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Newspaper Websites Most Valued Local News Source

Newspaper websites are the most valued sites for people seeking credible and trustworthy local content, according to a new survey conducted by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

More than half (57%) of the 3,050 respondents cited local newspaper websites as the top online source for local information. That percentage increases for upper income households (63%) and for the college educated (60%).

Newspaper sites ranked first as a source for local information (29%), local sports (27%), local entertainment (26%) and local classifieds (39%), over both local television websites and online portals.

"This important research provides further evidence of newspapers’ successful multiplatform transition, with the medium serving as a continuous local resource for consumers," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

"While newspaper Web sites often face dozens of competitors touting their own local offerings in any given market, they have been able to thrive by leveraging trusted brands and strong local content to appeal to consumers and advertisers alike."

Local newspaper websites ranked first among all sources for trustworthiness, credibility and being the most informative place to find local content of all types, including news, information, entertainment, sports and classified advertising. When respondents were asked what sources were most trustworthy or reliable, local newspaper websites beat out local television sites (34% vs. 22%), local sports (30% vs. 24%), local entertainment (30% vs. 20%) and local classifieds (42% vs. 13 %).

The survey also found that people consider local newspaper websites to be the most trusted source of online advertising, with ads that are seen to be more current, credible and relevant to them.

Forty percent of adults agreed their opinion of online advertising is influenced by the type of website on which the ad appears. More than one third (36%) selected local newspaper websites for trustworthy advertising compared to 23 percent for local television websites and 12 percent for online portals. This was true across all demographics.

"This survey reinforces the notion that consumers value and trust the premium-quality content found at newspaper Web sites as well as the advertising on those sites," said Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Business Development.

"It also provides further evidence that newspapers, which attracted a record 75 million visitors in January, offer advertisers a high-value audience that no other medium can match."

February 25, 2010
How Will Twitter Show Users Ads?

Twitter is testing an ad platform, which is expected to be released next month, possibly at the South By Southwest event in Austin. Though the timing of the release has not been confirmed, Twitter’s head of product management and monetization, Anamitra Banerji, told MediaPost that they "are working on an ad platform, but it’s only in the test phase."

According to Banerji, when Twitter does launch the product, it will make it clear when sponsors have paid for ads, and the ads themselves will be "relevant and useful, so the user doesn’t think of it as an ad." This strategy seems to have been working well for Digg, which launched Digg Ads last year, to generally positive feedback from users (users can participate by voting ads up and down, which makes the more interesting ones more likely to be seen).

Twitter doesn’t exactly operate like Digg though, but Twitterers do contribute to trending topics. On a recent panel, Banerji showed off a chart that looked at peaks and total tweets throughout the Super Bowl, with one line representing tweets about the actual game, and another representing tweets about specific advertisers.

It is possible that Twitter’s ad platform would tie into this "what people are already talking about" kind of thing, but that would seemingly make it much more difficult for a lesser-known brand to have any kind of advertising success.

The truth is, nobody knows exactly how Twitter is going to present its ads yet. The question is, how can they do it in a way that users won’t think of it as an ad? It’s probably going to involve some real-time engagement on the part of the advertiser, which leads one to wonder how they will be different than any other unpaid, branded tweet.

"People are constantly talking and engaging with brands, sharing their feedback," MediaPost quotes Banerji as saying. "What if brands start to participate? What would the chart look like then?" I thought brands already did that.

It’s going to be about how Twitter presents it. That could be a difficult problem to address, given that Twitter users use the service through many different third-party apps and devices, and often not the site itself. This is not a concept Twitter is likely to have ignored though, so if they’re planning on launch next month, they must have a pretty good solution.

How would you like to see ads displayed on Twitter? Discuss here.

February 23, 2010
FTC Makes

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said today starting April 1, advertising for "free credit reports" online will require new disclosures to help consumers avoid confusing "free" offers which often require them to spend money on credit monitoring or other products and services.

The FTC’s Free Credit Reports Rule will require new prominent disclosures in ads for "free credit reports." Any website offering free credit reports must include a disclosure, across the top of each page that mentions free credit reports, which reads:

THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW. Read more at FTC.GOV.
You have the right to a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com
or 877-322-8228, the ONLY authorized source under federal law.

The website disclosure must include a link to "Take me to the authorized source" and links to AnnualCreditReport.com and FTC.GOV.

The amended Rule also restricts practices that might confuse or mislead consumers as they try to get their federally mandated free annual credit reports. The new Rule requires consumer reporting agencies including Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to delay any advertising for products or services on AnnualCreditReport.com until after consumers receive their free credit reports.

The wording of the disclosures for television and radio ads goes into effect on September 1, 2010. The FTC said it will monitor the effectiveness of the amended Rule, and will consider additional changes if necessary.

February 23, 2010
Running a Promotion on Your Facebook Page May Cost You $10K

A Facebook Page can be a great way to build your fan-base, inspire engagement with customers/readers, and generally build upon your brand. However, if you want to do a promo on one, that’ll cost you.

Facebook’s policy dictates that one must get written approval from a Facebook account representative. In order to get one of those, you have to spend about ten grand advertising with the company, according to Eric Eldon at Inside Facebook.

>>Become a fan of WebProNews on Facebook <<

So basically, if you don’t want to violate Facebook’s promotions guidelines, you can’t really do any advertising or run any sweepstakes without actually paying for Facebook ads too. "You may not administer any promotion through Facebook, except that you may administer a promotion through the Facebook Platform with our prior written approval," that particular section of the guidelines states.

"The business model, with pages, is to try to get as many people using them as possible, then make a little money from each person if they want to do paid advertising — the preview fee goes against this model to try to keep Facebook legally safe," writes Eldon. "The problem, as many people trying to build promotions for Facebook have been discovering on their own, is that the fee requirement is never clearly spelled out. And, neither is the rationale for the fee. The result is confusion among marketers and developers trying to build promotions for Facebook, especially for small-business clients."

Well, if you stick to the classic advice handed down from a great many Internet marketing consultants, you’ll want to use Facebook for engagement, and participating in the conversation. Using your Facebook Page to deliver a sales pitch has pretty much always been ill-advised anyhow.

That said, the lines can get blurry from time to time, and as Eldon notes, many businesses are still trying to figure Facebook out. Guidelines like this may not be particularly encouraging for them. They also raise questions about Facebook’s future with regards to e-commerce, as Facebook continues to head in that direction (they’re even taking PayPal more).

Facebook told Eldon that it doesn’t have the resources to approve all possible promotions, and they all must be approved, so Facebook isn’t held liable for illegal promotions.

February 22, 2010
comScore Launches Platform To Help Publishers Optimize Ads

comScore said today it has launched comScore Audience Advantage, described as a "digital audience optimization platform" that allows publishers to provide advertisers and media planners with the ability to reach their most valuable audiences.

comScore Audience Advantage uses proprietary audience scoring algorithms to determine optimal audiences for advertisers using predictive variables as inputs. These variables come from a variety of observable behaviors online as measured via comScore’s opt-in research panel, including site visitation, search activity, video views, advertising engagements, online purchases or any other number of behaviors that may relevant to an advertiser.

The Audience Advantage platform does use cookies to create it s predictive algorithms. Instead, they are butyl using the actual observed behavior and characteristics of the opt-in comScore panelists. comScore says its platform can also use third-party databases that are integrated with its research panel to provide anonymous offline purchase behavior as another important predictive input to these algorithms.

"Audience Advantage offers significant value creation for the online advertising ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders," said Erin Hunter, comScore executive vice president.

"Publishers will be able to demonstrate higher value in the campaigns they deliver, thereby justifying higher CPMs, while advertisers will be able to minimize wasted impressions and reduce the total cost of advertising outlays. It is truly a win-win for the digital advertising industry."

Using all available behaviors as inputs, Audience Advantage determines a predictive score for various audience segments. Participating publishers use this score to anonymously identify and deliver to advertisers "lookalike" audiences from the behavior they observe among their own site visitors.

Campaigns can be planned to target only 5 or 10 percent of consumers most likely to a purchase a particular brand with the goal of reinforcing loyalty, or they can be planned against a larger segment of consumers who are dual brand buyers with the objective of switching to the advertiser’s brand.

February 22, 2010
Google’s DoubleClick Gets a New Look

Google has announced a new release of DoubleClick for publishers, available in two versions (for large and small publishers). Along with the new release, Google has given the DoubleClick logo a makeover.

"To reflect our continued investment in DoubleClick’s products, as well as the central role of DoubleClick’s technology products within Google’s display advertising business, we’re also today unveiling some changes to the DoubleClick logos — including typeset changes, incorporating a new ‘by Google’ theme and retiring the ‘DART’ brand," explains Vice President of Product Management Neal Mohan.

"This is the next generation of Google Ad Manager, bringing many requested features such as a new web services API, an improved user interface, and new reporting capabilities," says Google Ad Manager Product Manager Alex Vogenthaler. "We will be upgrading all Google Ad Manager accounts to DFP Small Business automatically. GAM users will see the new DFP Small Business name and logo within the product and related resources upon completion of the upgrade. Usernames, passwords, ad delivery data and account data will be unaffected by this change. New customers signing up for Google Ad Manager today will automatically be upgraded on the same schedule as current Ad Manager publishers."

The new DoubleClick for Publishers can be found here, complete with FAQs, support information, etc. Google has also set up a series of videos to give users a quick overview of the upcoming changes. In addition, Google offering webinars discussing the changes.

February 22, 2010
Google Super Bowl Ad = True Love and Traffic!

Super Bowl 2010 will be forever remembered for a few things: New Orleans winning their first championship, Peyton Manning’s locker room walk-of-shame and Google running their first Super Bowl commercial.

Editors Note: WebProNews interviewed CEA, the first company featured in Google’s commercial (there were 15+ featured). Even though they were only seen for a split second, you’ll be shocked by how much their traffic increased and it’s impact on their marketing plans.

While doing the interview Gina Lind, CEA‘s Director of Marketing Communications, summed up their appearance in Google’s Parisian Love commercial, "To be featured in the first couple seconds of an ad for a top brand like Google during the Super Bowl… is a marketer’s dream!"

Be sure to read the full in-depth interview below.

Would you believe being barely seen in a Super Bowl commercial would greatly increase your site traffic? Tell us what you think.

Google’s "Parisian Love" commercial ran during the 3rd quarter of the game and instantly became one of the game’s most discussed commercials. Overall, it was fairly simplistic; it featured a series of Google searches that told a cutesy little love story (just in time for Valentines Day).

The brilliance behind it’s simplicity was that each search showcased a different Google search feature: query suggestions, did you mean, Maps, language translation, web definitions, flight tracking and Google’s overall ease of use. Google managed to show off all these features without making the commercial feel cluttered… quite the achievement.

It’s common knowledge that advertising during the Super Bowl isn’t cheap. This year a 30 second spot would set you back around $3.01 million. So for around $3 million Google was seen by the largest audience in the history of television, was able to show off a ton of features and even gave some ‘collateral’ publicity to some lucky companies.

We contacted the study abroad company featured in the commercial, CEA Global Education – GoWithCEA.com, and asked them some questions about their Super Bowl experience.

WebProNews: The Google ad, Parisian Love, was uploaded to YouTube on November 19, 2009, were you aware of its existence?

CEA: No, prior to Super Bowl Sunday, we were not aware the Google ad existed or uploaded to YouTube.

WPN: So, Google never contacted CEA and asked permission?

CEA: Google did not contact CEA to request permission; however, we are not surprised that CEA appeared at the top of the page listing, as SEO is an integral part of our marketing strategy.

WPN: Did CEA see a spike of traffic after the Super Bowl commercial aired?

CEA: CEA experienced a spike in traffic almost immediately. As you know, the spot aired late Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning, our number of page views had increased sharply. By the end of the day, we saw nearly a five-fold increase in site traffic, especially our Paris program page, which was featured in the ad.

WPN: We saw that CEA created a video response to the Parisian Love ad… tell us about that.

CEA: Our Graphic Designer and Web Specialist had the idea Monday morning to create a response video to the Google ad. Director of Marketing Communications, Gina Lind, quickly pulled the staff together to help, not an easy feat as CEA is at the height of its application season for Summer and Fall 2010 study abroad programs.

WPN: CEA has also uploaded "A Study Abroad Love Story", was this inspired by the Google commercial? Tell us about it.

CEA: Our Project Manager remembered we had featured a true love story in a 2006 CEA Newsletter and helped to track the couple down today in Oshkosh, Wisc. Our content manager called the couple and they graciously agreed to share their story for our blog and video. Imagine our amazement when we discovered the couple’s happy announcement that, like the couple in the Google ad, they were expecting their first child!

WPN: We saw where both CEA and StudyAbroad.com shared some congratulatory tweets (1, 2). How big was this for both companies?

CEA: The study abroad community is a small, but passionate field of higher education professionals who are committed to helping students explore the world and connect with other cultures. Congratulations from any of our peers and colleagues is both heart-warming and rewarding for our staff and faculty, who work so hard both in the U.S. and abroad. At CEA, we really are a family, so we can’t help but feel proud of colleagues and the good fortune the couple and former CEA students, Kate and Allan, have had.

WebProNews would like to thank CEA for taking the time to answer our questions.

Another interesting thing about the commercial we ran across while watching the commercial (for about the 50th time) was how much Google had cleaned up their results page for the commercial. Take a look at the screenshots below; you’ll notice what we’re talking about.

It looks as though Google has removed the advanced search link, AdWords ads, and the grouped results for the top result, more than likely just to clean up the page for the commercial. But take a closer look at results page numbers, located at the top right corner; we’ve circled them above. There is a discrepancy with the two SERP numbers, to the tune of around 99,000,000 but numerous factors could be at play. What do you think could’ve caused this?

Google’s Parisian Love commercial will slowly start to fade into commercial oblivion, only returning for those annual “best commercials” shows. However, I doubt CEA will be forgetting the power of SEO, Google, the Super Bowl and a little luck anytime soon. What more could any marketer ask for?

February 20, 2010
Buy Facebook Credits And Ads Using PayPal

Facebook said today it will allow advertisers to pay for ads on its network using PayPal.

The two companies have entered into a strategic relationship that will allow advertisers worldwide to use PayPal to pay for Facebook Ads through the company’s online advertising tool.

The option to use PayPal makes it easier for advertisers, particularly small international companies, to run campaigns on Facebook. Facebook reaches 400 million people globally, with 70 percent of those living outside the United States.

"Put simply, PayPal’s business is payments. We make it easier for customers to send and receive money online in 24 currencies and 190 markets around the world," said Osama Bedier, PayPal’s vice president of platform and emerging technology.

"We’ve always been an important part of the developer ecosystem on Facebook, and we’re excited to expand our relationship directly with Facebook to help grow advertisers’ and developers’ businesses."

PayPal will also become a payment option for Facebook Credits, which is currently being tested in a handful of games and applications. Facebook says the goal is to give users a fast and easy way to buy virtual goods on the site.

In December PayPal launched a "send money" application on Facebook that allowed users to send money to anyone with an email address.

February 20, 2010
Yahoo on Search and Advertising Post Microsoft Deal

Now that Yahoo and Microsoft have received DoJ and EU approval on their search and advertising deal, Yahoo is doing plenty of talking about what the deal will mean for its search engine and its advertisers.

The two companies have a Search Alliance page set up that gives some insight about what to expect, such as:

When the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is implemented, both companies will continue to have differentiated consumer search experiences. However, Microsoft will manage the technology platforms that deliver the algorithmic (powered by Bing) and paid (powered by adCenter) search results.

Yahoo! and Microsoft will each provide customer support to different advertiser segments: Yahoo!’s sales team will exclusively support high volume advertisers, SEO and SEM agencies, and resellers and their clients. Microsoft will support self-service advertisers. In addition, Microsoft adCenter will be the platform for all search campaigns.

For advertisers, Yahoo says they will be able to reach more customers, save time and effort, and benefit from "rapid innovation." According to Yahoo, the "alliance" will help advertisers reach up to 150 million searchers and get about 62% more search volume.

There have been many questions about what would happen to Yahoo Search BOSS and SearchMonkey after the Microsoft-Yahoo deal took effect. There are still questions, but Yahoo has at least addressed the situation again now that the deal has received approval.

"With the implementation of the search alliance, the BOSS team is excited to examine the Microsoft web, image, and video search technologies in more detail," says Yahoo’s Ashim Chhabra. "Yahoo! may continue to offer the BOSS service, which would integrate some Yahoo! services and content with algorithmic results provided by Microsoft. The team is exploring what a future offering could consist of, with some services powered by Microsoft and unique content provided by Yahoo!. As we finalize details for any changes to the BOSS service, we will give developers plenty of notice."

"Also, prior to the announcement of the Yahoo! and Microsoft search alliance, we shared our intention to explore a fee-based structure for BOSS," Chhabra adds. "We continue to explore an appropriate revenue model as we work to define the future of BOSS in the context of our new search alliance. We know BOSS is important to your business, and any conclusions on strategic direction and roadmap for the service will be shared with developers as soon as possible."

Yahoo and Microsoft are also sharing ideas about how to "advance" SearchMonkey. The fact that they say "advance" seems to indicate that it will still have a place in Yahoo’s search strategy.

February 18, 2010
Google Uses Hours of Search History to Serve Ads

Google has made some adjustments to how it uses referral URLs for contextual matching of AdSense ads. Google has started expanding the use of query words in referral URLs to a few hours.

Basically what this means is that Google is using user’s search history to determine what ads to show on sites using AdSense. If a user arrives at one AdSense site via a search results page, and then goes to another AdSense site within a few hours, they might see ads based on the referral data from the first one.

"The technical way that we’re doing this is by associating the relevant query words in the referral URL with the existing advertising cookie on the user’s browser," says AdSense Associate Product Manager Rebecca Illowsky. "After a short period of time (a few hours) the query words are no longer used for the purposes of matching ads. Of course, users can continue to opt out of our advertising cookie at any time here."

"This allows us to deliver more relevant ads on a wider range of AdSense partner sites that a user may browse over the course of a few hours," she adds. "Using signals from the referral URL is just one part of our teams’ continuing efforts to deliver even better contextually matched ads on your website."

Some people claim to have already seen a rise in clickthrough rate since Google made these changes. Commenting on Google’s explanation, one reader says, "I saw a rise in CTR and was wondering [if] something was cooking so I guess this was it."

Have you seen a rise in AdSense CTR recently? Let us know.

February 11, 2010
MySpace Tests Audio Ads With TargetSpot

For most people, listening to music online is terribly convenient, and the occasional audio ad shouldn’t represent a deal breaker. MySpace may be making a smart move, then, as it’s begun testing 30-second ads with help from an Internet radio advertising company called TargetSpot.

The end result isn’t too different from what fans of Yahoo Music or Pandora – or even regular radio listeners – are already used to. MySpace members just have to tolerate a short ad, and then they’re free to continue on their figurative way, listening to a number of songs before getting stuck with another commercial.

That number of songs is quite large, too, with MySpace allowing people to progress through a playlist of 100 tunes between ads. So even if MySpace becomes less generous in the future (and it probably will), the social network should have plenty of wiggle room before people begin to grow resentful.

A MySpace representative confirmed to David Kaplan, "We’re testing some new ad products and the response from our users has been positive."

The representative then encouraged more folks to weigh in, continuing, "As always, we’re interested in hearing feedback from our community and the advertising community as we roll out new functionality that creates the right balance between user experience and commerce."

Related Articles:

> Yahoo Music Gets Former Universal Exec As New Chief

> 15 Million People Have MySpace Mail Accounts

> MySpace Integrates Facebook Connect Into Website

February 9, 2010
UK’s Department Of Health Reveals $4.25m AdWords Tab

Google users in the UK may be unusually well-informed with regards to their government’s healthcare policies. The Department of Health revealed this week that it spent about £2.72 million (or $4.25 million at the current exchange rate) on AdWords over the past year.

To be exact: the department spent £2,720,457.11 between February 1 of last year and January 31 of this one, according to official records. And a whopping 21,939 keywords (including ones like "health information" and "stop smoking") were covered by its campaign.

As reported in a Smart Healthcare article, a Department of Health spokesperson explained this huge endeavor by stating, "The Department of Health’s campaigns are designed to deliver better health, whether they be to help people change their behaviours to protect their long term health, to signpost people to NHS services, or to encourage healthier lifestyles."

The spokesperson then further justified the AdWords campaign by adding, "The campaigns are evaluated using a combination of robust techniques that help us identify exactly what works, so we know that these campaigns are saving lives."

That acts as a nice sort of pat on the back for Google. The search giant no doubt appreciates the UK government’s money, too.

Related Articles:

> Google Narrows Down Mobile Ad Targeting

> Report Suggests More Revenue, But Fewer Advertisers For Google

> Google Now Rejecting AdWords Ads Without Proper Display

February 9, 2010
[WATCH] Super Bowl 2010 Commercials

Super Bowl XLIV had numerous memorable moments: the onside kick, the missed field goal, the Garçon drop, and the truly horrendous half-time show to name a few. But, for many viewers Super Bowl commercials leave the same lasting impact as the game itself, as they should with a price tag of $3.01 million per 30 seconds.

This year we saw a plethora of the same companies advertising: Budwesier, Bud Light, Coke, Go Daddy, Doritos, Monster.com, Snickers… etc. Last night we wrote about a newcomer to the Super Bowl advertising scene, Google. One company that normally would’ve been in that list, Pepsi, decided to forgo a Super Bowl commercial this year and focus their advertising budget on Social Media.

In case you missed any of the commercials, you can view them below. Be sure to leave a comment telling us which one was your favorite. (Please note: I’ve omitted movie trailers and TV show commercials)

Monster.com Fiddling Beaver Ad

CareerBuilder "Casual Friday" Ad

Google: Parisian Love Ad

Focus on the Family "Tim Tebow" Ad

Late Show Ad (featuring Letterman, Oprah and Leno)

McDonalds "Horse" Ad (featuring Lebron James & Dwight Howard)

FLO TV: My Generation Ad

VIZIO Ad (featuring Beyonce)

Emerald Nuts "Awesomer" Ad

Motorola Ad (featuring Megan Fox)

GoDaddy Ad (featuring Danica Patrick)

GoDaddy "News" Ad

Boost Mobile Ad

Cars.com Timothy Richman Ad

VW "PunchDub" Ad

Intel "Lunch Room" Ad

Coca-Cola Simpsons Ad

Coke "Sleepwalker" Ad

Skechers Shape-ups Ad

Doritos "House Rules" Ad

Doritos "Casket" Ad

Doritos "Anti-Bark Collar"

Doritos "Tim’s Locker" Ad

Michelob Ultra "Little Bumps" Ad

Snickers "Betty White" Ad

Hyundai Sonata Ad

Hyundai Sonata "Brett Favre" Ad

Budweiser "Clydesdale Fence" Ad

Budweiser "Human Bridge" Ad

Budweiser "Select 55 Ice Bottle" Ad

Bud Light "Asteroid" Ad

Bud Light "House" Ad

Bud Light "Lost Parody" Ad

Denny’s "Chicken Birthday" Ad

Denny’s "Chicken Warning" Ad

Homeaway (featuring the Griswalds)

Dr. Pepper Cherry "Little Kiss" Ad

So which Super Bowl commercial was your favorite? Let us know.

February 9, 2010
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.

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.

Related Articles:

> Does Size Matter in Display Advertising?

> Google Launches New Display Ad Measurement Tool

> Google Launches New Templates for Display Ads

February 8, 2010
Super Bowl Ad Tweets Determine Brand Effectiveness

As WebProNews reported, Mullen and Radian6 partnered to launch BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl event that allowed users to see near real-time ratings of the Super Bowls commercials. The two companies have now released the results.

They determined that Doritos was the most effective brand to advertise during the Super Bowl, and that Budweiser Select55 was the least effective. The results were determined from 98,656 Tweets collected. The results from BrandBowl2010 were as follows:

The Top Ten Most Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Doritos
2. Google
3. Focus On Family
4. Snickers
5. Budweiser
6. Bud Light
7. Hyundai
8. Kia
9. GoDaddy
10. Coca-Cola

The Five Least Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Diamond Foods’ – Pop Secret
2. Honda
3. Teleflora
4. Michelob Ultra
5. Budweiser Select55

The top brands were judged on volume of tweets, and after the top three, the firms say there was a sharp drop-off. "Doritos won the title by virtue of dominating the sheer volume of tweets," the firms say. "That was enough to keep them ahead of Google, which had a higher percentage of positive tweets."

The BrandBowl site provided an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that takes into consideration both volume of tweets and sentiment (positive or negative).

Related Articles:

> [WATCH] Super Bowl 2010 Commercials

> Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial

> View Twitter Reaction Of Super Bowl Ads

February 8, 2010
Google May Invest In Chinese Media/Ad Firm

A little less than a month ago, Google announced that it might shut down Google.cn and its offices in China. The search giant may not be giving up on the country entirely, however, as a new report has indicated that it’s part of a group attempting to invest in a large Chinese media and advertising company.

According to George Chen and Melanie Lee, Disney is leading a consortium that includes Google, and said consortium would like to buy a 30 or 40 percent stake in Bus Media for about $100 million. Negotiations are supposed to be in progress right now.

Such an investment could be a smart move, considering that notable entities like CCB International, China Renaissance Capital Investment, IDG, and the Yangtze Fund have all put some money behind Bus Media.

Bus Media apparently enjoys the support of China’s government, too, as it’s "the exclusive partner of state broadcaster CCTV and the official Xinhua news agency for in-bus media content and advertising."

But that brings us back to the touchy issue of Google, China, and censorship. Whether Google’s changing its attitude or has found some solution that complements its moral stand remains to be seen.

Related Articles:

> Google Partners With NSA On Cyber Attack Analysis

> China Won’t Stand In The Way Of Google’s Android Business

> Bill Gates Sides With Ballmer, MSFT On China

February 8, 2010
Online TV Shows May Get More Ad-Heavy

For the most part, online video has been much less ad-heavy than television programming. It is this very fact that has likely been a large part of the medium’s popularity. Things may be changing, however.

According to Advertising Age, Nielsen is planning on making data available about the viewing of commercials that run in particular shows , whether they are viewed on TV or online. The data would start being available in September, and the publication says it will become the basis for ad negotiations next February.

"But here’s the catch: For Nielsen to be able to provide the commercial rating, shows seen online will have to have the same group of commercials that run on TV," says AdAge’s Brian Steinberg. "If this system were adopted en masse — and it’s not clear that it would be — online viewing might be crammed just as full of commercials as the more traditional TV-watching experience."

"Indeed, viewing programs on Hulu, the online video site owned by NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney, means encountering significantly fewer ads than one would see watching TV. And Disney’s ABC.com has met with some success by running ABC shows with just a few ads, often from a single advertiser," he adds. "But many TV executives say these methods don’t bring much, if any, profit — and therefore cannot continue."

Online video has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last several years. In December, 178 million Americans watched 33 billion videos online, according to data from comScore. About 40% of that was at Google sites (like YouTube). The second largest amount of market share went to Hulu, at just 3%.

YouTube isn’t necessarily the place people go to watch full episodes of television shows. Hulu is. If videos at sites like Hulu become more ad-heavy, the market share gap could just increase even greater. It could also have an impact on both paid TV show downloads and piracy.

Related Articles:

> Google To Get More Interactive With Mobile Video Ads

> IAB Releases Ad Unit Guidelines Updates

> YouTube Videos In Adsense Could Drive Clicks

February 8, 2010
Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial

With millions watching, Google ran their first Super Bowl Commercial entitled "Parisian Love". If it looks familiar, that’s because it’s one of their "Search Stories" ads which was uploaded to YouTube back in November. You can check it out below…

What did you think of the commercial? Tell us.

Did you think you’d ever see a Google Super Bowl Commercial? Let us know.

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, tweeted yesterday…"Can’t wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over.")"

Well, it appears as though Hell has frozen over.

February 7, 2010
View Twitter Reaction Of Super Bowl Ads

Mullen and Radian6 have partnered to launch BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl event that combines tweeting, ad reviews and a number of rankings that will allow users to see near real-time ratings of the TV commercials airing during the game.

Users can log on to BrandBowl2010 using their Twitter ID, tweet directly from the page, view tweets using the hashtag #brandbowl and see how other Twitter users are rating Super Bowl commercials.

The site will provide an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that includes both volume of tweets and positive or negative feedback. The Top 10 most popular brands will be featured on the site, with second tier brands displayed in a sub-section called the Locker Room.

"The ads have always been as big a part of the game as the game itself," said Edward Boches, Mullen’s chief social media officer.

"And with the emergence of social media and platforms like Twitter, everyone wants to talk about them the moment they run. This should be a lot of fun for anyone who loves ads, Twitter and data."

Related Articles:

> Go Daddy Back In The News For Super Bowl Ads

> Pepsi To Skip Super Bowl For Social Media

> Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online

February 7, 2010
Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online

Brand consulting and advertising firm Hanon McKendry is holding it second annual online Super Bowl ad poll.

Viewers of the game will be able to visit superadbowl.com at the end of the first quarter to cast their vote for their favorite commercial. As votes are casts, the results will be compiled immediately and posted so fans will be able to see how their favorites compare to others.

"Super Bowl advertising is big entertainment, and everyone wants to voice their opinion," said Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer at Hanon McKendry. "We wanted to give average viewers a place to weigh in, in real time, on the ads they think hit the mark."

According to a Harris Interactive poll over 57 percent of U.S. adults plan to watch Super Bowl XLIV as much for the commercials as for the game. Among those who watch commercials, 35 percent say they are more likely to visit an advertiser’s website after seeing a Super Bowl ad. In addition, 48 percent of online adults who watch the ads say they are at least somewhat likely to discuss them on social networking sites.

Visitors to the site will be able to cast their votes for one favorite commercial from each quarter. Voting will open at the end of the first quarter and remain open through February 9.

"As more and more Super Bowl advertisers maximize interactive opportunities, viewers are getting in the game and watching with their laptops by their sides," said Pete Brand, co-founder of Mindscape at Hanon McKendry, Hanon McKendry’s interactive division.

"Superadbowl.com gives those interactive viewers a place to go, immediately, and be part of the action."

Related Articles:

> Go Daddy Back In The News For Super Bowl Ads

> Pepsi To Skip Super Bowl For Social Media

> Amazon.com, Pepsi Bank On Free MP3 Music

February 5, 2010
Ad Networks See Increased Adoption

The majority (69%) of media planners and agencies now use online advertising networks as part of their digital ad buys, representing a 24 percent increase in the past 18 months, according to a new study by Adify Media.

"Especially in light of the Dynamic Logic study that found that creative quality is 50 to 75 percent responsible for campaign success or failure, agencies must start evaluating the creative capabilities of networks," said Russ Fradin, president of Adify.

"As the industry looks for better ways to engage, not just reach, their audience, brands need to focus on compelling creative that builds an ongoing conversation with consumers and placing it where consumers spend time."

Other key findings from the survey include:

— More money is being allocated online each quarter:
   – 56 percent of respondents’ budgets were more than $500k in 2008.
     73 percent were over $500k in 2009.
   – In 2009, 37.9 percent of the respondents spend between $1-5 million
     per quarter on online advertising, 15.2 percent of respondents spend
     $5-20 million per quarter, and 5.9 percent spend more than $20 million
     per quarter on online advertising.

Branding is a major focus for online ad campaigns:
   – 83 percent of respondents allocate 50 percent or more of their budget
     to branding vs. direct response.

Awareness of vertical ad networks (VANs) continues to grow as a way to
   reach niche audiences:
   – 72 percent are familiar with VANs versus 56 percent in 2008.

Related Articles:

> Nielsen Shares Predictions for Advertising Trends in 2010

> Email Marketing Budgets Set For Increase In 2010

> Online Video Viewing Continues To Boom

February 2, 2010