Articles of the Day
Google Plans Bid In FCC Wireless Auction - The search giant will file its formal application today, Dec. 3, which is the deadline for parties to declare intent to bid in the auction, which begins Jan. 24. In mid-December, the FCC will release a public list of all eligible bidders.
Facebook Turnaround On Privacy Could Signal Wave of Change - Facebook’s U-turn late last week on publishing information about members’ purchases could mark the beginning of a wave of changes to online ad techniques. European regulators are expected to announce on Tuesday the commencement of a two-year investigation into online advertising and privacy, with a focus on behavioral targeting, or sending ads to people based on their Web-surfing activity and presumed interests.
Ad Outlook Remains Healthy, Bolstered By Olympics, Elections, Other Stimuli - In the first in a series of revised outlooks for the U.S. and world advertising economies scheduled to be released this week, Publicis’ ZenithOptimedia unit predicts advertising spending will rise at a relatively healthy clip despite growing uncertainty surrounding the general economy. The gains, a 6.7% increase in global ad spending, and a 4.1% hike in the U.S., however, are being driven largely by incremental spending attributed to cyclical events such as the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the U.S. presidential election, and the European football tournament Euro 2008.
Highest Spend Ever For Cyber Monday - US online shoppers spent $733 million on the Monday after Thanksgiving, aka Cyber Monday, according to comScore data. comScore said that was up more than 20% over 2006, and 84% over the average daily online spending totals during the preceding four weeks.
GoogleClick Nears FTC OK - The Federal Trade Commission is on the cusp of approving Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick–and without any conditions, according to a lawyer involved in the merger review. The FTC believes that antitrust concerns can be addressed post-merger, and approval could come as early as this week. The announcement would end nearly eight months of delays, after the deal was declared on April 13.
Report: New Media Could Suffer In Recession - Goldman Sachs’ Anthony Noto issued bad news for the media sector in a recent analyst report, saying that a U.S. recession-a 50/50 chance, he says, would lead to a downturn in advertising by as much as 10 percent. Of course, that doesn’t include Web advertising, which many expect to rise more than 20 percent next year–but it may include more experimental forms of new media advertising, such as cell phones and perhaps, Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and Facebook.
Open Verizon Aligns With Google - A week after announcing the decision to open its platform to mobile software developers, Verizon Wireless said it plans to support Google’s new platform for cell phones and other mobile devices. The move represents a significant business strategy shift for the telecom giant. Indeed, Verizon’s support was conspicuously absent when Google announced its Open Handset Alliance in early November, but in an abrupt about-face, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam says: “We’re planning on using Android…Android is an enabler of what we do.”
