On the debut earnings call of new Yahoo CFO Tim Morse, Yahoo announced second quarter revenues of $1.57 billion. Compared with the same period a year ago, earnings were down 13 percent. The company is predicting an even more modest third quarter: “in the range of $1,450 million to $1,550 million.” Search revenues were $359 […]
It’s been roughly 100 days since Tim Armstrong was named CEO of AOL in anticipation of a spin-off/IPO of the company from corporate parent TimeWarner later this year. There are a slew of interviews out this morning in which Armstrong assesses his first 100 days, the state of the business and gives some indications of […]
Search and display. One often hears how they work together, but there’s still plenty of skepticism out there, especially in the SEM community, about the value of display advertising. Indeed, during the recession search has prospered (relatively speaking) while display has suffered. But a new study from the Online Publishers Association (OPA) and comScore argues […]
After an apparently successful limited trial, Yahoo is rolling out a program that targets small businesses (SMBs) for self-service display advertising on its network and through RightMedia, its ad exchange. The DIY portal is a collaboration between Yahoo and AdReady, which supplies the back end and the ad templates. (Google earlier introduced a similar, though […]
We’ve known for some time, based on a number of studies from Microsoft, Yahoo, SEM firms and ad networks, that an online ad campaign that includes both display and search performs better than one that features only display or search. In another version of that same theme, Yahoo recently said that it was using search […]
Yesterday on the Yahoo Q1 earnings call, CEO Carol Bartz sent a mixed message of sorts. She said at the outset that Yahoo was going to focus on key areas of the business and was open to “outsourcing” some functions if that made sense. Like me, many people listening must have immediately thought “search.” But […]
As expected, Yahoo earnings were down, about 13 percent YoY. According to the earnings press release: Yahoo! Inc. today reported revenues of $1,580 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a decrease of 13 percent from the first quarter of 2008. Excluding the impact of currency rate fluctuations, revenues for the first quarter of […]
Although revenues grew 6 percent compared with Q1 2008, Google suffered its first quarter-over-quarter decline (3 percent), as it announced Q1 revenues this afternoon. From the press release: Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.51 billion in the first quarter of 2009, representing a 6% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $5.19 billion and […]
According to data released yesterday by the IAB/PwC on Q4 and full year 2008 online advertising revenues, performance-based advertising and search gained while other segments declined slightly or were flat. Overall, online advertising grew 10.6% in 2008 to reach $23.4 billion. US online ad revenue in Q4 was $6.1 billion, up from $5.8 billion in […]
If you visit Ask.com today, you may notice that they have ads for their sister sites. Here is a picture of Ask.com with a Match.com ad, an IAC property. Currently, Ask.com is the only “search engine” to have display ads on their search home page. I’ll leave my negative thoughts to myself this time.
While search engine marketing has been somewhat more durable during the recession (to date) than other media, that may not save SEM from negative growth. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the latest Efficient Frontier search marketing report, set to be released tomorrow. According to the Journal, the report will state that SEM declined […]
Speaking at the “Web 2.0” conference in San Francisco earlier this week Yahoo CEO seemed to invite Microsoft to make another acquisition bid for the portal. “To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo,” the BBC quotes Yang telling interviewer John Battelle. This morning, from Australia, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer […]
Sure, search is an effective marketing channel — and it is particularly adept at capturing demand — but the one thing search can’t do is generate demand. Given that, marketers need to be mindful that solely relying on search is a mistake, especially if you are launching something new. Instead, you need to first build […]
Google has long been seeking to diversify its revenue base and ad products to attract more ad dollars and different types of advertisers. There’s a lot more money, for example, in brand advertising than in direct response. The YouTube acquisition was partly about getting more display/brand ad dollars. Google’s DoubleClick acquisition was also about targeting […]
Traditional media is suffering in the current downturn/recession. For example, US print newspaper revenues were down 16 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year ago. Online (and Outdoor) are really the only media segments that are growing or holding their own (maybe TV). However, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday about a divergence […]
Yahoo has partnered with LucidMedia to bring contextual display ad targeting capabilities to the company’s RightMedia ad exchange. Advertisers will be able to contextually target display ads according to 63 vertical ad categories that RightMedia has established for the program. They include things like automotive, careers & jobs, clothing & apparel, finance, sports & recreation, […]
There are two views of the just-announced Yahoo reorganization. An upbeat assessment sees it as an instrumental step toward realizing Yahoo’s broad platform ambitions; a more skeptical perspective sees it as yet another run at streamlining the organization in the wake of the upheavals of the failed Microsoft acquisition bid and the departures of key […]
Yesterday travel search engine Kayak announced that it had built a display ad platform to leverage search queries and serve more relevant graphical ads across its network. These display units will potentially replace the text ads currently shown on search results and other pages on Kayak.com and its affiliate sites. Reportedly, however, consumers can turn […]
We were just hit with a handful of Yahoo press releases. They include powering the ads on Walmart.com, partnering with Havas Digital to adopt the Right Media Exchange Platform, working out a video distribution deal with CBS, and launching the Yahoo Circular Program for newspapers. All this was announced by Susan Decker at Advertising 2.0.
The NY Times has a wide ranging article that discusses online ad trends and the apparent weakening of the display segment, which is roughly 21 percent of online ad spending. The article discusses how marketers are looking for measurable results and concrete audiences, and in that context niche networks/sites are attracting ad dollars and general […]
Yesterday before Google’s annual meeting of shareholders, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page fielded questions from reporters on a range of subjects, including a potential paid search deal with Yahoo and its anti-trust implications. Their argument was that a future paid search deal could be set up in a way […]
CNBC news anchor Maria Bartiromo interviewed Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Tuesday and discussed a wide range of topics, from MicroHoo to advertising on YouTube, mobile, and Googlephobia. There are no real surprises and nothing especially new (other than the statement about new ad products for YouTube this year). However, it you have time it […]
Yesterday Google announced mobile image ads. The ads are displayed on the mobile sites of publishers that are participating in AdSense for mobile (or that opt-in to the new program). Mobile image ads are created in users’ AdWords accounts and require more or less the same type of setup as traditional AdSense ads. The image […]
Yahoo announced at an investor presentation that they expect to double their operating cash flow in three years from $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion. Yahoo also took the opportunity to reaffirm their 2008 financial outlook. Yahoo said by 2010, they expect to earn $8.8 billion in revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs). This presentation is to […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land:
Display advertising currently represents about 32 percent of total US online advertising, according to the IAB. That’s roughly $6.7 billion. Google already dominates the roughly $8.5 billion US search market. But Google’s Tim Armstrong told the Bear Stearns Media Conference in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday that Google expects, in the not-too-distant future, to have a […]
Having earlier told Microsoft no, now Yahoo has explained to its shareholders why it declined to be purchased. The full letter can be found here. Below, some highlights.
We’ve already covered separately big developments in news about Microsoft’s bid to purchase Yahoo. But wait, there’s more! Below, a recap of our stories plus other stories on the subject across the web that cover various angles, including the news that for the first time in its history, Microsoft may borrow money in order to […]
On Friday comScore put out ad publisher site rankings. Unsurprisingly, Yahoo ranked as the top site with just under 19 percent of US online display advertising. MediaPost took this data and further analyzed it, finding that Yahoo enjoys the industry’s highest CPM rates at $12.65, more than $4 higher than the next highest site, MSNBC. […]
Trying to realize the promise of its “Platform A” integrated display advertising initiative, AOL has created “Platform-A Marketing Solutions.” The new unit combines the formerly separate sales teams of AOL and Tacoda. AOL acquired behavioral targeting firm Tacoda in July of this year. The effort is focused chiefly on traditional brand advertisers and the top […]
Microsoft Ad Chief Says Market to Shift From Search from Bloomberg reports Microsoft’s Senior Vice President, Brian McAndrews, as saying that the search ad business will shift towards display ads in the next several years. He said: Search has been a significant driver of growth. In the next several years, it will not be as […]
Online advertising spend surges 41 pct in Britain from Reuters reports that paid-search ads have grown by 44-percent year to year in Britain. Display ads grew 33-percent, while total online ad growth rose 41-percent. The Internet Advertising Bureau with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Centre estimated that total online ad spend in Britain can […]
The Wall Street Journal explores Yahoo’s recently debuted “SmartAds” (prior coverage here), which mix behavioral targeting with other forms of targeting and dynamic elements to deliver a reportedly better response to display advertisers. The new ad platform was tested in Yahoo Travel and reportedly performed well (2x to 3x CTRs of normal display ads) and […]
Earlier this week, Yahoo released the results of a major study of online advertising and consumer retail purchase behavior. Conducted in conjunction with comScore between April, 2006 and January, 2007, the study sought to quantify “the impact of search marketing and display advertising on consumer shopping behavior and the in-store sales of major retailers.” It […]
Microsoft has announced that it will purchase AdECN, an online ad exchange that competes with Yahoo’s RightMedia and, presumably, the forthcoming DoubleClick exchange. Assuming that the deal goes through and Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick isn’t blocked by regulators, all the major search engines will have extended graphical ad distribution through so-called exchanges. This is obviously […]
Yahoo released its Q2 earnings a little while ago. What they show is low double-digit growth in certain revenue categories, but also decreases in selected areas (e.g., operating income, free cash flow). Revenue and operating cash flow described as consistent with the “midpoint of guidance.” Here’s the earnings release (PDF file). Below are some additional […]
Yahoo is introducing new SmartAds that deliver display ads to people across the web based on their demographic and geographic profiles, plus search and web browsing behaviors. These ads represent the future of graphical advertising at Yahoo, according to Gaude Lydia Paez, director of corporate communications at Yahoo. SmartAds have been successfully tested over the […]
Gary Price points us to a recent IDC online ad forecast that says search will lose some of its appeal as display (specifically video) ads become more popular and prevalent online. The release identifies this anticipated shift as a “strategic challenge” to Google. While that characterization is attention getting, the reality is not as dramatic.
The IAB released its full-year 2006 Internet Advertising Revenue Report (here, PDF file) today. U.S. Internet ad spending was worth a total of $16.9 billion, with search accounting for 40 percent or around $6.8 billion, “up 31 percent from the $5.1 billion reported in 2005.” The category distribution of online ad spending was basically the […]
A day after 24/7 Real Media was acquired by WPP, Microsoft announced plans buy digital ad firm aQuantive, which owns Atlas and Avenue A | Razorfish, for $6 billion in cash. It is apparently the biggest acquisition in Microsoft’s history.