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Tag: Display Advertising

  • Google Makes It Easier To Run Display Campaigns Based On Objective

    Google Makes It Easier To Run Display Campaigns Based On Objective

    Google announced the launch of a new way to create Display ad campaigns based on marketing objective. It’s essentially just a new setup flow, but could be a better way for marketers to approach their display campaigns. You can see this pictured above.

    Objectives include: Build awareness, Influence consideration, and Drive action. The examples Google gives for when you might want to use each are as follows. For building awareness, an auto manufacturer might want to promote a new model. For influencing consideration, a home electronics brand might want to encourage customers to research its new washer and dryers. A hotel wanting to get customers to book rooms would want to use the drive action option, as would a developer looking for app installs or a dentist wanting new patients.

    “After you select your marketing objective, AdWords guides you to the most relevant targeting and bid settings to meet it,” explains Jens Skakkebaek, Group Product Manager for the Google Display Network. “For example, if your goal is to ‘Build awareness’ and get consumers to see your ad, AdWords will show bidding on viewable impressions, which is designed to optimize the reach of your campaign. If you want to ‘Drive action’ by encouraging customers to visit your business, then AdWords will show CPC bidding so you pay only when a user is interested enough to click your ad and learn more.”

    “We’ve also made it easier to build keyword lists for your Display campaigns when you use the new setup flow,” adds Skakkabaek. “Simply provide your landing page and AdWords will generate keyword ideas tailored to your page content. For instance, if you have a coffee shop, AdWords might suggest ‘best coffee,’ ‘best coffee maker,’ and ‘how to flavor coffee beans’ based on the content of your landing page.”

    Google will show advertisers customized in-market and affinity audience ideas based on landing page content.

    You can always view or change bidding and targeting settings regardless of which path you take. Likewise, you can switch marketing objectives at any time or choose to create campaigns without an objective.

    Image via Google

  • Yelp Earnings Disappoint As Chairman Leaves And Company Moves Away From Display Ads

    Yelp reported its second quarter earnings on Tuesday with better than expected revenue, but worse than expected profit, sending shares tumbling. But that wasn’t the only news to come out of the company. Yelp also announced the resignation of Max Levchin from its Board of Directors, and said it will discontinue display advertising by the end of the year.

    Levchin Leaves

    Let’s start with Levchin leaving. He was Chairman and Director, and he is officially leaving “to pursue other interests”. His departure is effective immediately. The Board has yet to appoint a replacement Chairman, but says it “plans to consider the issue at the next Board meeting in September.”

    “We thank Max for all his contributions to Yelp since its founding in 2004 when he provided the seed capital to start the company,” said CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. “Max saw Yelp grow from just an idea in my head to a company worth billions of dollars with Yelpers around the world. We have mutually agreed this is the right time for him to step down given the demands on his time. I am grateful for his contributions to Yelp’s success and wish him all the best going forward.”

    “I am extremely proud of what Yelp has accomplished over the last 11 years and believe I leave it well-positioned to take advantage of the large local advertising market,” said Levchin. “I spoke with Jeremy and felt now is the right time to transition off the board. I’m confident that Yelp is prepared to continue its success as I increase my focus on my CEO responsibilities at Affirm, along with other demands on my time.”

    Display No More

    During the company’s earnings conference call, Stoppelman revealed that Yelp will phase out display advertising by the end of 2015 as it turns its ad focus to native and local products. Here’s what he had to say about it (via SeekingAlpha’s transcript of the call):

    Our mission is to connect people with great local businesses. Consumers are increasingly relying on our 83 million reviews when choosing where to spend their money, making Yelp the ideal place for local businesses to advertise. To better leverage Yelp’s strengths with consumers and local businesses, we decided to phase out brand advertising by the end of the year. We believe that eliminating brand advertising, which we also refer to as our display advertising product, will benefit the company over the long-term. The industry trend towards increasingly disruptive display advertising is at odds with our focus on the consumer experience, particularly within the app.

    Direct brand advertising sales is in decline, while programmatic advertising has its own challenges with privacy implications, ever declining CPMs, and lower ad quality. For example, ads that play video or audio intrude upon the consumer experience increasing load times and data usage on smartphones. We believe that prioritizing the consumer experience while delivering highly relevant native local advertising will provide us with the strategic long-term advantage. Given that our brand advertising as a percent of total revenues declined from 25% in 2010 to 6% in the second quarter of 2015 now is the right time for us to reallocate those resources to our highly differentiated core business

    The Results

    Yelp reported net revenue of $133.9 million for the quarter, which is up 51% year-over-year. It also reported a $0.02 per share loss, which put off Wall Street, which expected a positive $0.01 per share net income.

    Cumulative reviews grew 35% year-over-year, reaching 83 million, while mobile unique visitors surpassed the desktop number for the first time, growing 22% to 83 million on a monthly average basis. Local advertising accounts grew 40% year over year to 97,1004.

    Brand ad revenue was $8.3 million, which is a decrease of 8%.

    Here’s the full earnings release:

    SAN FRANCISCO, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects consumers with great local businesses, today announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015.

    Yelp logo
    • Net revenue was $133.9 million in the second quarter of 2015 reflecting 51% growth over the second quarter of 2014.
    • Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2015 was $22.7 million, reflecting a 32% increase over the second quarter of 2014.
    • Cumulative reviews grew 35% year over year to approximately 83 million.
    • Mobile Unique Visitors1 surpassed the number of Desktop Unique Visitors2 for the first time, growing 22% year over year to approximately 83 million on a monthly average basis. App Unique Devices grew 51% year over year to approximately 18 million on a monthly average basis3.
    • Local advertising accounts grew 40% year over year to approximately 97,1004.

    Net loss in the second quarter of 2015 was $(1.3) million, or $(0.02) per share, compared to a net income of $2.7 million, or $0.04 per share, in the second quarter of 2014.

    Non-GAAP net income, which consists of net income excluding stock-based compensation and amortization was$9.4 million, or $0.12 per share, for the second quarter of 2015.

    Net revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $252.4 million, an increase of 53% compared to $165.2 million in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $39.1 millioncompared to $25.8 million in the first six months of 2014. Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was$(2.6) million, or $(0.03) per share, compared to net income of $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share, in the comparable period in 2014. Non-GAAP net income for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was $17.3 million, or $0.22 per share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $15.0 million, or $0.19 per share, in the comparable period in 2014.

    “We continue to demonstrate solid topline growth, with total net revenue increasing 51% year over year to approximately $134 million,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s chief executive officer. “Consumers are increasingly turning to apps when using their mobile phones, and we are excited about the growth we’ve seen in app usage which accelerated to 51% year over year. We believe our rich content married with our highly-differentiated local advertising product will position us well to capture a meaningful share of the large local market.”

    “Our core local advertising business remains strong, and we are investing in Yelp’s future,” added Rob Krolik, Yelp’s chief financial officer. “We expect local advertising will continue to be our primary driver of growth as we work towards our goal of generating one billion dollars of revenue in 2017.”

    Second Quarter Operating Summary

    • Local advertising revenue totaled $107.9 million, representing 43% growth over the second quarter of 2014.
    • Transactions revenue, which was previously included in Other revenue and will be broken out separately going forward, totaled $11.3 million, compared to $1.2 million in the second quarter of 2014, primarily due to the acquisition of Eat24 in the first quarter of 2015. Transactions revenue is comprised of Eat24, Platform transactions, Yelp Deals and Gift Certificates.
    • Brand advertising revenue totaled $8.3 million, representing an 8% decrease compared to the second quarter of 2014. As of today, Yelp is announcing that it plans to phase out its brand advertising product by the end of 2015 to continue its focus on the consumer experience and its native, local advertising products.
    • Other revenue totaled $6.4 million, representing 128% growth over the second quarter of 2014. Other revenue is primarily comprised of revenue from partnership arrangements.

    Business Highlights

    • Mobile Traffic: Mobile Unique Visitors surpassed Desktop Unique Visitors for the first time in company history in the second quarter of 2015, growing to approximately 83 million compared to approximately 79 million Desktop Unique Visitors. Growth in unique devices accessing the Yelp app accelerated to 51% over the second quarter of 2014. The majority of Yelp consumer engagement now occurs on the app with approximately 70% of new reviews and photos and approximately 70% of calls, clicks for directions and map views coming via the Yelp app.
    • Local Advertising: With the full rollout of its packaged cost-per-click (CPC) advertising package inSeptember 2014, Yelp increased the percent of local revenue generated by CPC advertisers to 46% in the second quarter of 2015, an increase from 40% in the first quarter of 2015. Based on Yelp’s internal analysis, local advertisers on Yelp receive on average approximately 270% ROI on their advertising spend, demonstrating the compelling nature of its highly relevant, native advertising products.

    Business Outlook

    Yelp is providing its outlook for the third quarter and lowering its outlook for the full year of 2015 based on slower sales headcount growth and the elimination of its brand advertising product.

    • For the third quarter of 2015, net revenue is expected to be in the range of $139 million to $142 million, representing growth of approximately 37% compared to the third quarter of 2014. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $12 million to $15 million. Stock-based compensation is expected to be in the range of $16 million to $17 million, and depreciation and amortization is expected to be 5%-6% of revenue.
    • For the full year of 2015, net revenue is expected to be in the range of $544 million to $550 million, representing growth of approximately 45% compared to full year 2014. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $72 million to $78 million. Stock-based compensation is expected to be in the range of $62 million to $64 million, and depreciation and amortization is expected to be 5%-6% of revenue.

    Quarterly Conference Call

    To access the call, please dial 1 (800) 708-4539, or outside the U.S. 1 (847) 619-6396, with Passcode 40205168, at least five minutes prior to the 1:30 p.m. PT start time.  A live webcast of the call will also be available at http://www.yelp-ir.com under the Events & Presentations menu.  An audio replay will be available between 4:00 p.m. PT July 28, 2015 and 11:59 p.m. PT August 4, 2015 by calling 1 (888) 843-7419 or 1 (630) 652-3042, with Passcode 40205168.  The replay will also be available on Yelp’s website at http://www.yelp-ir.com.

    About Yelp

    Yelp Inc. (http://www.yelp.com) connects people with great local businesses. Yelp was founded in San Franciscoin July 2004. Since then, Yelp communities have taken hold in major metros across 31 countries. Approximately 83 million unique visitors visited Yelp via their mobile device1, including approximately 18 million unique devices accessing the Yelp app3, and approximately 79 million unique visitors visited Yelp via a desktop computer2 on a monthly average basis during the second quarter of 2015. By the end of the same quarter, Yelpers had written approximately 83 million rich, local reviews, making Yelp the leading local guide for real word-of-mouth on everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and dentists.

    1 Calculated as the number of “users,” as measured by Google Analytics, accessing Yelp via mobile web plus unique devices accessing the app, each on a monthly average basis over a given three-month period.

    2 Calculated as the number of “users,” as measured by Google Analytics, accessing Yelp via desktop computer on an average monthly basis over a given three-month period.

    3 Calculated as the number of unique devices accessing the app on a monthly average basis over a given three-month period, according to internal Yelp logs.

    4 Local advertising accounts comprise all local business accounts from which we recognize local advertising revenue in a given three-month period.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    This press release includes information relating to adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share, each of which the Securities and Exchange Commission has defined as a “non-GAAP financial measure.” Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share have been included in this press release because they are key measures used by Yelp management and board of directors to understand and evaluate core operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve its annual budget and to develop short- and long-term operational plans. The presentation of this financial information, which is not prepared under any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles, is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”).

    Adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of Yelp’s financial results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

    • although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income do not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;
    • adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, Yelp’s working capital needs;
    • adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income do not consider the potentially dilutive impact of equity-based compensation;
    • adjusted EBITDA does not reflect tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to Yelp; and
    • other companies, including those in Yelp’s industry, may calculate adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP net income differently, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures.

    Because of these limitations, you should consider adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per share alongside other financial performance measures, including various cash flow metrics, net income (loss) and Yelp’s other GAAP results. Additionally, Yelp has not reconciled its adjusted EBITDA outlook for the third quarter and full year 2015 to its net income (loss) outlook because it does not provide an outlook for other income (expense) and provision for income taxes, which are reconciling items between net income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA. As items that impact net income (loss) are out of Yelp’s control and cannot be reasonably predicted, Yelp is unable to provide such an outlook. Accordingly, reconciliation to net income (loss) outlook for the third quarter and full year 2015 is not available without unreasonable effort. For a reconciliation of historical non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures, see the non-GAAP reconciliations included below in this press release.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, the future performance of Yelp and its consolidated subsidiaries that are based on Yelp’s current expectations, forecasts and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expected financial results for the third quarter and full year 2015, Yelp’s ability to capture a meaningful share of the large local market, Yelp’s target revenue for 2017 and its expectations regarding local advertising as the primary driver of growth, Yelp’s estimates regarding local advertisers’ ROI on advertising spend, the future growth in Yelp revenue and continued investing by Yelp in its future growth, and Yelp’s ability to drive daily usage and engagement (particularly on mobile), increase awareness of Yelp among consumers, and deliver value to local businesses. Yelp’s actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: Yelp’s short operating history in an evolving industry; Yelp’s ability to generate sufficient revenue to maintain profitability, particularly in light of its significant ongoing sales and marketing expenses; the impact of Yelp phasing out its brand advertising products by the end of 2015; Yelp’s ability to attract, retain and motivate well-qualified employees, particularly in sales and marketing; successfully manage acquisitions of new businesses, solutions or technologies, such as Eat24, and to integrate those businesses, solutions or technologies; Yelp’s reliance on traffic to its website from search engines like Googleand Bing; Yelp’s ability to generate and maintain sufficient high quality content from its users; maintaining a strong brand and managing negative publicity that may arise; maintaining and expanding Yelp’s base of advertisers; changes in political, business and economic conditions, including any European or general economic downturn or crisis and any conditions that affect ecommerce growth; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; Yelp’s  ability to deal with the increasingly competitive local search environment; Yelp’s need and ability to manage other regulatory, tax and litigation risks as its services are offered in more jurisdictions and applicable laws become more restrictive; the competitive and regulatory environment while Yelp continues to expand geographically and introduce new products and as new laws and regulations related to Internet companies come into effect; Yelp’s ability to timely upgrade and develop its systems, infrastructure and customer service capabilities. The forward-looking statements in this release do not include the potential impact of any acquisitions or divestitures that may be announced and/or completed after the date hereof.

    More information about factors that could affect Yelp’s operating results is included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Yelp’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q at http://www.yelp-ir.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this release, which are based on information available to Yelp on the date hereof. Yelp assumes no obligation to update such statements.

    Investor Relations Contact Information
    Wendy Lim, Allie Dalglish
    (415) 635-2412
    ir@yelp.com

     

    Yelp Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    June 30, December 31,
    2015 2014
    Assets
    Current assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents $ 181,460 $        247,312
    Short-term marketable securities 186,673 118,498
    Accounts receivable, net 41,339 35,593
    Prepaid expenses and other current assets 22,713 19,355
    Total current assets 432,185 420,758
    Long-term marketable securities 38,612
    Property, equipment and software, net 72,603 62,761
    Goodwill 173,296 67,307
    Intangibles, net 42,458 5,786
    Restricted cash 16,285 17,943
    Other assets 4,560 16,483
    Total assets $ 741,387 $        629,650
    Liabilities  and stockholders’ equity
    Current liabilities:
    Accounts payable $     1,706 $            1,398
    Accrued liabilities 37,716 29,581
    Deferred revenue 2,546 2,994
    Total current liabilities 41,968 33,973
    Long-term liabilities 13,254 7,527
    Total liabilities 55,222 41,500
    Commitments and contingencies
    Stockholders’ equity
    Common stock
    Additional paid-in capital 734,867 627,742
    Accumulated other comprehensive loss (12,130) (5,609)
    Accumulated deficit (36,572) (33,983)
    Total stockholders’ equity 686,165 588,150
    Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $  741,387 $         629,650

     

    Yelp Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2015 2014 2015 2014
    Net revenue $ 133,913 $ 88,787 $ 252,421 $ 165,194
    Cost and expenses
    Cost of revenue (1) 13,057 5,845 21,756 10,922
    Sales and marketing (1) 68,014 47,798 131,280 92,919
    Product development (1) 26,345 14,726 50,305 28,708
    General and administrative (1) 19,280 13,257 39,217 26,427
    Depreciation and amortization 7,167 4,034 14,062 7,695
    Total cost and expenses 133,863 85,660 256,620 166,671
    Income (loss) from operations 50 3,127 (4,199) (1,477)
    Other income (expense), net 329 (15) 891 (17)
    Income (loss) before income taxes 379 3,112 (3,308) (1,494)
    Benefit (provision) for income taxes (1,684) (369) 719 1,602
    Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders $   (1,305) $   2,743 $   (2,589) $        108
    Net (income) loss per share attributable to common stockholders:
    Basic $     (0.02) $     0.04 $     (0.03) $       0.00
    Diluted $     (0.02) $     0.04 $     (0.03) $       0.00
    Weighted-average shares used to compute net loss per share attributable to common stockholders:
    Basic 74,631 71,714 74,009 71,444
    Diluted 74,631 77,056 74,009 76,903
    (1) Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2015 2014 2015 2014
    Cost of revenue $        222 $      119 $        346 $        269
    Sales and marketing 5,654 3,728 10,591 7,125
    Product development 6,065 3,456 11,170 6,498
    General and administrative 3,575 2,780 7,080 5,647
    Total stock-based compensation $   15,516 $ 10,083 $   29,187 $   19,539

     

    Yelp Inc.
    Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    Six Months Ended
    June 30,
    2015 2014
    Operating activities
    Net income (loss) $        (2,589) $         108
     Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net
     cash provided by (used in) operating activities:
    Depreciation and amortization 14,062 7,695
    Provision for doubtful accounts and sales returns 6,076 2,581
    Stock-based compensation 29,187 19,539
    Loss (gain) on disposal of assets and website development costs 144 (5)
    Premium amortization, net, on securities held-to-maturity 481 93
    Excess tax benefit from share-based award activity (3,952) (460)
    Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
    Accounts receivable (7,855) (6,716)
    Prepaid expenses and other assets (7,079) (5,980)
    Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities 15,616 3,567
    Deferred revenue (426) (433)
    Net cash provided by operating activities 43,665 19,989
    Investing activities
    Acquisitions, net of cash received (73,422)
    Purchases of property, equipment and software (18,059) (7,212)
    Capitalized website and software development costs (6,012) (4,327)
    Change in restricted cash 1,672 (397)
    Purchase of intangibles (314)
    Proceeds from sale of property and equipment 109 14
    Purchases of investment securities held-to-maturity (93,914) (122,226)
    Maturities of investment securities held-to-maturity 63,870
    Cash used in investing activities (126,070) (134,148)
    Financing activities
    Proceeds from exercise of employee stock options 8,534 10,841
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock for Employee Stock Purchase Plan 5,061 4,087
    Excess tax benefit from share-based award activity 3,952 460
    Repurchase of common stock (396) (642)
    Net cash provided by financing activities 17,151 14,746
    Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (598) 35
    Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (65,852) (99,378)
    Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 247,312 389,764
    Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 181,460 $   290,386

     

    Yelp Inc.
    Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures
    (In thousands)
    (Unaudited)
    Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
    June 30, June 30,
    2015 2014 2015 2014
    Adjusted EBITDA:
    Net income (loss) $ (1,305) $   2,743 $ (2,589) $      108
    Provision (benefit) for income taxes 1,684 369 (719) (1,602)
    Other (income) expense, net (329) 15 (891) 17
    Depreciation and amortization 7,167 4,034 14,062 7,695
    Stock-based compensation 15,516 10,083 29,187 19,539
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 22,733 $ 17,244 $ 39,050 $ 25,757
    Non-GAAP net income and income per share:
    GAAP net income (loss) attributable to common

    shareholders

    $ (1,305) $   2,743 $ (2,589) $      108
       Add back: stock-based compensation 15,516 10,083 29,187 19,539
       Add back: amortization of intangible assets 1,803 629 3,034 1,255
       Less: tax effect of stock-based compensation & amortization of intangible assets
    (6,660) (4,039) (12,376) (7,899)
       Add back: valuation allowance release (net of tax) 1,958
    NON-GAAP NET INCOME $   9,354 $   9,416 $ 17,256 $ 14,961
    GAAP diluted shares 78,749 77,056 78,205 76,903
    NON-GAAP NET INCOME PER SHARE $     0.12 $     0.12 $     0.22 $     0.19

    Image via Yelp (Flickr)

  • Paid Search Spend Continues Strong Growth In U.S. Driven By Mobile Usage

    Paid Search Spend Continues Strong Growth In U.S. Driven By Mobile Usage

    IgnitionOne released its Q2 2015 Digital Marketing Report this week, highlighting data and trends in search, programmatic display, social, and mobile advertising. The company manages over $1.5 billion in digital spend and tracks over $30 billion in customer revenue.

    It found “strong” growth in paid search spend in the U.S. for the third consecutive quarter, up 22% year-over-year.

    Screen shot 2015-07-10 at 12.09.01 PM

    According to the findings, and not surprisingly, mobile search growth was the main driver of this paid search spend growth. Mobile phone spend in general was up 71% yearover-year. Growth for tablets was up 22%. Smartphones accounted for the greatest growth in mobile spend at 59% of spend compared to tablets.

    Screen shot 2015-07-10 at 12.10.16 PM

    “Despite gains in search market share made by Yahoo!/Bing in previous quarters, Google reclaimed much of its lost ground,” IgnitionOne says. “Google took in 75.5% of U.S. paid search spend, as opposed to Yahoo!/Bing’s 24.5%. The search giant was outpaced by Facebook in display growth, however, dropping -9% YoY compared to Facebook’s 48% growth in display spend.”

    Meanwhile, programmatic display grew 33%. This category has shown growth for two quarters. It did see a decrease in impressions thanks to Facebook changes.

    “As industry giants battle over market share it only serves to highlight how important it is for marketers and their technologies to be publisher-agnostic,” said IgnitionOne CEO Will Margiloff. “This report once again validates sophisticated marketers paying close attention to individual customers and delivering messages at the right time, efficiently, no matter what publisher or what device.”

    You can find the full report here.

    Images via IgnitionOne

  • Media Rating Council Gives Viewable Display Impressions Green Light

    The Media Rating Council (MRC) announced that it has lifted its advisory on “Viewable Impressions” for display advertising. This means the industry can begin transacting on the metric for the first time in a shift from served impressions to those that are essentially guaranteed as actually seen.

    The council, along with the IAB’s Emerging Innovations Task Force has released a set of Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines aimed at showing advertisers exactly how they should be measured. You can find this document here.

    The guidelines say that 50% of pixels must be in the viewable portion of a web browser for a minimum of one continuous second to qualify as a viewable display impression.

    The IAB says the switch to viewable impressions is “a momentous occasion for consumers, brands, and publishers, adding, “This shift in media currency will help brands connect with engaged consumers, and do the kind of multi-platform campaigns across media properties they’ve been eager to do almost since the internet was born.”

    “The Viewable Impression metric represents a huge step forward in the online advertising landscape,” said MRC CEO and Executive Director George W. Ivie. “By adopting this standard for viewable display impressions, the entire marketplace – agencies, marketers and publishers – will benefit from the improved quality and accountability of digital advertising. This shift will ultimately benefit the entire advertising ecosystem by paving the way to better cross-platform campaign planning and analysis.”

    Now that the green light has been given, advertisers are going to expect publishers to offer ads via this metric.

    Image via YouTube

  • Google And Yandex Partner Up On Display Ads

    Google And Yandex Partner Up On Display Ads

    Yandex, Russia’s leading search engine company, announced that it has struck an advertising partnership with Google, which will see Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manger connect to Yandex’s own real-time bidding system. Yandex’s demand-side platform AWAPS will join Google’s DoubleClick AdExcahnge.

    The deal is only related to display advertising, and has no effect on text-based contextual ads.

    Google advertisers will get access to Yandex Advertising Network inventory, and Yandex clients will be able to bid for DoubleClick AdExchange inventory. Yandex says the partnership will result in a larger number of bidders, and will boost revenue.

    “We are happy about this partnership that will help to develop the RTB [real-time bidding] ecosystem in Russia,” says Google’s Frank Einecke, who heads SEEMEA Media Buying Solutions for DoubleClick. “Given the adoption speed of RTB in this market, accessing local and global qualified inventory is key to our publishers and advertisers who are looking for incremental reach. We are very excited to see the Russian market moving towards innovative programmatic solutions that can serve both branding and performance strategies in reaching their targets in a more efficient way.”

    “The integration of the two advertising systems will undoubtedly stimulate the online advertising market,” said Nikolay Danilov, head of Sales Technologies at Yandex. “The transparency that is characteristic of RTB systems creates new possibilities for growth. The more players, the wider range of ad inventory, the greater the competition for placement, and the higher the quality of the ads themselves. We anticipate that the partnership with Google will result in increased display advertising sales and improvements in ad quality.”

    Yandex says the integration of the partnership will take several months to complete.

    Image via Google

  • Online Ad Revenues Reach Historic High

    The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a report on Internet ad revenues, which the organization says climbed to an all-time high of $17 billion in the first half of 2012. This is, in fact, a 14% year-over-year increase (compared to the previous high of $14.9 billion in the first half of 2011).

    The second quarter alone also saw a 14% year-over-year increase, hitting $8.7 billion (up from $7.7 billion during the same period last year).

    Here’s a look at the yearly increases for the first half of the year since 1996:

    First Half ad revenues

    “This report establishes that marketers increasingly embrace mobile and digital video, as well as the entire panoply of interactive platforms, to reach consumers in innovative and creative ways,” said IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg. “These half-year figures come on the heels of a study from Harvard Business School researchers that points to the ad-supported internet ecosystem as a critical driver of the U.S. economy. Clearly, the digital marketing industry is on a positive trajectory that will propel the entire American business landscape forward.”

    IAB SVP, Research, Analytics and Measurement, Sherrill Mane, added, “Solid double-digit growth in a stagnating economy is a significant accomplishment. There is evidence that CPMs are maintaining, and even increasing, further substantiating the vitality of the internet ad market.”

    Mobile nearly doubled year-over-year for the first half of the year, rising 95% to $1.2 billion, compared to $636 million from the same period last year. Digital video increased 18% year-over-year, reaching over $1 billion in revenue (up from $900 million from the same period last year).

    “The tremendous growth of mobile advertising revenue over the past year is an indication of the importance of location to advertisers and mobility to consumers,” said David Silverman, a partner at PwC US, which prepared the report for the IAB. “Bringing the power of the internet to mobile devices has opened up a world of possibilities to both consumers and marketers.”

    Search revenues totaled $8.1 billion, up 19% from $6.8 billion. Display revenues hit $5.6 billion, up 4% from $5.3 billion in the same period last year, and accounting for 33% of the first half of the year’s ad revenues.

    You can find the full report here.

  • Google Lets Users Click An X To Stop Seeing Ads From Specific Campaigns

    Google is launching a new [x] button on some of its display ads over the next several weeks. Much like display ads on Facebook, the user will stop seeing ads from that campaign, once the [x] is clicked.

    It’s unclear on what all ads the feature will be included, but Google says it is starting on those that are based on remarketing and interest categories.

    When the user clicks the [x], they’ll be presented with a confirmation page, which explains that the ad has been muted, and provides a link to Google’s Ad Preferences Manager.

    Google Ad muting

    Google does note that clicking the [x] isn’t a 100% guarantee users won’t see the ad again. Ads might appear again if shown by a different ad company or if a marketer runs a separate campaign targeting specific content.

    This isn’t the first way Google has tried to give users more control over ads.

    “We’re investing in many ways to give users control over the ads they see,” says product manager Michael Aiello. “On YouTube, our TrueView ad products enables users to skip video ads. On Google search, you can click ‘Why this Ad?’ and stop sites you’re not interested in from showing you ads. Our Ads Preferences Manager, available with one click on the AdChoices icon on ads on the Google Display Network, enables you to edit your interest categories, or opt out of all interest based ads including remarketing ads on our Display Network.”

    Advertisers who get the [x] clicked a lot might experience further ramifications, as Google says it will use the feedback it collects from users to “improve” its ads over time.

  • Social Media Overtakes Search in Advertising

    Social media is on a trajectory to become the main focus of advertisers, according to a new survey conducted by Strata, a Comcast-owned media software firm. The quarterly report queried a broad pool of over 1,000 U.S. ad agencies processing over $50 billion in media annually, and revealed that 69% of firms regard social media advertising as being the focus of ad spend, up 32% over the previous year.

    social media ad study

    A similar study by Pagemodo recently showed that 90% of businesses at least incorporate some form of social media into their marketing plan, with 93% reporting the practice to be beneficial. While only 43% of advertisers in that study reported seeing an actual boost in sales via utilizing social ads, social proofing, or using a sort of digital word-of-mouth to promote a product or service, does significantly increase brand exposure.

    Strata President and CEO John Shelton, referring to the survey taken by his company, states, “The survey demonstrates that there has been a shift from search, which has dominated the digital part of the business for the last five to 10 years – to social.” Still, display ads are number one, with 71% of advertisers focusing on platforms like TV. Though, Shelton points out that TV ad spend will be inflated, due to the Presidential election and the Olympics.

    Mobile advertising is expanding, with roughly 30% of agencies incorporating it into their campaigns, and 75% of firms target the iPhone in that market. Android was second with 57%, and iPad came in third at 44%. The Strata data also revealed that Android’s popularity fluctuated between 46% and 70% over the last 2 years, and “continues to look for stability in the mobile arena.”

    Now to cite the obvious – Facebook takes up 85% of all social media advertising expenditures, and has achieved at least 80% over the last 7 quarters. Though, I must point out that the Strata study relates to advertising focus, and no dollar amounts were mentioned.

  • AdWords Contextual Engine Gets Biggest Upgrade Ever

    Google announced changes to AdWords, which the company says will simplify the way advertisers buy and run display ads through AdWords.

    “For nine years, AdWords customers have been buying display campaigns through an interface designed for search,” says Google’s AdWords team in a blog post. “This is like trying to run in glass slippers — it might work, but it’d be a lot more effective with the right running shoes. So we’re giving display its own tab within AdWords.”

    Display Network Tab in AdWords

    The tab will roll out over the next few weeks.

    In addition to the tab, Google announced a new contextual engine (the system that matches ads to pages based on keywords) update for AdWords, which the company calls the “biggest enhancement ever”. The company uploaded the following video of Director of Product Management for Display, Brad Bender, talking about both the tab and the updated engine:

    Google says the update give the engine the ability to combine the reach of display with the “precision” of search using “next-gen” keyword targeting.

    Some might say, however, that precision and search aren’t quite as synonymous as they oncer were in the online advertising world. There’s no question that Facebook is able to get much more precise when it comes to targeting based on demographic and interest. Google will no doubt try to improve on this with Google+ and its revamped privacy policy, but it just doesn’t have the data about web users that Facebook does.

    That said, the advantage and precision of search, in comparison, comes with the fact that search ads deliver on timing when the user is actually looking for something in particular. Imagine if Google is able to get the Facebook-type data and have the best of both worlds.

    On the update engine, Google says, “For example, let’s say you’re running display campaigns for a Travel Agency who offers a vacation packages in several Caribbean islands. In the past, you would have created themed ad groups targeting vacations to Turks and Caicos and the Caribbean. Now, with this new keyword level transparency you might realize that the keyword ‘Turks and Caicos vacations’ is 4 times more profitable than the keyword ‘caribbean vacations’. You can optimize your campaigns to aggressively target these high performing keywords, and be more conservative on ‘caribbean vacations’.”

    Along with all of this, Google is launching a “targeting diagram” feature, to help advertisers better visualize the reach of campaigns, and see how they’re impacted by combining various targeting types.

  • Facebook Continues Display Ad Domination

    According to new data from comScore, Facebook had 27.9% of all online display-ad impressions last year, up from 21% the previous year.

    According to the firm, Yahoo was in second place at 11% (up from 10.9% the year before), leaving Microsoft, Google and AOL each with less than 5%.

    That would make three years in a row that Facebook led the charge. And why not? Who has better targeting, and where are users spending more time?

    Facebook, of course, is expected to file for its huge IPO this week, and this news should only help. Add that to the various ways Facebook is expanding its advertising offerings.

    This month, for one, ads came to the Facebook news feed.

    The company is incentivizing advertisers to stay with Facebook with a 45% reduction in CPCs, according to TBG Digital’s recent Global Facebook Advertising Report Q4.

    Recently, we’ve seen reports of Facebook cold emailing businesses, offering phone consultation on Facebook advertising.

    Facebook is expected to start offering mobile ads soon, and there’s always that possibility that the company will eventually launch an AdSense like network for publishers. That one’s pure speculation, but come on. How could they not?

  • Google’s AdMeld Acquisition Made Official

    Google’s AdMeld Acquisition Made Official

    Last week, a report came out that Google had acquired AdMeld for around $400 million. While the price has not been confirmed, Google did officially announce the acquisition today.

    Google’s VP of Display Advertising, Neal Mohan, wrote on the Official Google Blog:

    To help major publishers get the most out of the rapidly changing and growing display ad landscape, we’ve signed an agreement to acquire Admeld, a New York-based yield optimization firm.

    There are lots of different ways that they can sell their display ad space. Often, they’ll sell space directly to advertisers or agencies, using an ad server to actually deliver and measure the ads (like Microsoft’s Atlas, AOL’s AdTech, DoubleClick’s DFP, Yahoo’s APT, OpenX, Zedo, 24/7 Real Media and others). Alternatively, they’ll make their ad space available indirectly—to hundreds of ad networks (like Advertising.com, Specific Media, Collective, 24/7, ValueClick, Vibrant, AdSense, Undertone and others), each with thousands of advertisers, or to various advertising exchanges or technology platforms (like Yahoo’s Right Media, OpenX, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, ContextWeb, AdBrite, AppNexus and others) that match them with ad buyers (like ad networks and demand side platforms) who represent advertisers, in real-time marketplaces.

    Some publishers also work with a “yield optimization” provider (such as Rubicon Project, Pubmatic and others) that supplies technology to select ads from across these many indirect options, while providing personalized service and support. In a very complex and rapidly growing display ad landscape, that’s what Admeld does.

    By combining Admeld’s services, expertise and technology with Google’s offerings, we’re investing in what we hope will be an improved era of flexible ad management tools for major publishers. Together with Admeld, we hope to make display advertising simpler, more efficient and more valuable, provide improved support and services, and enable publishers to make more informed decisions across all their ad space. These are all things our publisher partners have been asking us to further invest in. Of course, Admeld will continue to support other ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and ad servers, to yield the best possible results for publishers.

    Helping publishers get the most from display advertising with Admeld http://goo.gl/YJMq6 32 minutes ago via Tap11 · powered by @socialditto

    AdMeld CEO Michael Barrett led global sales at Fox Interactive Media, Co-Founders Ben Barokas and Brian Adams held senior positions at AOL, and Chief Media Officer Jason Kelly was VP of Strategy & Revenue for Time Inc. Digital. It is this veteran leadership that the company plays up in its pitch.

    “When I joined Admeld as CEO about 13 months later, the company had dozens of clients, most of whom reported at least a 100% increase in their revenues from ad networks,” says Barrett on the AdMeld Blog. “What’s more, the team had learned that technology, while the foundation of Admeld, wasn’t the full solution. In truth, publishers didn’t want just another platform. They wanted a partner who understood their business and could help them use technology to navigate this increasingly complex space. This mix of expertise and technology still resonates with publishers today, and it will always be the cornerstone of Admeld’s approach.”

    “Over the last two years in particular, display advertising has undergone more innovation than in the previous ten years combined,” he adds. “RTB, data management, private exchanges: the space has come a long way, but despite all the progress, it still has a long way to go. Our goal, together with Google, is to continue to move display advertising forward and ensure that publishers stay on the cutting edge.”

    The deal must still go through regulatory review. During this time, the two companies will remain independent from one another.

  • Google Buys AdMeld for $400 MIllion: Report

    Google Buys AdMeld for $400 MIllion: Report

    According to an unconfirmed report from Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, citing “multiple sources,” Google has acquired ad optimization platform AdMeld for around $400 million.

    AdMeld CEO Michael Barrett led global sales at Fox Interactive Media, Co-Founders Ben Barokas and Brian Adams held senior positions at AOL, and Chief Media Officer Jason Kelly was VP of Strategy & Revenue for Time Inc. Digital. It is this veteran leadership that the company plays up in its pitch.

    “It’s been an exciting year in the display advertising business—the movement of media online and the emergence of new technologies are causing incredible growth, and we’re investing significantly to help improve display advertising for publishers, advertisers and users,” Google’s VP of Display Advertising, Neal Mohan said in a blog post this week. “But I believe we’re poised to make even greater advances in the years ahead. We’re at the beginning of a user-focused revolution, where people connect and respond to display ads in ways we’ve never seen before.”

    No mention was made of the acquisition of course, and both companies have yet to comment on the deal, but the timing is interesting.

    Mohan went on to predict that by 2015, the number of display ad impressions will decrease by 25% per person, engagement rates ill increase by 50%, people will have a direct say in 25% of the ads they see, 35% of campaigns will primarily use metrics beyond clicks and conversions, 25 billion ads per day will tell people why they are seeing them, and over 40% of online Americans will name display ads as their favorite ad format.

    The predictions were presented at the IAB’s Innovation Days at Internet week.

    Peter Kafka at All Things Digital says the AdMeld deal will draw a great deal of scrutiny from government regulators, based on the size of the deal and Google’s currently strong presence in the display ad space. Sounds about right.

  • Eric Schmidt Backs Display Ad Company Spongecell

    Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (along with others) has invested in Spongecell, an online display advertising company.

    Spongecell announced this morning that it has completed a new round of financing led by Schmidt and Jim Pallotta, Chairman and Managing Director of Raptor Group. Pittsburgh Steelers Board member Brian Rooney and Silverhaze Partners also participated in the round, the amount of which was not disclosed.

    So what exactly is Spongecell all about? Its technology turns standard banner ads into dynamic flash ads with rich media-like functionality. The company says the ads engage audiences longer, while using no more real estate than standard banners – keeping users on the publisher’s page.

    Spongecell also says that “nearly every major brand” in industries like CPG, auto, financial services, entertainment, and politics are using its platform. Volvo, for example, is running an ongoing campaign for dealers using Spongecell ads that change dynamically from market to market, throughout 13 markets.

    Spongecell Volvo Ad

    So far, the company says, there’s a 10x lift in the number of times people find dealer locations in its embedded mapping technology, compared to how many people clicked through a flash banner and then looked up their dealer location on Volvo’s site.

    “Spongecell’s growth has been extraordinary, gaining more than 200 major brands in 2010 alone. Founding CEO Ben Kartzman and his team are at the forefront of API-enabled technology that is pushing the boundaries of the next generation of display advertising,” said Pallotta. “We look forward to a bright future for Spongecell.”

    “Since the introduction of Spongecell’s dynamic advertising technology in late 2008, we have been very fortunate to have been able to grow the business rapidly from profits rather than additional capital investment” says Mr. Kartzman. “The new funds will be used to accelerate sales growth and further bolster the product development team. Clearly, we are very excited to have the advice and counsel of Eric Schmidt, Jim Pallotta, and Brian Rooney.”

    It says a lot that Schmidt is backing the company, given Google’s success in display advertising (one of the high points CEO Larry Page pointed to in a call with Google shareholders the other day).

    On a related note, Eric Schmidt has also reportedly invested in BackPlane, which was founded by Lady Gaga’s business manager.

  • Google Simplifies Bidding on the Display Network

    Google’s display network is a great way for small business advertisers to dabble in the banner advertising space.

    Whilst the planning, set up and management of banner advertising through Google’s display network is fairly straight forward, one part of the process was a bit more convoluted than it should have been – the bidding on managed placements.

    People who’ve used “managed placements” in the display network might have recalled seeing 3 default bids for their ad groups – namely:

    • Regular default bid
    • Managed placements bid
    • Display network bid

    According to feedback from users, Google realised that most people were confused by the three default bids displayed and few actually bothered to use the Managed Placements default bid.

    Accordingly, as of the 15th Mar 2011, Google will be removing the managed placements default bid option, which should remove some of the confusion.

    From the Google release post, this is how the change will impact you:

    • Starting today, we’re no longer allowing managed placement bids to be set for new ad groups containing placements. You won’t be required to enter a new bid when you add managed placements for the first time (we’re launching this change gradually, so it may take about a week to reach your account).

    • Starting on March 15, we’ll automatically update existing managed placement bids. There are several changes we’ll make in order to make sure your ads will continue to serve as normal with the bids you intended. Learn more about the changes that apply to your account in our Help Center.

    • If you’re eager to say goodbye to the managed placements bid today, you can do that too! You can change your managed placements bid to 0, which will cause it to disappear from your account (this change is also launching over the next week).
      The display network can be a real pocket of advertising gold for small business owners, especially if they target their placements carefully.

    Whilst I don’t think the change above is overly dramatic, any steps that Google takes to make the display network more user friendly for advertisers is a good move. I’m keen to see more small business owners embrace the opportunity that the display network offers.

    • Do you currently use Google’s display network for your advertising?
    • Does it deliver strong results for your campaigns?

    Originally published on INeedHits.com

  • Yahoo Acquires Display Ad Specialist Dapper

    Dapper, a company that deals in both creating and optimizing display ad campaigns, is now the property of Yahoo, Inc.  Yahoo announced the acquisition this afternoon.

    There are at least a couple reasons for Yahoo fans to be excited about this development.  One is Dapper’s impressive list of clients and partners, which includes organizations like AdBrite, AOL, DoubleClick, Expedia, Kayak, Microsoft, and PubMatic.

    Another reason is that Yahoo is also a current partner of Dapper’s, so Yahoo execs are sure to know what they’re getting into.

    Of course, the potential downside there is that onlookers might not see any startling improvements.

    Frank Weishaupt, VP of North America Ad Marketplaces at Yahoo, indicated in a statement, though, "Smart Ads will continue to be an important component of display advertising and the acquisition of Dapper will help Yahoo! to more efficiently deliver dynamic and personalized ads for customers across more of our network."

    And if you’d like a fuller description of what Dapper does, an official release added that it’s "a technology platform providing dynamic display ad creation and optimization.  Dapper enables advertisers and agencies to quickly and easily build dynamic ad creative, leveraging data to automatically show the right product, offer, or message with each impression."

    Unfortunately, Yahoo and Dapper did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition.

  • Google to Offer Interesting New Display Ad Formats

    While you may not tend to think about display ads when you think about Google, the company seems to be working hard to change that. Google says display advertising is at the heart of what it is doing these days, and that 99% of its top 1,000 clients are running campaigns on the Google Display Network. 

    The company showcased some new display ad-related technologies their using at the IAB MIXX Conference yesterday. Google demonstrated new video ad formats it’s been testing on YouTube, called "TrueView", which will roll out later this year. The ads let users skip them if they don’t want to watch, or choose from multiple ads, which one they do want to watch. Advertisers would only pay when the user chooses to watch. 

    "We showed some of the things that are becoming possible with our new Teracent technology," Google says. "This technology can dynamically alter the creative elements of an ad in real-time to make it more relevant and effective, depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website and the time of day."

    Google Display Network

    Google also demonstrated some interesting new interactive print ad technology, taking advantage of Google Goggles, the company’s visual search app. "Imagine pointing your phone’s camera at an ad for a car in a magazine, and having the car appear in 3D in your mobile device. Or pointing at a movie poster and having the movie trailer play in the device, right in your hand," the company says. "No QR codes, no downloads!"

    Google also showed off some rich media, expandable ads where the company’s speech was broadcast live in various ads across the web, and was updated with realtime tweets. 

    Google says the display ad industry will grow to $50 billion in five years.

  • What the Display Ad Landscape Looks Like in the U.S.

    comScore has revealed some findings on display ads in the U.S. Flash and rich media ads account for 40% of impressions, according to the firm’s report. JPEG ads led the market with over 42% of impressions in the U.S., while "leaderboard"-style banner ads (728 x 90) were the most commonly viewed display ad by size.

    "We’ve witnessed a strong resurgence in the display ad market over the past several months, with the number of impressions up 15 percent vs. year ago and average CPMs also continuing to rise," said comScore senior vice president Jeff Hackett. "One of the several drivers of strength in this market has been the innovation occurring with respect to ad units, as larger and more engaging creative ad formats are employed. We are excited to provide our clients with greater visibility into the use of different ad formats and sizes with the new comScore Ad Metrix Creative Summary report."

    According to comScore, in April, about 60% of U.S. display ad impressions were GIFs and JPEGs. GIFs represented 14.1%. Here are a couple charts worth looking at:

    comScore display Ad data

    Banners accounted for 23.1% of impressions, followed by rectangles (22.7%) and non-standard units (22.1%).

    Pop-ups and pop-unders now represent less than 1% of all display ad impressions, comScore says. Newer OPA ad formats, such as the 970 x 418 pushdown and 468 x 648 XXL box currently account for 0.1% of impressions.

  • Google Announces Google Display Network

    Google announced that it is putting all of its non-search display advertising offerings together into one network called the Google Display Network.

    Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management explains the reasoning behin this on the Inside AdWords blog: "Over the past year, we’ve been focused on investing in display advertising, and we’ve seen great momentum from the increasing number of you running display campaigns with Google. We’ve rolled out new features and targeting options and more precise measurement tools. To provide more places for you to run display ads, we’ve added more publisher sites (through Google AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange) to our ad network of over one million sites. Meanwhile, many of you have continued to run ads on YouTube and our own properties."

    Google Display Network

    "The Google Display Network will comprise all of the sites (apart from search sites), where you can buy ads through Google, including YouTube, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger as well as over one million Web, video, gaming, and mobile display partners (our display partners include all of our AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange partner sites that allow text and/or display ads)," he continues. "The Google Display Network offers all ad formats –  text, image, rich media, and video ads – enabling you to unleash your creativity and engage potential customers across the Web."

    Nothing has changed about the way advertisers run ads. AdWords bidding and reservations for YouTube and Google Finance, for example, will be the same.

    Google says that in the coming weeks, you’ll see a change in the AdWords interface that reflects the new Google Display Network brand.

    More details about the Google Display Network can be found here.

    Do you think it was a good idea to consolidate Google’s display ad offerings? Share your thoughts.

  • Offerpal Launches New Display Ad Network for Social Networks

    Offerpal Launches New Display Ad Network for Social Networks

    The big question businesses have about social media these days is, "how can I measure ROI?" With straight advertising in social networks, that becomes pretty clear, and Offerpal has launched a new display ad network for social media. If you’re unfamiliar with Offerpal, it’s a platform that lets advertise and developers monetize social media apps. For more information, read my interview with the company here.

    "This platform allows brands to target more than 100 million unique visitors a month via an array of methods such as videos, branded goods and offers, while game developers and publishers benefit from a broader set of monetization abilities," a representative for Offerpal tells WebProNews about the new display network. "The platform also allows for mobile advertising across social networks, games and virtual worlds."

    The network features various IAB-standard ad units as well as rich-media opportunities to reach over 225 million users.

    George Garrick - CEO of Offerpal Media talks new display ad network"The display ad network is a critical piece in allowing us to offer a one-stop-shop for social advertising and monetization, "says CEO George Garrick.

    Offerpal views the addition of the network as a way for developers to monetize 100% of their traffic, between this, and the company’s current offers platform and alternative payment solutions.

    Offerpal says the display network leverages its "advanced optimization engine" to maximize publisher revenue, in addition to compliance processes to ensure all ads meet policies put in place by social platforms.

    Social media applications have proven to be big business, and as businesses look for more ways to monetize social networks like Facebook, networks like this are something to consider. For businesses selling merchandise, there are ways to monetize Facebook fans as well.

  • McAfee Lends Security to 99% of Rich Media Ads in U.S.

    McAfee and Adgregate have partnered on what they’re calling the industry’s first secure advertising. WebProNews spoke with Brent Remai, VP of Consumer Marketing at McAfee about what this means for advertising.

    "The ad world is a $30B pie, and everybody wants their piece, including malicious advertisers, whose "malvertising" has become extraordinarily more sophisticated," the company says. "Companies must instill confidence in consumers that when they click on or transact in an ad or widget application, that the ad or app is just as legitimate as the advertiser’s existing website. It’s a dirty little secret of online advertising because no one wants to admit their ad networks are vulnerable."

    McAfee will perform daily site scanning that tests retailers’ sites for more than 10,000 vulnerabilities. Once they are cleared, their ads will get a badge from McAfee, which is designed to inspire trust and confidence in the consumer. "Their site is deemed totally secure," says Remai.

    McAfee Secure Ads - Through Adgregate

    Rich media ads with the badge will allow consumers to complete transactions within the ads themselves, rather than having to go to a landing page – something Remai calls "pretty transformative."

    Adgregate’s advertising and e-commerce partners include DoubleClick, PointRoll, EyeWonder, Eyeblaster, Linkstorm, Collective Media, Greystripe, Demandware, IBM Websphere Commerce, Escalate Retail, and others to account for what the company claims is over 99% of the rich media online and mobile ads distributed in the U.S., as well as 80% of the e-commerce fulfillment solutions for the Top 500 Internet Retailers.

    "The message we are sending to the market today is clear: Advertisers face huge business and legal risks with the distributed web, and their customers deserve the most secure solution available — the one now being provided by McAfee and Adgregate, the leaders in distributed commerce and security," says Adgregate CEO Henry Wong. "Anything short of this puts a brand’s reputation in serious jeopardy."

    Based on A/B testing, which took place between July 2008 and January 2009, sites that displayed McAfee’s Secure trustmark badge have seen a 12% increase in conversions. In tests from Adgregate and McAfee with select advertisers, display of the badge resulted in a 75% sales increase and a 41% engagement lift when compared with non-McAfee ads, McAfee says.

    Update: Adgregate also has a similar partnership in place with TRUSTe, built on privacy certification. Like the McAfee badge, there is also a TRUSTe badge.

  • 2010: The Year of the Display Ad for Google?

    This could be the year of the display ad. That’s not to say that display ads aren’t prevalent every year, but Google has only been involved with that for a little while, and if analysts’ projections are accurate, this will be the year that Google’s display ad business tops $1 billion in sales.

    Last summer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested that display ads would be Google’s next big billion-dollar business. According to BusinessWeek, a Barclays Capital analyst says display ads will account for about 4% of Google’s total sales in 2010. This would be a 40% increase from their contribution in 2009. BW’s Douglas MacMillan reports:

    Sales of video and banner ads on YouTube, the world’s most popular video site, are expected by analysts at Barclays to contribute the bulk of Google’s display revenue this year, about $700 million. And with DoubleClick, Google acquired a technology that handles the placement of display ads on sites across the Web. "Display is now a key business for us," says Susan Wojcicki, Google’s vice-president of product management and one of the company’s earliest employees.

    Neal Mohan, the executive in charge of Google’s display business, says Google will draw on its strength in search-related advertising to expand in display. It became the leader in search by using algorithms to help it know which ads to place where. "Our goal is to bring the science of search to the art of display," Mohan says.

    Advertisers will probably not be shy about getting on board with that. "Research has shown that exposure to both search and display ads from the same advertiser results in a 22 percent increase for conversion rates over search alone," Rich Kahn, CEO of display ad provider eZanga told WebProNews last year.

    Back in November, Google announced its acquisition of Teracent, a provider of "intelligent dynamic display advertising". It provides machine-learning algorithms, which can create customized display ads based on thousands of different creative elements.

    Teracent ad

    Google says the one on the right was created with Teracent’s technology.

    "Teracent’s technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time — tweaking images, products, messages or colors," Google said. "These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads."

    Before that announcement, Google launched a tool to measure the impact of display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network called Campaign Insights, which Google says can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness or active user interest in a particular product or service. Google has also repeatedly added new templates  for advertisers to use when constructing their creative.
     

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    Google Launches New Display Ad Measurement Tool

    Google Launches New Templates for Display Ads