Articles of the Day
Facebook worth USD6bn, says Bear Stearns analyst - Facebook could be worth as much as USD6bn and could generate sales of USD6bn by 2011, predicts Robert Peck of Bear Stearns. The analyst estimates that the social network site had USD140m in revenues so far this year, predicting sales of USD358m for 2008 and EBITDA earnings of USD2.3bn by 2011. He adds that Yahoo! could be a potential buyer as it is eager not to miss out on the networking phenomenon. Facebook turned down a USD1bn offer from Yahoo! last year, and has denied any takeover rumours, or speculations over plans for an IPO. According to Facebook director and investor Peter Thiel, the site could fetch as much as USD10bn in a sale.
Time to launch more social networks based on its weekly magazine sites - Time is planning to launch more social networks based on its weekly magazine sites following the success of Sports Illustrated’s acquisition of FanNation.com earlier this year. FanNation, which lets sports fans connect around sporting events, now has an estimated 4m unique users. Time’s executive VP, John Squires says the new social networks will launch by the end of this year or early next, but he did not specify which sites would add the social networking component.
NBC Universal to develop new media technology division - NBC Universal’s CTO, Darren Feher, is focusing on the development of a new media technology division for NBC, which concentrates on emerging technology and digital product innovation. New engineering and technology teams are being developed to focus on digital asset management, production, commercial planning and content distribution.
Plaxo launching new social network aggregator, Pulse - Plaxo, the online address book is launching a social network aggregator, called Pulse, using the OpenID platform. The site is due to launch in the week beginning Aug 6 and will convert the accounts of Plaxo’s claimed 15m registered members who already have online address books on the site, into a list of contacts organised around separate groups such as family and business. However, the newest feature will be a stream of RSS feeds from a range of popular sites such as Flickr and YouTube, which will list members’ activities on those sites
Accoona files for $80.5 mln IPO - IPO are coming fast and furious in the online media/commerce sector now: Accoona, an online search and e-commerce service firm based in Jersey City, N.J., has for an IPO of its common stock. The proposed maximum offering price would be roughly $80.5 million, though it may change, reports AP. Accoona plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol “ACNA.”
Amazon launches grocery delivery service, AmazonFresh - Amazon is offering a grocery delivery service called AmazonFresh, as a pilot program in the Seattle suburb of Mercer Island by invitation only. “It’s up and running,” says Amazon spokesperson Craig Berman. “People are ordering and trucks are delivering.” He would not speculate, however, on when the program would be expanded. Berman also says that Amazon had received repeated requests for a grocery delivery service, which had prompted the venture.
Ad Industry Set To Unveil Online Quality Research Initiative: Wants It Fast, Cheap And Good - Like much of the rest of marketing, online media has transformed the way big companies conduct their consumer research, supplanting traditional mail, telephone and various in-person survey methods with online polls that generate much faster and cheaper results, but which may be generating insights of questionable quality. In an effort to address the rapid rise of online research studies and their impact on marketing decisions, the Advertising Research Foundation will unveil plans for the first coordinated industry initiative focused on the quality of online research.
IAC Taps aQuantive’s Atlas For Ad Serving - IAC/InterActiveCorp has tapped aQuantive’s Atlas to provide ad-serving technology for several of its sites, including Match.com, Citysearch and Evite. Through the deal, Atlas gains access to 60 million additional monthly unique users.
Paramount, Discovery Join Slide.com’s Widget Ad Program - Slide, the online personal media network that has surged to the top of comScore’s Widget Metrix, has rolled out a widget advertising program and signed Paramount Pictures and Discovery Networks as premiere partners.
Washington Post Online Ad Revenues Up 11% - The Washington Post Co. on Friday reported online ad revenue rose 11% in the second quarter year-over-year, to $28.2 million from $25.3 million. Furthermore, the company’s online revenue also grew 11% for the first half of the year, to $53.2 million from $48.2 million in 2006.
Web Site Click-Through Rates Soar With Human Touch - Pontiac scored its highest-ever click-through rate for an NCAA scholarship sponsorship campaign when it used a technology that made it seem as if CBS sportscaster Greg Gumbel had strolled onto the screen.
Memo To Disney: Don’t Wreck Club Penguin - M&A news never hit me in my Mommy spot before, but when I saw the first Disney/Club Penguin deal headlines, it felt like a personal assault on my family.
Games and Gadgets Driving E-Commerce - Retail e-commerce grew 23%, to $27.2 billion, during the second quarter of 2007 over the same period in 2006, according to a comScore Networks press release issued in July. comScore also said that total US e-commerce spending including travel climbed 19%, to $47.5 billion, during the second quarter. Online sales of video games, consoles and accessories grew by 159% in the second quarter of 2007 over the same period in 2006. Sports and fitness and consumer electronics sales also grew by more than 50%.
Publicis Groupe: Ad Revolution Has Only Begun - David W. Kenny, chief executive of Digitas, the interactive unit of Publicis Groupe that cost the firm $1.3 billion late last year, tsays it’s only a matter of time before all advertising is digital. Kenny is in charge of the most dramatic overhaul in the history of the ad holding giant, whose agencies include Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Starcom MediaVest Group. The ad giant’s plan is to create thousands of versions of ads using offshore labor and then, using a complex set of algorithms, let its internal network decide what ads should run where and when on a given networked device. In other words, the goal is transform its strategy from advertising to the masses to personalized messaging.
The Rise Of Streaming - Nothing says “long tail” like streaming video services. Indeed, as streaming technology gets faster and resolution gets sharper, audiences will be smaller and more narrowly defined, giving way to a long tail featuring everything from Jewish Television Network programming to independent films by R&B artists. We may be in the midst of a content explosion as users transition from watching analog cable television to Web-based video technologies.
Ridiculous Pulling Of Ads from Facebook - Corporate responsibility is great, but advertisers pulling ads from Facebook isn’t what the site had in mind. Sure, it’s appropriate for brands to stay away from videos of violent beatings and fights circulated on online video sites like YouTube, but to withdraw advertising from Facebook because it could end up on pages run by a right-wing British party is ridiculous. Fearing such an inappropriate brand association, Vodafone and First Direct, two major British advertisers, decided to take advertising off Facebook a few days ago. Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and Prudential all followed.
A Match Made In Google - Look for Google to take a new tack to targeting in its ad network. The word from Susan Wojcicki, a vice president in advertising at the search firm, is that Google will match users’ searches based upon what they’re currently looking for, not on past behavior. Google is testing a new service that delivers ads based on a previous search, not simply a specific search term. This is how it works. If a user types in “cheap flights to Italy” and next types in “weather,” Google assumes there is a link between the two and thereby performs the necessary artificial intelligence.
