points versus the previous month. YouTube.com accounted for 96 percent of all videos viewed at Google Sites. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 586 million videos (5.8 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 293 million (2.9 percent) and Microsoft Sites with 293 million (2.9 percent).
Nearly 135 million U.S. Internet users spent an average of 204 minutes per person viewing online video in February. Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (81.8 million), where they spent an average of 109 minutes per person watching video in February. Fox Interactive attracted the second most viewers (55.7 million), followed by Yahoo! Sites (37.1 million) and Microsoft Sites (27.1 million). ABC.com attracted the tenth largest viewing audience, and its viewers exhibited heavy engagement averaging 51 minutes of online viewing per person.
Other notable findings from February 2008 include:
72.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
80.4 million viewers watched 3.42 billion videos on YouTube.com (42.6 videos per viewer).
50.2 million viewers watched 539 million videos on MySpace.com (10.7 videos per viewer).
The average online video duration was 2.7 minutes.
The average online video viewer consumed 75 videos.
To request more information about comScore Video Metrix, please visit http://www.comscore.com/contact
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Boost Clicks 22% by Integrating Display in Your Search Plan
Boost Clicks 22% by Integrating Display in Your Search Plan
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT
Webinar Registration
Studies show that an integrated display and search advertising campaign can boost your overall search click through rates by 22%. Display advertising provides graphics, motion, and images that can illustrate your product, service, or brand in a more impactful way than standard search capabilities. Online display (banners) also offer lower CPC and have significantly more scale though conversions are generally lower than paid search. Lately however due to advanced targeting and auction based ad networks, many advertisers are reaching their CPA goals with display in addition to enjoying the powerful branding, awareness and traffic that can be generated. No longer just for the big brands, advancements in technology have pulled online display within reach of advertisers of all sizes. Please join us September 2nd for a webinar presentation and discussion on this topic.
CLICK HERE to register
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT
Webinar Registration
Studies show that an integrated display and search advertising campaign can boost your overall search click through rates by 22%. Display advertising provides graphics, motion, and images that can illustrate your product, service, or brand in a more impactful way than standard search capabilities. Online display (banners) also offer lower CPC and have significantly more scale though conversions are generally lower than paid search. Lately however due to advanced targeting and auction based ad networks, many advertisers are reaching their CPA goals with display in addition to enjoying the powerful branding, awareness and traffic that can be generated. No longer just for the big brands, advancements in technology have pulled online display within reach of advertisers of all sizes. Please join us September 2nd for a webinar presentation and discussion on this topic.
CLICK HERE to register
Realities of Online Video Advertising
Realities of Online Video Advertising
By Zachary Rodgers, The ClickZ Network, Feb 9, 2005 features
Online video advertising is a tiny segment of the overall market, drawing a scant $121 million in spending last year compared with $9.5 billion for all online media, according to JupiterResearch. Other stats show Web video ad spending represents just under a tenth of a percent of the $250 billion total U.S. ad market. Yet marketers are really excited about it. Why?
Rapid growth, partly. The Online Publishers Association found more than a quarter of Internet users now watch video online weekly. Jupiter predicts a 64 percent jump in online video ad spending this year. The top video aggregators report daily streams in the millions. No question, the reach is there.
With growth comes the thrilling comparison online marketers get to make with television. Finally, the Web competes with the idiot box in its own language -- video -- with audiences approaching cable network proportions. Many publishers and agencies now believe broadband maturity and a healthy online ad market have converged to create an ideal environment for video ads to thrive.
For advertisers, many questions remain. Which publishers have the greatest inventory and service record? What are the dominant formats? Where should the creative come from?
The Formats
The lion's share of the online video spend goes to in-banner advertising. While in-stream ads are widely considered most effective, media buyers report inventory is a constant problem.
"With pre-roll ads, the inventory is quite limited. It's growing, but the majority of stuff we do is within ad units," said Ian Schafer, president of Deep Focus, a full-service interactive shop serving the entertainment vertical.
Schafer's firm buys three to five million video ad impressions a month. He and other agency heads with large video budgets agree inventory is a problem. On the bright side, he said in-banner ads are a much better prospect for clients than they once were.
"The state of that kind of ad has gotten a lot better, just in the past year," Schafer said. He credits the improvement to better products from vendors like Klipmart, whose in-banner video ads let the user expand a spot to full-screen proportions. "That presents our clients' marketing assets in a way they were meant to be seen. In many cases, we can have that be in a widescreen, letterbox format."
Klipmart is only one of a seasoned pack of rich media vendors hard at work innovating around video. Others include Eyewonder, United Virtualities, Eyeblaster and Viewpoint.
New technical capabilities include adding an interactive Flash layer to streaming video, a practice Klipmart calls hotspotting. Such clickable video has obvious implications for product placement, long a gaining concept among marketers in general. Klipmart, eline Technologies and United Virtualities all either offer or are preparing to offer hotspotting.
"If you can integrate product placement into video and act on it, that's very important," said Cory Treffiletti, managing director of Carat Interactive San Francisco. "A savvy producer can incorporate that into their budgets."
Klipmart also reports it's working to support the streaming of live events for its clients. Cyrus Krohn, former publisher of Slate and now executive producer at MSN Video, said live event streaming looms large in MSN's strategy. He said it's one of the portal's tactics to increase inventory in the coming year.
"The live events we've produced in collaboration with MSNBC are starting to look like real television numbers," said Krohn. "With the Scott Peterson verdict, there was no pre-promotion or announcement. The judge just announced the ruling would be read in a couple minutes. We had over 300,000 streams for that reading."
Considering Klipmart and MSN Video are close partners, you should expect to see ad-supported live streaming on MSN in the near future, courtesy of Klipmart.
The Advertisers
So who's buying the most online video media?
Todd Herman, MSN Video's streaming media evangelist, said 23 of the top 50 brands have advertised on the service since its official launch in August 2004. They include some of the very biggest companies: Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson.
Asked to describe the buy-in of various verticals, Herman said packaged goods jumped in first. "CPGs really led the way. Then you had the auto manufacturers come in. GM is in a very strong leadership position now in online video," he said. "We are starting to see financial services companies now, too." He added retail stores, Target among them, and media outlets to that list.
Entertainment is also big, for obvious reasons. Deep Focus represents MGM, Miramax and HBO on a range of online promotions into which video figures very highly.
The Aggregators
Where should marketers place their ads? The media buyers ClickZ spoke with for this story all ranked MSN highly in terms of service, implementation and original video content.
Yahoo, via its Yahoo Music audio and video destination (formerly LAUNCH), is primed for a big video roll-out. While there have been no official announcements, the online ad community seems poised for the portal to unleash a bevy of content. Yahoo is clearly eager to go deeper in the content business, considering the appointment of Hollywood powerbroker Lloyd Braun to head its media division, and the opening of the company's new offices in Hollywood.
Braun has been quoted in media reports as saying the talent community in Los Angeles is eager to provide content for the Internet but are not sure of the best way to do it. Yahoo's partnership with Mark Burnett Productions involving "The Apprentice" and "The Contender" is one possible model.
"Lloyd wasn't hired to sell banner ads," noted Jeff Lancot, VP of media for Avenue A/Razorfish.
With AOL, buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They agree the portal has a great opportunity to leverage its ties with powerful media brands, and they're cautiously optimistic about service improvements. It's the video destination with the most to gain.
Plenty of other sites are offering very attractive video ad placements. AtomFilms, ifilm, CNN, ESPN and WWE were all variously mentioned by agencies as appealing targets for video ad placements.
The Creative
Most advertisers still choose to repurpose their TV assets when running online ad campaigns, despite near consensus that the :30 spot is too long.
"It's easy to repurpose TV Ads, but it's not a good idea. Everyone seems to agree, but they keep doing it," said Avenue A/Razorfish's Lanctot.
That's changing a bit, as it turns out. Agencies report clients are more receptive to creating original spots for the Web. Ford has done so, for its Lincoln brand. And Klipmart is creating Web-only footage starring a big-name actor for a Hollywood client, said CEO Chris Young.
Carat's Treffiletti affirms clients are allowing some wiggle room on the subject of original vs. repurposed content.
"We have some clients who have allowed us to actually shoot video for [the Internet]," he said. "In addition, when they're shooting a commercial and they have the A roll and the B roll, the B roll has a lot more life now. We can actually use that extra footage."
The Inventory
Part of the blame for the inventory shortage can be laid at the feet of portals and other video aggregators. The OPA's survey revealed 59 percent of people discover online video through random surfing. How much larger would the inventory be if portals did a better job of striking deals with content owners to bring video to their users?
"The publishers aren't positioning this to consumers as a mainstream part of their offerings just yet," said Ari Paparo, product manager for DoubleClick's DART Motif. "Consumers and publishers aren't seeing eye to eye on where this fits into their browsing experience."
No surprise, then, that mid-sized video-focused sites are doing the best job of promoting their video content.
"[Pre-roll] has always been available on ifilm, AtomFilms and ESPN Motion," said Treffiletti. "If more sites incorporate video into their sites in a meaningful way, the inventory will increase."
To their credit, the portals are trying: Yahoo through its well-known film industry connections, and MSN through its exclusive deals with NBC and Fox Sports, among others.
"Whoever owns the rights to the content is what it's going to boil down to," said Schafer. "Finding it is one thing; consuming it is another. If we make it more available for people to consume, the sky's the limit in terms of being able to integrate [ads] within that content."
Some are looking to search as a possible way to accelerate user adoption of video.
"If we get a relevant video search engine, it will make a big impact on the adoption of video online," said Lanctot.
Multimedia search engines like AOL's Singingfish and new video search offerings from Google and Yahoo hope to realize that dream. Yet the content is limited to searchable shows and clips that have been provided online by networks and other video owners.
The Viral Video
Meanwhile, brands aren't waiting for the portals or the search engines to figure out video. Facing a lack of inventory, advertisers have been creating their own programming, often in the form of viral spots and longer commercials.
The Super Bowl is the best recent example. When Fox cut the second airing of GoDaddy.com's Bowl spot last Sunday, company CEO Bob Parsons wrote about the incident on his blog and linked to the hosted ad. The result was half a million streams in less than two days.
Advertisers ranging from Budweiser to Amex have also done well posting banned ads and extended versions of TV spots online.
"Not always will a TV ad play well on the Internet, but what you can do is take that theme and create content specifically geared for the Internet," said Karen Howe, CEO of Singingfish. "Then you can associate that with audio/video search."
The Outlook
Online video is still in its awkward phase. It's a period akin to the state of rich media four or five years ago, says DoubleClick's Paparo.
"The market is being pushed ahead by the publishers and they're not standardizing," he said. "You've got different formats, workflow differences, and widely varying reporting expectations. It's lower quality video and it's smaller. But it's got a benefit in that the viewer is actively watching and there's a response mechanism."
Aside from its fumbles and its promise, online video brings a fundamental shift in media consumption.
"People are consuming their media mid-day," said MSN's Krohn. "It's the new prime time... a period of the day they really couldn't have before."
But Krohn, a CNN vet himself, sees the evolution of television and the Internet as symbiotic rather than competitive. In the long term, TV and the Web will be one, he says.
"Television has got a lot on the Internet as far as history goes, but the evolution of products I'm envisioning will service both parties," he said. "I don't know how long it's going to take, but you're really going to have a hard time distinguishing between the monitor and the box."
By Zachary Rodgers, The ClickZ Network, Feb 9, 2005 features
Online video advertising is a tiny segment of the overall market, drawing a scant $121 million in spending last year compared with $9.5 billion for all online media, according to JupiterResearch. Other stats show Web video ad spending represents just under a tenth of a percent of the $250 billion total U.S. ad market. Yet marketers are really excited about it. Why?
Rapid growth, partly. The Online Publishers Association found more than a quarter of Internet users now watch video online weekly. Jupiter predicts a 64 percent jump in online video ad spending this year. The top video aggregators report daily streams in the millions. No question, the reach is there.
With growth comes the thrilling comparison online marketers get to make with television. Finally, the Web competes with the idiot box in its own language -- video -- with audiences approaching cable network proportions. Many publishers and agencies now believe broadband maturity and a healthy online ad market have converged to create an ideal environment for video ads to thrive.
For advertisers, many questions remain. Which publishers have the greatest inventory and service record? What are the dominant formats? Where should the creative come from?
The Formats
The lion's share of the online video spend goes to in-banner advertising. While in-stream ads are widely considered most effective, media buyers report inventory is a constant problem.
"With pre-roll ads, the inventory is quite limited. It's growing, but the majority of stuff we do is within ad units," said Ian Schafer, president of Deep Focus, a full-service interactive shop serving the entertainment vertical.
Schafer's firm buys three to five million video ad impressions a month. He and other agency heads with large video budgets agree inventory is a problem. On the bright side, he said in-banner ads are a much better prospect for clients than they once were.
"The state of that kind of ad has gotten a lot better, just in the past year," Schafer said. He credits the improvement to better products from vendors like Klipmart, whose in-banner video ads let the user expand a spot to full-screen proportions. "That presents our clients' marketing assets in a way they were meant to be seen. In many cases, we can have that be in a widescreen, letterbox format."
Klipmart is only one of a seasoned pack of rich media vendors hard at work innovating around video. Others include Eyewonder, United Virtualities, Eyeblaster and Viewpoint.
New technical capabilities include adding an interactive Flash layer to streaming video, a practice Klipmart calls hotspotting. Such clickable video has obvious implications for product placement, long a gaining concept among marketers in general. Klipmart, eline Technologies and United Virtualities all either offer or are preparing to offer hotspotting.
"If you can integrate product placement into video and act on it, that's very important," said Cory Treffiletti, managing director of Carat Interactive San Francisco. "A savvy producer can incorporate that into their budgets."
Klipmart also reports it's working to support the streaming of live events for its clients. Cyrus Krohn, former publisher of Slate and now executive producer at MSN Video, said live event streaming looms large in MSN's strategy. He said it's one of the portal's tactics to increase inventory in the coming year.
"The live events we've produced in collaboration with MSNBC are starting to look like real television numbers," said Krohn. "With the Scott Peterson verdict, there was no pre-promotion or announcement. The judge just announced the ruling would be read in a couple minutes. We had over 300,000 streams for that reading."
Considering Klipmart and MSN Video are close partners, you should expect to see ad-supported live streaming on MSN in the near future, courtesy of Klipmart.
The Advertisers
So who's buying the most online video media?
Todd Herman, MSN Video's streaming media evangelist, said 23 of the top 50 brands have advertised on the service since its official launch in August 2004. They include some of the very biggest companies: Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson.
Asked to describe the buy-in of various verticals, Herman said packaged goods jumped in first. "CPGs really led the way. Then you had the auto manufacturers come in. GM is in a very strong leadership position now in online video," he said. "We are starting to see financial services companies now, too." He added retail stores, Target among them, and media outlets to that list.
Entertainment is also big, for obvious reasons. Deep Focus represents MGM, Miramax and HBO on a range of online promotions into which video figures very highly.
The Aggregators
Where should marketers place their ads? The media buyers ClickZ spoke with for this story all ranked MSN highly in terms of service, implementation and original video content.
Yahoo, via its Yahoo Music audio and video destination (formerly LAUNCH), is primed for a big video roll-out. While there have been no official announcements, the online ad community seems poised for the portal to unleash a bevy of content. Yahoo is clearly eager to go deeper in the content business, considering the appointment of Hollywood powerbroker Lloyd Braun to head its media division, and the opening of the company's new offices in Hollywood.
Braun has been quoted in media reports as saying the talent community in Los Angeles is eager to provide content for the Internet but are not sure of the best way to do it. Yahoo's partnership with Mark Burnett Productions involving "The Apprentice" and "The Contender" is one possible model.
"Lloyd wasn't hired to sell banner ads," noted Jeff Lancot, VP of media for Avenue A/Razorfish.
With AOL, buyers are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They agree the portal has a great opportunity to leverage its ties with powerful media brands, and they're cautiously optimistic about service improvements. It's the video destination with the most to gain.
Plenty of other sites are offering very attractive video ad placements. AtomFilms, ifilm, CNN, ESPN and WWE were all variously mentioned by agencies as appealing targets for video ad placements.
The Creative
Most advertisers still choose to repurpose their TV assets when running online ad campaigns, despite near consensus that the :30 spot is too long.
"It's easy to repurpose TV Ads, but it's not a good idea. Everyone seems to agree, but they keep doing it," said Avenue A/Razorfish's Lanctot.
That's changing a bit, as it turns out. Agencies report clients are more receptive to creating original spots for the Web. Ford has done so, for its Lincoln brand. And Klipmart is creating Web-only footage starring a big-name actor for a Hollywood client, said CEO Chris Young.
Carat's Treffiletti affirms clients are allowing some wiggle room on the subject of original vs. repurposed content.
"We have some clients who have allowed us to actually shoot video for [the Internet]," he said. "In addition, when they're shooting a commercial and they have the A roll and the B roll, the B roll has a lot more life now. We can actually use that extra footage."
The Inventory
Part of the blame for the inventory shortage can be laid at the feet of portals and other video aggregators. The OPA's survey revealed 59 percent of people discover online video through random surfing. How much larger would the inventory be if portals did a better job of striking deals with content owners to bring video to their users?
"The publishers aren't positioning this to consumers as a mainstream part of their offerings just yet," said Ari Paparo, product manager for DoubleClick's DART Motif. "Consumers and publishers aren't seeing eye to eye on where this fits into their browsing experience."
No surprise, then, that mid-sized video-focused sites are doing the best job of promoting their video content.
"[Pre-roll] has always been available on ifilm, AtomFilms and ESPN Motion," said Treffiletti. "If more sites incorporate video into their sites in a meaningful way, the inventory will increase."
To their credit, the portals are trying: Yahoo through its well-known film industry connections, and MSN through its exclusive deals with NBC and Fox Sports, among others.
"Whoever owns the rights to the content is what it's going to boil down to," said Schafer. "Finding it is one thing; consuming it is another. If we make it more available for people to consume, the sky's the limit in terms of being able to integrate [ads] within that content."
Some are looking to search as a possible way to accelerate user adoption of video.
"If we get a relevant video search engine, it will make a big impact on the adoption of video online," said Lanctot.
Multimedia search engines like AOL's Singingfish and new video search offerings from Google and Yahoo hope to realize that dream. Yet the content is limited to searchable shows and clips that have been provided online by networks and other video owners.
The Viral Video
Meanwhile, brands aren't waiting for the portals or the search engines to figure out video. Facing a lack of inventory, advertisers have been creating their own programming, often in the form of viral spots and longer commercials.
The Super Bowl is the best recent example. When Fox cut the second airing of GoDaddy.com's Bowl spot last Sunday, company CEO Bob Parsons wrote about the incident on his blog and linked to the hosted ad. The result was half a million streams in less than two days.
Advertisers ranging from Budweiser to Amex have also done well posting banned ads and extended versions of TV spots online.
"Not always will a TV ad play well on the Internet, but what you can do is take that theme and create content specifically geared for the Internet," said Karen Howe, CEO of Singingfish. "Then you can associate that with audio/video search."
The Outlook
Online video is still in its awkward phase. It's a period akin to the state of rich media four or five years ago, says DoubleClick's Paparo.
"The market is being pushed ahead by the publishers and they're not standardizing," he said. "You've got different formats, workflow differences, and widely varying reporting expectations. It's lower quality video and it's smaller. But it's got a benefit in that the viewer is actively watching and there's a response mechanism."
Aside from its fumbles and its promise, online video brings a fundamental shift in media consumption.
"People are consuming their media mid-day," said MSN's Krohn. "It's the new prime time... a period of the day they really couldn't have before."
But Krohn, a CNN vet himself, sees the evolution of television and the Internet as symbiotic rather than competitive. In the long term, TV and the Web will be one, he says.
"Television has got a lot on the Internet as far as history goes, but the evolution of products I'm envisioning will service both parties," he said. "I don't know how long it's going to take, but you're really going to have a hard time distinguishing between the monitor and the box."
Newspaper sites grow their portfolio of products
Newspaper sites grow their portfolio of products
Revenue streams are going away from traditional media outlets and moving towards interactive venues. As a result interactive advertising revenues grew from $4.6 Billion in 1999 to $21.2 Billion in 2007 (PwC2007annualreport).
So, how do newspaper companies, whose majority of revenues comes from print advertising, survive?
Well, to accommodate the trend toward online ad spending, newspaper sites have changed their business models by adopting a go to market strategy that diversifies their product suite. Newspapers have realized that they have to adopt a multimedia position to survive. In turn newspaper sites have created partnerships with third party vendors like Yahoo, Metrix for Media as well as employment sites like Career Builder and Hot Jobs to offer comprehensive advertising solutions to their customers.
Here’s a look at NEW product portfolios:
-Direct mail
-Video production
-Website development
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM); (PPC)
- Ad production
- Display advertising
- Behavioral targeting
- Geo targeting
- Targeted email campaigns
- Rich Media
Revenue streams are going away from traditional media outlets and moving towards interactive venues. As a result interactive advertising revenues grew from $4.6 Billion in 1999 to $21.2 Billion in 2007 (PwC2007annualreport).
So, how do newspaper companies, whose majority of revenues comes from print advertising, survive?
Well, to accommodate the trend toward online ad spending, newspaper sites have changed their business models by adopting a go to market strategy that diversifies their product suite. Newspapers have realized that they have to adopt a multimedia position to survive. In turn newspaper sites have created partnerships with third party vendors like Yahoo, Metrix for Media as well as employment sites like Career Builder and Hot Jobs to offer comprehensive advertising solutions to their customers.
Here’s a look at NEW product portfolios:
-Direct mail
-Video production
-Website development
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM); (PPC)
- Ad production
- Display advertising
- Behavioral targeting
- Geo targeting
- Targeted email campaigns
- Rich Media
Finding cracks in Facebook
Finding cracks in Facebook
The social-networking supersite is taking flak from users, developers, and advertisers. Right about now a young CEO like Mark Zuckerberg usually steps aside quietly. Not this time.
By Jessi Hempel, writer
(Fortune Magazine) -- Late last year Mark Zuckerberg, the 24-year-old CEO of social-networking phenomenon Facebook, got onstage before a Madison Avenue crowd and declared that he was leading a once-in-a-century media revolution. Long story short: The revolution hasn't panned out. Six months later, advertisers could be forgiven for mistaking Facebook for a smaller MySpace or a much larger Friendster (remember them?). And far from changing media as we know it, the virtual home of Superpokes, Funwalls, and other such time wasters is showing cracks in its foundation.
User growth remains impressive. Since September 2006, when Zuckerberg opened Facebook to nonstudents, the site has grown 12-fold, making it one of the fastest-rising dot-coms in history. Visitors tripled after Facebook expanded internationally last year, and they continue to spend more time on the site: 20 billion total minutes in March 2008, vs. 6.4 billion a year prior. But the number of U.S. visitors has leveled off, fluctuating between 30 million and 35 million, according to comScore. And that's not all. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the adults who signed on last summer to see what the fuss was about are done with their social-networking experiment. The company also delayed its much-anticipated redesign, originally due in April, in deference to third-party developers that have complained that Facebook has become a frustrating partner. "Developing on Facebook is like playing a game where the rules are changing all the time," says Jia Shen, co-founder of widget maker RockYou. He's turning his attention increasingly to social networks like MySpace that use the OpenSocial standard promoted by Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).
Meanwhile the most controversial product Zuckerberg introduced, Beacon - the thing he was bragging about in that Madison Avenue speech - has failed. It allows friends to see one another's activities on different Web sites. Zuckerberg claims it was designed to enhance the user experience, but it's easy to see its appeal to advertisers. Imagine what happens to Blockbuster's traffic, for example, when one user finds out that her coolest friend just rented Walk Hard. But users hated the loss of privacy. Some signed a MoveOn.org petition to halt the program; one testy Texan even filed a lawsuit. Zuckerberg amended Beacon and admits that the company messed up. "We made mistakes in communicating about it," he says. "We made mistakes in the user interface. We made mistakes in responding to it after it was out there."
But Facebook's biggest concern has to be the blasé attitude that media buyers have toward the company. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) paid $240 million for 1.6% of Facebook, giving the startup an eye-popping valuation of $15 billion; according to media reports, as of early May the Redmond crew has been exploring ways to buy Facebook outright. But Microsoft's ardor obscures the fact that Facebook generated only $145 million in revenue last year, according to eMarketer, much of it from an ad deal with Microsoft. MySpace, by contrast, had $510 million in revenue. Facebook ads can sell for as little as 15 cents per 1,000 impressions (CPM) - compared with the estimated $13 on Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) properties. And even at those bargain prices, marketers are reluctant to spend money on a venue where users aren't paying attention. Jeff Ratner, a managing partner at WPP's MindShare Interaction, whose clients include Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500) and Unilever (UN), spends less on Facebook than he did six months ago. "As soon as they stepped out of Beacon, Facebook doesn't look that different," Ratner says. "It just becomes another buy, and there are cheaper, more efficient ways to reach eyes."
It's not unusual for a startup to encounter choppy waters. All young companies hit a point where everyone doubts the founding vision. And in Silicon Valley, right about now the founder usually slinks into some "strategic," "advisory," or "product" role in favor of a veteran. Jerry Yang, Steve Jobs, and the Google duo all followed such trajectories.
But at Facebook that's not an option. Even with all the turbulence, Facebook's investors are in Zuckerberg's corner. And they might as well be - because they can't fire him. When starting the company in 2005, Zuckerberg took the counsel of Sean Parker, a former entrepreneur who was ousted at Napster, where he was president, and at Plaxo, where he was CEO (and later at Facebook, where he was president). Parker told Zuckerberg to control his board at all costs. Zuckerberg took heed. The Facebook board has three members: Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel of the Founders Fund, and Jim Breyer of Accel Partners. But Zuckerberg owns an estimated 20% to 30% of the company and can add two more members at will. (At press time, Marc Andreessen, the serial entrepreneur and Netscape co-founder, was in talks with Facebook to take one of those board seats, according to a source close to the situation. Facebook declined to comment.) That power should allow Zuckerberg to keep the CEO title for a long time.
To his credit, Zuckerberg knows he can't run Facebook alone. So in March he enticed Google's Sheryl Sandberg to become COO. (Soon after, Elliot Schrage, Google's savvy spinmeister, followed her to ply his trade at Facebook.) Sandberg grew Google's AdWords and AdSense profit machines. Now, as Zuckerberg focuses on the product, Sandberg, 38, will impose some corporate discipline on an undergraduate flip-flops-and-Red-Bull vibe. She'll implement performance reviews, refine the recruiting model, and spearhead an international push. Oh, and she hopes to develop a new ad scheme aimed at the billions that marketers spend on branding ads every year. "I'm hopeful that we play a significant role in pushing the envelope [with] awareness building," she says. "How we get there, I don't think we know yet."
The social-networking supersite is taking flak from users, developers, and advertisers. Right about now a young CEO like Mark Zuckerberg usually steps aside quietly. Not this time.
By Jessi Hempel, writer
(Fortune Magazine) -- Late last year Mark Zuckerberg, the 24-year-old CEO of social-networking phenomenon Facebook, got onstage before a Madison Avenue crowd and declared that he was leading a once-in-a-century media revolution. Long story short: The revolution hasn't panned out. Six months later, advertisers could be forgiven for mistaking Facebook for a smaller MySpace or a much larger Friendster (remember them?). And far from changing media as we know it, the virtual home of Superpokes, Funwalls, and other such time wasters is showing cracks in its foundation.
User growth remains impressive. Since September 2006, when Zuckerberg opened Facebook to nonstudents, the site has grown 12-fold, making it one of the fastest-rising dot-coms in history. Visitors tripled after Facebook expanded internationally last year, and they continue to spend more time on the site: 20 billion total minutes in March 2008, vs. 6.4 billion a year prior. But the number of U.S. visitors has leveled off, fluctuating between 30 million and 35 million, according to comScore. And that's not all. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the adults who signed on last summer to see what the fuss was about are done with their social-networking experiment. The company also delayed its much-anticipated redesign, originally due in April, in deference to third-party developers that have complained that Facebook has become a frustrating partner. "Developing on Facebook is like playing a game where the rules are changing all the time," says Jia Shen, co-founder of widget maker RockYou. He's turning his attention increasingly to social networks like MySpace that use the OpenSocial standard promoted by Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).
Meanwhile the most controversial product Zuckerberg introduced, Beacon - the thing he was bragging about in that Madison Avenue speech - has failed. It allows friends to see one another's activities on different Web sites. Zuckerberg claims it was designed to enhance the user experience, but it's easy to see its appeal to advertisers. Imagine what happens to Blockbuster's traffic, for example, when one user finds out that her coolest friend just rented Walk Hard. But users hated the loss of privacy. Some signed a MoveOn.org petition to halt the program; one testy Texan even filed a lawsuit. Zuckerberg amended Beacon and admits that the company messed up. "We made mistakes in communicating about it," he says. "We made mistakes in the user interface. We made mistakes in responding to it after it was out there."
But Facebook's biggest concern has to be the blasé attitude that media buyers have toward the company. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) paid $240 million for 1.6% of Facebook, giving the startup an eye-popping valuation of $15 billion; according to media reports, as of early May the Redmond crew has been exploring ways to buy Facebook outright. But Microsoft's ardor obscures the fact that Facebook generated only $145 million in revenue last year, according to eMarketer, much of it from an ad deal with Microsoft. MySpace, by contrast, had $510 million in revenue. Facebook ads can sell for as little as 15 cents per 1,000 impressions (CPM) - compared with the estimated $13 on Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) properties. And even at those bargain prices, marketers are reluctant to spend money on a venue where users aren't paying attention. Jeff Ratner, a managing partner at WPP's MindShare Interaction, whose clients include Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500) and Unilever (UN), spends less on Facebook than he did six months ago. "As soon as they stepped out of Beacon, Facebook doesn't look that different," Ratner says. "It just becomes another buy, and there are cheaper, more efficient ways to reach eyes."
It's not unusual for a startup to encounter choppy waters. All young companies hit a point where everyone doubts the founding vision. And in Silicon Valley, right about now the founder usually slinks into some "strategic," "advisory," or "product" role in favor of a veteran. Jerry Yang, Steve Jobs, and the Google duo all followed such trajectories.
But at Facebook that's not an option. Even with all the turbulence, Facebook's investors are in Zuckerberg's corner. And they might as well be - because they can't fire him. When starting the company in 2005, Zuckerberg took the counsel of Sean Parker, a former entrepreneur who was ousted at Napster, where he was president, and at Plaxo, where he was CEO (and later at Facebook, where he was president). Parker told Zuckerberg to control his board at all costs. Zuckerberg took heed. The Facebook board has three members: Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel of the Founders Fund, and Jim Breyer of Accel Partners. But Zuckerberg owns an estimated 20% to 30% of the company and can add two more members at will. (At press time, Marc Andreessen, the serial entrepreneur and Netscape co-founder, was in talks with Facebook to take one of those board seats, according to a source close to the situation. Facebook declined to comment.) That power should allow Zuckerberg to keep the CEO title for a long time.
To his credit, Zuckerberg knows he can't run Facebook alone. So in March he enticed Google's Sheryl Sandberg to become COO. (Soon after, Elliot Schrage, Google's savvy spinmeister, followed her to ply his trade at Facebook.) Sandberg grew Google's AdWords and AdSense profit machines. Now, as Zuckerberg focuses on the product, Sandberg, 38, will impose some corporate discipline on an undergraduate flip-flops-and-Red-Bull vibe. She'll implement performance reviews, refine the recruiting model, and spearhead an international push. Oh, and she hopes to develop a new ad scheme aimed at the billions that marketers spend on branding ads every year. "I'm hopeful that we play a significant role in pushing the envelope [with] awareness building," she says. "How we get there, I don't think we know yet."
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Scarborough Reveals Top Markets for Online Job seekers
Scarborough Reveals Top Markets for Online Job Seekers By Jennifer Saba Published: August 19, 2008 11:48 AM ET
NEW YORK More people search online for jobs in San Francisco and Norfolk, Va., according to a new report from Scarborough Research. Sixteen percent of consumers in those markets turned to the Internet to look for employment, versus the national average of 12%.The study also found that those who currently hold jobs are more likely to look online for other jobs, compared to those who are not employed. Most online job searchers are employed in the white-collar sector, about 68%, while 32% hold blue-collar jobs. Online job searchers are nearly 2.5 times more likely to go back to school, and 63% more likely to take continuing education programs. "Job search Web sites are used daily by all types of people seeking employment, especially the young, educated and currently employed," Gary Meo, senior vice president, digital media services at Scarborough, said in a statement. "To differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, job search Web sites would do well to understand the job seeker's desired geography, in both local and expanded job searches."The other top designated market areas for online job searches: Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Hartford/New Haven, Conn.; Atlanta; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Las Vegas; Richmond/Petersburg, Fla.; and Detroit.
NEW YORK More people search online for jobs in San Francisco and Norfolk, Va., according to a new report from Scarborough Research. Sixteen percent of consumers in those markets turned to the Internet to look for employment, versus the national average of 12%.The study also found that those who currently hold jobs are more likely to look online for other jobs, compared to those who are not employed. Most online job searchers are employed in the white-collar sector, about 68%, while 32% hold blue-collar jobs. Online job searchers are nearly 2.5 times more likely to go back to school, and 63% more likely to take continuing education programs. "Job search Web sites are used daily by all types of people seeking employment, especially the young, educated and currently employed," Gary Meo, senior vice president, digital media services at Scarborough, said in a statement. "To differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, job search Web sites would do well to understand the job seeker's desired geography, in both local and expanded job searches."The other top designated market areas for online job searches: Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Hartford/New Haven, Conn.; Atlanta; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Las Vegas; Richmond/Petersburg, Fla.; and Detroit.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
US Retail E-Commerce Industry Stats & Data by eMarketer
US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will reach $146 billion in 2008, up 14.3% over 2007. However, over the next few years sales growth rates will steadily decline. According to the Department of Commerce (DOC), which eMarketer benchmarks against, retail e-commerce sales totaled $127.7 billion in 2007. This year, eMarketer forecasts, sales will grow by 14.3% to reach $146 billion. From 2007 to 2012, sales will increase at an 11.3% average annual growth rate.
Last year, 133.1 million individuals, nearly four-fifths of US Internet users, shopped online. By 2012, an additional 25 million people will join them, bringing the total to 158.2 million, or 82.5% of Internet users. From 2007 to 2012, the number of new online shoppers in the US will grow at a 3.5% average annual rate.
Last year, 133.1 million individuals, nearly four-fifths of US Internet users, shopped online. By 2012, an additional 25 million people will join them, bringing the total to 158.2 million, or 82.5% of Internet users. From 2007 to 2012, the number of new online shoppers in the US will grow at a 3.5% average annual rate.
Last year 110.7 million individuals, nearly two-thirds of US Internet users, made at least one online purchase. By 2012 the number of online buyers will increase by 30.3 million, bringing the total to 141 million, or 73.5% of Internet users. From 2007 to 2012, the number of new online buyers in the US will grow at a 5% average annual rate.
eMarketer defines an online buyer as any individual age 14 or older,, who has purchased within the past year. Most individuals who shop online eventually take the leap to become online buyers. Last year, 83% of online shoppers made a purchase on the Internet. By 2012, 89% of online shoppers are expected to convert into online buyers. On average, US online buyers are expected to spend $1,243 in 2008, growing to $1,549 in 2012.
Although consumers are reacting to the economic downturn by spending less, this will create more hardship for retail stores than for e-tailers, because online buying attracts more affluent shoppers. Fewer new online buyers, an inevitable sign of the maturation of the online retail channel, is a major reason for the decline in e-commerce sales growth.
Although consumers are reacting to the economic downturn by spending less, this will create more hardship for retail stores than for e-tailers, because online buying attracts more affluent shoppers. Fewer new online buyers, an inevitable sign of the maturation of the online retail channel, is a major reason for the decline in e-commerce sales growth.
Retail e-commerce could get a boost from underserved consumer segments such as seniors and Hispanics. To unlock their untapped spending power, Web retailers must better accommodate their needs and aspirations and remove obstacles that discourage them from becoming online buyers.
Find out more about eMarketer’s Retail E-Commerce: Slower But Still Steady Growth Report
For more information, visit eMarketer
Find out more about eMarketer’s Retail E-Commerce: Slower But Still Steady Growth Report
For more information, visit eMarketer
Yahoo! affords new opportunities for over 600 local newspaper sites
Yahoo partner News Paper Constortium:
Cox
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Daily News
Chicago Sun-Times
The New York Times Company
Scripps
The McClatchy Company
Hearst
just to name a few...
The partnership has afforded newspaper sites new opportunities for targeting and increased ad delivery proficiencies. Through the dynamic ad delivery platform that Yahoo provides these sites have the ability to Geo target and Behavioral target interactive display ads.
Yahoo Quick Facts:
Yahoo is the World’s most visited website
Reaches more than half of all internet users in Local DMA's
Deliver the Right message to the Right user at the Right time (relevant advertising)
Geo targeting
Deliver ads to users accessing Yahoo in a specific geographic region
Targeting is more than 90% accurate
Behavioral targeting
The leader in BT technology
Deliver ads to users engaging content and information relevant to the ad being delivered
124% Lift in Click Through Rate
According to a recent report from WPP’s Group M, interactive media will account for about 15% of the worldwide advertising spend by 2009. This is a nearly 50% increase over 2004. Interactive advertising is expected to remain the biggest source of ad revenue growth for the foreseeable future because marketers are turning away from traditional media in favor of the digital realm. Increased efficiencies in targeting and the minimization of waste are the catalyst for quickly shifting ad dollars to interactive. Local search and display ads remain the key drivers in online advertising growth with Compound Annual Growth Rate’s of 16 percent and 18 percent respectively. Local online ad revenue is expected to grow to $2.5 billion by 2012.
Geo Targeting:
What is it?
Geo targeting is the method of determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip organization, ISP or other criteria (wikipedia).
How does it work?
Geo targeting uses three categories of information to determine where the website user is located.
Categories include:
Universal Location Manager (ULM)
User identified by default location ie: stored default address
Registration (REG)
User identified by online registration information
IP address (IP)
Computer identified based on Internet Service Provider connection
How can I use Geo Targeting for my business?
Geo targeting may be used by advertisers that want to target a particular area that is in close proximity to their brick and mortar. Advertisers may also use geo targeting to reach qualified demographics in a particular area that are more likely to consume their products or services. Geo targeting is similar to a direct mail model but it is much more efficient and more cost effective.
Behavioral Targeting:
What is it?
Behavioral targeting is a technique used by online advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns by delivering relevant ads to users that have expressed interest in the advertiser’s products or services.
How does it work?
Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be influenced by them (wikipedia).
User activity is tracked by:
Content viewed
Searches performed
Search listings clicked
Display ads clicked
How can I use Behavioral Targeting for my business?
Behavioral targeting affords advertisers the opportunity to shift their efforts from trying to reach a particular demographic to a model that allows them to deliver their message to an audience that is already searching for their products and services. Behavioral targeting offers several categories which are categorized based upon users’ behaviors and web interactivity.
Find a category that reflects your business’ day-to-day operations.
Categories are as follows:
Finance (banking, loans, insurance, investing, credit, etc…)
Travel (air, cruises, casinos, vacations, international destinations, etc…)
Retail (home improvement, apparel, luxury goods, restaurants, etc…)
Health (health care, nutirtion, hospitals, diabetes, yoga, etc…)
Real Estate ( finance, agencies, homes for sale, etc…)
Automotive (economy, mid-range, luxury, trucks, financing, etc…)
Education (schools, online schools, universities, financing, loans, etc…)
Parenting & Children (stroller, family, camp, babysitter, diapers, baby names, etc...)
Political (polls, presidential candidates, voting, democrat, republican, politics, etc...)
Cox
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Daily News
Chicago Sun-Times
The New York Times Company
Scripps
The McClatchy Company
Hearst
just to name a few...
The partnership has afforded newspaper sites new opportunities for targeting and increased ad delivery proficiencies. Through the dynamic ad delivery platform that Yahoo provides these sites have the ability to Geo target and Behavioral target interactive display ads.
Yahoo Quick Facts:
Yahoo is the World’s most visited website
Reaches more than half of all internet users in Local DMA's
Deliver the Right message to the Right user at the Right time (relevant advertising)
Geo targeting
Deliver ads to users accessing Yahoo in a specific geographic region
Targeting is more than 90% accurate
Behavioral targeting
The leader in BT technology
Deliver ads to users engaging content and information relevant to the ad being delivered
124% Lift in Click Through Rate
According to a recent report from WPP’s Group M, interactive media will account for about 15% of the worldwide advertising spend by 2009. This is a nearly 50% increase over 2004. Interactive advertising is expected to remain the biggest source of ad revenue growth for the foreseeable future because marketers are turning away from traditional media in favor of the digital realm. Increased efficiencies in targeting and the minimization of waste are the catalyst for quickly shifting ad dollars to interactive. Local search and display ads remain the key drivers in online advertising growth with Compound Annual Growth Rate’s of 16 percent and 18 percent respectively. Local online ad revenue is expected to grow to $2.5 billion by 2012.
Geo Targeting:
What is it?
Geo targeting is the method of determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip organization, ISP or other criteria (wikipedia).
How does it work?
Geo targeting uses three categories of information to determine where the website user is located.
Categories include:
Universal Location Manager (ULM)
User identified by default location ie: stored default address
Registration (REG)
User identified by online registration information
IP address (IP)
Computer identified based on Internet Service Provider connection
How can I use Geo Targeting for my business?
Geo targeting may be used by advertisers that want to target a particular area that is in close proximity to their brick and mortar. Advertisers may also use geo targeting to reach qualified demographics in a particular area that are more likely to consume their products or services. Geo targeting is similar to a direct mail model but it is much more efficient and more cost effective.
Behavioral Targeting:
What is it?
Behavioral targeting is a technique used by online advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns by delivering relevant ads to users that have expressed interest in the advertiser’s products or services.
How does it work?
Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be influenced by them (wikipedia).
User activity is tracked by:
Content viewed
Searches performed
Search listings clicked
Display ads clicked
How can I use Behavioral Targeting for my business?
Behavioral targeting affords advertisers the opportunity to shift their efforts from trying to reach a particular demographic to a model that allows them to deliver their message to an audience that is already searching for their products and services. Behavioral targeting offers several categories which are categorized based upon users’ behaviors and web interactivity.
Find a category that reflects your business’ day-to-day operations.
Categories are as follows:
Finance (banking, loans, insurance, investing, credit, etc…)
Travel (air, cruises, casinos, vacations, international destinations, etc…)
Retail (home improvement, apparel, luxury goods, restaurants, etc…)
Health (health care, nutirtion, hospitals, diabetes, yoga, etc…)
Real Estate ( finance, agencies, homes for sale, etc…)
Automotive (economy, mid-range, luxury, trucks, financing, etc…)
Education (schools, online schools, universities, financing, loans, etc…)
Parenting & Children (stroller, family, camp, babysitter, diapers, baby names, etc...)
Political (polls, presidential candidates, voting, democrat, republican, politics, etc...)
July 2008: Behavioral Targeting: Secret Weapon in Display Ad’s Arsenal
Behavioral targeting has been the focus of much unwanted regulatory attention in recent months. The US Federal Trade Commission has held hearings about behavioral targeting, and two state governments have proposed laws to limit it.
Still, marketers increasingly look toward the Internet to reach their audience, and, in a slowing economy, seek tactics, such as behavioral targeting, to make the most of each dollar spent.
Behaviorally targeted advertising is more expensive than nontargeted ad inventory. Far fewer targeted ads need to be sold than run-of-network ads to make an equivalent amount of money.
Still, marketers increasingly look toward the Internet to reach their audience, and, in a slowing economy, seek tactics, such as behavioral targeting, to make the most of each dollar spent.
Behavioral targeting segments the audience based on observed and measured data—the pages or sites users visit, the content they view, the search queries they enter, the ads they click on, the information they share on social networking sites and the products they put in online shopping carts. That data is combined with the time, length and frequency of visits on Web sites. Recency is important, too. Data from two weeks ago is far less accurate at predicting interest than data from two days ago.
US spending for behaviorally targeted online advertising will reach only $775 million in 2008 due to incomplete development of this complex technology, brand marketers who would still prefer to have their ads appear with relevant content, and advertisers’ concerns about violating consumer privacy.
But eMarketer projects a steep rise in 2009 to $1.1 billion, going up to $4.4 billion in 2012. The major driver behind this rapid increase is online video advertising, which will require targeting to make it cost-effective. (At this point, though, video advertising and behavioral targeting rarely mix.)
Impressive growth in behavioral targeting will occur from 2010 to 2012. The influx of brand advertising online will support behavioral targeting’s growth, but brands will not reach a critical mass for display-type advertising until that period.
Behaviorally targeted advertising is more expensive than nontargeted ad inventory. Far fewer targeted ads need to be sold than run-of-network ads to make an equivalent amount of money.
Behaviorally targeted advertising contributes little to total US Internet ad spending, making up only 3% in 2008. However, when pegged against the display online ad formats that are typically used for behavioral targeting, the importance of behavioral targeted to non-search advertising growth becomes clearer.
Nearly one in 10 content site ad dollars will flow from behaviorally targeted advertising in 2008. That will rise to roughly one in four by the end of 2012. The question remains: Which one drives the other? It is unclear how much display ad spending will increase behaviorally targeted ad spending, in contrast to how much behavioral targeting capabilities will increase display ad spending.
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