NEWS ABOUT: Internet advertising
Internet advertising stories: 65 news briefs
Internet commercial suggests Bud drinkers buy porn
Time Jun 4, 09 10:50 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
A new Bud Light ad—a viral video too risque for TV—points to the fact that pornography has “soaked so far into the fabric of mainstream culture that it's no longer seen as a stain,” writes Belinda Luscombe in Time . The ad suggests Bud Light drinkers are into porn: It shows a man buying the beer alongside a “really nasty” magazine, comically catching the attention of everyone in the shop. The fallout from the ad? There hasn't been any.
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Was in the room as
wife was attacked by knife-wielding man
Associated Press Jun 4, 09 6:29 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
A North Carolina man faces first-degree rape charges after arranging for the rape of his wife via Craigslist, police said. The 25-year-old, who advertised for someone to have sex with his wife using “scare tactics,” was in the room as a man with a knife carried out the attack, the AP reports. The couple’s kids were also home at the time, though they weren’t aware of what was happening.
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Lawman will monitor 'adult services' section as lawsuit proceeds
Chicago Tribune May 14, 09 9:26 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
The Illinois sheriff who pushed Craigslist to dump its “erotic services” section says the replacement, now called “adult services,” is a step in the right direction, the Chicago Tribune reports. “The postings are definitely toned down a lot. My goal was to get the over-the-top stuff off,” Cook County's Tom Dart said. “They've done that.” Explicit photos, he said, are “the big thing,” and the latest ones seem more appropriate.
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ANALYSIS
Site has settled many questions of what works in online video
Economist Feb 6, 09 2:45 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
YouTube established online video as a phenomenon almost instantly. But its user-generated content and lack of quality control made advertisers reluctant to embrace it. How then, to monetize online video? Do users want to stream or download, view through web browsers or special applications? Hulu, the video site run by NBC and News Corp., has largely answered these questions, the Economist reports.
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MySpace Music enlists advertisers to enable free downloads
Wired Sep 15, 08 3:24 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
The soon-to-launch MySpace Music service will consist mostly of sponsored streaming and downloads, Wired reports. MySpace will likely not start up its own pay-download service, along the lines of iTunes, instead maintaining its partnership with Amazon’s online store. Critics worry MySpace’s rather thin roster of major-label partnerships will limit the stream of free content for users.
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Step in possible antitrust case against Internet giants
Wall Street Journal Sep 9, 08 9:39 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
The Justice Department has hired a top lawyer to review a possible antitrust case against the Google-Yahoo advertising deal, which would give the companies control of 80% of web search ads, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sanford Litvack, a former Disney vice-chairman, was Jimmy Carter’s antitrust chief. While officials have been deposing witnesses and collecting documents for weeks, it’s not yet certain they'll go to court.
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Content sometimes generates odd associations
Associated Press Aug 4, 08 11:09 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Automatic "tagging"—the generating of related links and targeted advertising, custom-tailored to whatever the reader is browsing—is now commonplace across the web. But the young technology is not without its share of kinks. The AP examines the sometimes inexplicable, often embarrassing links served up when when human editors aren’t looking.
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Real-estate 'turn-over' tactics move to Internet
New York Times Jul 29, 08 4:51 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Web entrepreneurs are taking a page from the real-estate book: they’re buying badly designed websites cheaply, fixing them up, and selling them at a profit. Website sales on eBay and similar sites have soared in the past few months, with many site-flippers happy to sell for just a few hundred dollars, the New York Times reports.
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Little-known Internet player hitting the big time with simple idea
Los Angeles Times Jul 16, 08 1:29 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Richard Rosenblatt doesn’t work in Silicon Valley and few people, even there, know his name. But in just 2 years his Demand Media has become a huge player, backed by $355 million in private investment, and pulling in nearly $200 million in revenue this year, the Los Angeles Times reports. His big idea is, well, a small one: eat up thousands of niche social-networking websites, the so-called Long Tail of the Internet, and create tailored content that draws the faithful, and by extension, the advertisers.
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In classic fashion, company has cool idea, needs users, cash
Portfolio Jun 21, 08 8:44 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.”
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MySpace's marketing-friendly makeover part of sites' evolving drive to cash in
New York Times Jun 16, 08 10:07 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Announcement comes just hours after Microsoft deal falls through
Wall Street Journal Jun 12, 08 8:10 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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FTC aims to limit companies' ability
to watch consumers
Washington Post May 22, 08 6:57 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Analysis
'Desperate,' 'brilliant' cash-back plan will
sap Google's base
Washington Post May 22, 08 1:38 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Internet giant's transition to ad-driven firm picking up pace
Wall Street Journal Apr 25, 08 7:14 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Companies figure out how to profit from widgets
BusinessWeek Apr 18, 08 10:32 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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A successful system test puts Yahoo in the catbird seat with Microsoft
Wall Street Journal Apr 17, 08 8:45 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Companies say they have a right to collect information for advertisers
Wall Street Journal Apr 10, 08 4:15 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.”
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First major layoff in search giant's history follows merger
New York Times Apr 3, 08 1:25 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.
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Internet creator decries spyware: 'You can't have' my data
BBC Mar 17, 08 5:35 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
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.”
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