Articles of the Day
Will Internet Kill the Radio Star? - “Internet radio, satellite radio, podcasting, high-definition radio and mobile audio services are revolutionizing a radio industry that had remained virtually unchanged for a century,” said Ben Macklin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Radio Trends: On Air and Online. “Traditional radio is rapidly being subsumed into a new, broader sector called ‘audio.’” By 2008, online advertising spending in the US is projected to surpass radio advertising spending for the first time.
YouTube Introduces Ads in Videos - Times are good for ad-supported online content. YouTube has put transparent ads on the bottom one-fifth of videos from its content partners. And The Wall Street Journal, one of the few paid-content success stories, is considering making its online version free. Most consumers think that viewing ads in exchange for quality content is fair, according to IBM’s “The End of Advertising” report, published in August 2007. More than six in 10 consumers IBM surveyed said they preferred ad-supported online content, while 28% preferred paying for ad-free media.
JupiterResearch: Content Producers Need Intermediaries to Succeed - In order to succeed in the long run, content producers must acknowledge the importance of blogs, portals, and aggregators in connecting with their audiences, according to a new JupiterResearch report, “Networked Media: Thriving In An Intermediated World.” The report points out, for example, that 57% of 18- to-24-year-old Internet users get their news from portals versus 21% from cable news sites–and online users now trust portals nearly as much as traditional news media.
ePrize Reports Booming 1st-Half Figures - Online promotional company ePrize said it generated $22.98 million in sales from 678 online promotional campaigns in the first half of 2007, up 62% and 32% respectively year-over-year. During the period, ePrize said it hired 71 creative employees, adding that it plans to hire some 50 additional people by year’s end.
Quality Time Takes on New Meaning - Nielsen//NetRatings’ elevation of time-spent over page views as its primary Web metric in July was generally applauded as a step toward improved audience measurement in a Web 2.0 world. Agencies and online publishers alike welcomed the new standard as a better gauge of online activity in the wake of technologies like Ajax and streaming video that let users linger on sites without reloading pages.
Social Networking Goes Professional - The press, still flush with love for Facebook, has declared that social networking is the Next Big Thing for business, too. Thousands of business professionals now use Facebook for business; targeted professional groups are sprouting up, too. But it’s not just Web professionals online. Doctors are congregating at sites like Sermo.com to share information about their various specialties, which in some instances can even lead to diagnoses. INMobile.org is a new social network for the wireless industry. LinkedIn, of course, is the granddaddy of professional networking, although it’s used more for growing contact lists and for job recruitment than actual social networking.
Web Tax Ban Likely To Be Extended - Congress may be mulling over the matter, but the federal government is unlikely to allow state and local taxes on Internet service–at least for a while. While speculation in Washington was rife that Congress would let the current Internet tax ban expire on Nov. 1, a glut of new bills on the horizon make that unthinkable. One new bill proposed by Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) aims to extend the measure through 2011. Others would suspend the issue indefinitely.
Subprime Problems Hit Web Advertising - The subprime lending fallout will soon affect certain Internet companiess. Remember the ubiquitous ads for Experian’s LowerMyBills.com? Indeed, lending companies are now having to drastically cut back on spending aimed at consumers with lower credit; in fact, some analysts suggest the fallout heralds the end of cheap credit altogether.This will affect Web advertising. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, some 16% of online spending comes from financial-services firms. In July, mortgage lenders Countrywide, Low Rate Source, Experian Group (including LowerMyBills.com) and Privacy Matters were among the top 10 biggest U.S. advertisers on the Web.
Google Launches Official Facebook App - Mashable reports on the search giant’s newly launched Facebook app, which happens to be down at the moment. The idea is users can share query results with each other, but this part is a bit unnerving: “Your queries are automatically included in Facebook’s mini-feed, so your web history can be shared with your friends.” The move comes in the midst of the chat about whether or not Google should be scared of Facebook — either because of its social graph or its (supposedly) in-the-works targeting system.
