Stories related to: Internet advertising

Won’t these Internet startups ever learn about business plans? That's backward thinking, says prolific venture capitalist Joi Ito, who has a stake in the new website PMOG. “People make fun of the idea," he told Portfolio . “There are few sites, however, that have a critical mass where they usually don't figure out a business model.” More »

A makeover planned to begin Wednesday for MySpace is the latest sign of the continued struggle to make social networking the cash cow many thought it would be when News Corp. bought the site three years ago, the New York Times reports. MySpace's user base has grown from 16 million to more than 118 million since—but still falling short of profit targets. More »

Yahoo struck a deal today with Google to display its rival's search ads, just hours after announcing the end of talks with Microsoft on a possible merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal with Google, which still faces months of federal scrutiny, could bring in $800 million a year for Yahoo and have a profound effect on Internet advertising. More »

The Federal Trade Commission is considering guidelines governing how online advertisers target consumers based on their Web surfing—and some lawmakers want them to be mandatory, the Washington Post reports. Privacy advocates are pushing to limit behavioral tracking, but some Internet companies say that could mean sites won’t be able to keep offering content free.   More »

Many are pooh-poohing Microsoft’s cash-back search scheme, but Michael Arrington of TechCrunch thinks it’s going to work—and be a major pain in Google’s side. With search-market share at a mere 9.1% (and falling), Microsoft has little to lose, Arrington argues, because search is a winner-takes-most proposition. If customers respond to bribery—and history suggests they will—Microsoft could widen its pie piece. More »

It's been a while since AOL was associated with rising numbers, but a jump in traffic to its content sites shows the company's transition to an ad-supported business is on track, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company redesigned its news, sports, and health sites and created some new ones after its 2006 decision to make its service free. More »

Facebook widgets have been wildly popular, but they haven’t always been wildly profitable. “The fascinating thing about widgets is it turns out that distribution isn't really the challenge,” says the CEO of VideoEgg, the developer behind Scrabulous and Flixster. "The question is how do you monetize that attention?” VideoEgg and companies like it think they have the answer, BusinessWeek reports: advertising. More »

A deal that would have Google operate Yahoo’s core search ad business may be closer now that the two have successfully tested the system, reports the Wall Street Journal. An agreement would increase Yahoo’s cash flow by as much as $1 billion annually, and give it additional leverage to fight a hostile Microsoft takeover bid—or at least boost its sale price. More »

Google, Yahoo and a bevy of Internet biggies have joined to fight a proposed New York state law that would limit their ability to collect information about people's web habits for advertisers, reports the Wall Street Journal . The coalition says the law would endanger the future of online advertising and “the availability of free content on the Internet.” More »

Some 300 DoubleClick employees, who briefly enjoyed a taste of Google culture after the ad agency was acquired in March, are facing layoffs as the search giant merges the two operations, reports the New York Times . It’s the first major layoff in Google’s history and trims DoubleClick’s US workforce by about 25%. DoubleClick employs about 1,500 globally. More »

He may have created a web that's worldwide, but Internet founder Tim Berners-Lee is very proprietary when it comes to tracking programs, such as Phorm, that allow ISPs to monitor their customers. Berners-Lee says he’d drop any company caught mining his data. “It’s mine—you can’t have it,” he said. “If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me.” More »

The Internet is changing journalism—but not in the ways many predicted. Contrary to expectations that coverage would broaden, a new report says the news agenda is actually narrowing. The Iraq war and presidential campaign represented more than a quarter of news stories last year, while countries besides Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan drew less than 6% of US news, reports the AP. More »

AOL will buy Bebo.com for $850 million in an attempt to enter the social networking market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bebo has 22 million unique visitors a month, well behind MySpace's 109 million, but the site’s strong European presence will give AOL access to key youth demographics outside the US. The move comes amidst reports of internal turmoil and a possible sale of the Time Warner subsidiary. More »

Google acquired ad tracker DoubleClick today after EU regulators approved the $3.1 billion deal, the AP reports. Antitrust officials dismissed concerns about competition, saying Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL also provide “credible” online ad services. The ruling ducked questions of how private data will be handled, an issue that riles privacy advocates on both sides of the pond. More »

Long gone are the days of Internet anonymity. Big Web companies know all about you, says a study commissioned by the New York Times . The Internet giants track users’ behavior across sites, gathering details on a typical person several hundred times a month. That information lets them target content and—most lucratively—advertising, leaving traditional media companies in the dust. More »

If you watch “The Office” or “Ugly Betty” online, you’re among millions of consumers who have forsaken the boob tube. Nielsen recently found that 25% of Internet users had watched TV online in the last three months. “It has become a mainstream behavior in an extraordinarily quick time,” NBC’s research head told the New York Times . More »

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did an animated, sometimes antic, on-stage interview yesterday at Mix, Microsoft’s annual conference for web developers, emphasizing that he has every intention of taking some of Google's advertising business and using Yahoo to do it, the Seattle Times reports. "Advertising on the Internet is a big thing, and will be the next super-big thing," he said. "Search ... at least today and for the foreseeable future, it is the killer application for online advertising." More »

After a hitting record high in November, Google shares have fallen 40%, reports the Los Angeles Times. Investors are concerned that a downturn in consumer spending could slow Google's growth—previously thought to be recession-proof. "Now the shine is off Google, whether deservedly or not," one media analyst said of the pioneering search giant. More »

Google, flying high in November when its stock hit a record $747.24, is falling back to Earth as investors worry that the slowing economy is discouraging web surfers from clicking on the search giant’s ads, reports the Wall Street Journal. A comScore report yesterday said Google’s January US click-throughs were flat compared to a year ago, a concern since most of Google’s revenue comes from its text-ad traffic. More »

Companies in Silicon Valley are slowing spending and stockpiling funds to prepare for a possible recession, with many startups raising safety-net cash from investors. Venture capitalists, who raised more funds last year than any year since 2001, continue investing, reports the Wall Street Journal , despite a recent survey that found their confidence in the region at a four-year low. More »