WebProNews

Tag: Yahoo

  • Yahoo Launches Streaming Video Guide App

    Yahoo Launches Streaming Video Guide App

    Yahoo may be getting ready to spinoff its web business, but that’s not stopping it from putting out new products. The company announced today that it has released the new Yahoo Video Guide app for iOS and Android to offer users a way to find stuff to watch across their various streaming apps.

    It supports over 30 services including: Amazon Video, Hulu, Netflix, HBO GO, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, Xfinity, YouTube, A&E, BET, and Cartoon Network.

    Here’s what it lets you do according to app description:

    – Search from one place across Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO GO and more!

    – Tap “Stream Now” to watch instantly from all your favorite streaming apps

    – Need help deciding? View summaries, casting and ratings before you watch

    – Never miss what’s new on streaming with weekly updates

    – Find the perfect movie or show with our fun GIF-powered Mood Picker

    This is not the first app of its kind, but tot my knowledge, it’s the first one from a major company and Yahoo’s brand recognition could go a long way in helping gain users.

    Images via Yahoo

  • Yahoo Reverses Spinoff To Sell Core Business And Keep Alibaba Stake

    Yahoo Reverses Spinoff To Sell Core Business And Keep Alibaba Stake

    After a report from CNBC came out saying that Yahoo will halt its spinoff of its stake in Alibaba and explore a potential deal for its core business, Yahoo put out an official announcement.

    It says the board of directors has unanimously decided to suspend work on the pending plan announced earlier this year to spin off Yahoo’s remaining holdings in Alibaba. It says the board will now evaluate “alternative transaction structures to separate the Alibaba stake, focusing specifically on a reverse of the previously announced spin transaction.”

    It goes on to say that Yahoo’s assets and liabilities other than the Alibaba stake would be transferred to a newly formed company. The stock of this company would be distibuted pro rata to Yahoo shareholders resulting in two separate publicly-traded companies.

    “We believe that the previously announced spin off would be tax free to Yahoo and its shareholders,” said Maynard Webb, Chairman of Yahoo’s Board of Directors. “However, in consideration of developments since the original spin off plan was announced and after significant deliberations, we are suspending work on the Aabaco spin off. Among other factors, we were concerned about the market’s perception of tax risk, which would have impaired the value of Aabaco stock until resolved. Informed by our intimate familiarity with Yahoo’s unique circumstances, the Board remains committed to accomplishing the significant business purposes and shareholder benefits that can be realized by separating the Alibaba stake from the rest of Yahoo. To achieve this, we will now focus our efforts on the reverse spin off plan.”

    CEO Marissa Mayer said, “In addition to our efforts to increase value and diminish uncertainty for investors, the ultimate separation of our Alibaba stake will be important to our continued business transformation. In 2016, we will tighten our focus and prioritize investments to drive profitability and long-term growth. A separation from our Alibaba stake, via the reverse spin, will provide more transparency into the value of Yahoo’s business.”

    The company notes that the “reverse spinoff” is expected to require third party consents, preparation of audited financial statements, shareholder approval, and SEC filings and clearance. Yahoo hopes to get things done as quickly as possible, but warns that it could take a year or more.

    Yahoo is hosting a conference call at 9AM Eastern on Wednesday to discuss the announcement further.

    Yahoo also filed an 8K regarding Max Levchin’s resignation from its Board of Directors.

    A Yahoo spokesperson said, “Yahoo today announced that Max Levchin has resigned as a Director to focus on his responsibilities as chief executive officer of Affirm. Max previously resigned nearly all of his other board commitments, including his director roles at Yelp and Evernote, to focus on his work at Affirm. We are grateful for his contributions, including his active role in and support of the board’s unanimous decision to suspend work on the proposed spinoff of the company’s remaining holdings in Alibaba Group. We wish him success in all of his future endeavors.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Report: Yahoo Won’t Move Forward With Alibaba Spinoff

    Report: Yahoo Won’t Move Forward With Alibaba Spinoff

    Over the first week+ of December, there have been numerous rumors about Yahoo. It has been reported (but not officially confirmed) that the company is considering selling its core web business, including search and advertising.

    This was the big story last week as board members prepared to meet for discussions. One report named Verizon, IAC/Interactive, News Corp., and Time as parties interested in a potential purchase.

    Activist investor Starboard has been calling on Yahoo to put a stop to its plan to spin off its Alibaba stake, which is supposed to happen next month. Starboard wants Yahoo to sell its core web businesses instead.

    A new report from CNBC indicates that the company is poised to do just that. Sources on this are not disclosed. The report says:

    Yahoo will not move forward with a spin-off of its stake in Alibaba, and instead examine a deal involving its core business, sources told CNBC on Tuesday.

    The report comes amid others that suggest Yahoo is working on some additional restructuring including making cuts and closing down some properties in its media business.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yahoo Relaunches Yahoo Messenger With Redesign, New Features

    Yahoo just announced a new version of Yahoo Messenger, which features a complete redesign of the platform across iOS, Android, and the web as well as within Yahoo Mail.

    “The new Yahoo Messenger provides a super fast, beautiful and smart way to send messages, photos and animated GIFS in 1:1 and group conversations,” a spokesperson for Yahoo tells WebProNews.

    The new Messenger lets users search for and send GIFs from the app (powered by Tumblr), share as many as hundreds of photos in a message, instantly, and in high resolution. This is powered by Flickr’s photo platform, and photos are displayed in a horizontal scrolling carousel.

    Users can also “like” photos, messages, or GIFs that are shared.

    Another helpful feature is that you can take messages, photos, or GIFs back even after they’ve been sent. Good for “late night” messaging.

    “We’re excited to introduce the next generation of Yahoo Messenger. It has long been one of our core products but it was time to redesign the product from the ground up and reinvest in one of the most important products in our history as a company,” said Jeff Bonforte, senior vice president of communication products and engineering at Yahoo. “The messaging space has grown dramatically, yet people ultimately want a fast and easy way to communicate with each other. The new Yahoo Messenger was designed first and foremost to meet those needs. This is just the beginning of what’s to come.”

    The new Yahoo Messenger is available globally starting today. It’s in the process of rolling out. For now, it’s just in English, but will expand to additional languages soon.

    Image via Yahoo

  • Yahoo Has Interest From Verizon, IAC/InterActive, News Corp, Time [Report]

    Yahoo Has Interest From Verizon, IAC/InterActive, News Corp, Time [Report]

    As previously reported, Yahoo is said to be having meetings this week about the possibility of selling off its core business and/or getting more out of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding.

    The Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday that Yahoo’s board would discuss these things in meetings Wednesday through Friday.

    Yahoo shareholders haven’t been incredibly thrilled with the Marissa Mayer-led company after three years. Activist shareholder Starboard called on Yahoo last month to put a stop to its plan to spin off the Alibaba stake, which is otherwise expected to happen next month. Starboard wants Yahoo to sell its core web businesses (search and advertising) instead.

    A later report from Kara Swisher, who has a long history of reporting on insider Yahoo information, said Yahoo’s board is behind Mayer and doesn’t want to sell the core web business. Swisher also says her sources indicate the company has already selected a CEO for Abaco Holdings, which is the what the Alibaba stake’s spinoff is called.

    The WSJ has a new report out naming companies likely to explore a purchase of Yahoo’s core business. These include Verizon, IAC/InteraActive Corp., News Corp., and Time Inc. It also says private equity firm TPG Capital has looked at buying media properties within Yahoo.

    Naturally, Yahoo isn’t commenting on any of this.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yahoo To Discuss Selling Web Business This Week [Report]

    Yahoo To Discuss Selling Web Business This Week [Report]

    The Wall Street Journal reported late on Tuesday that Yahoo has meetings on Wednesday through Friday to discuss the possibility of selling its internet businesses and getting more out of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding.

    According to this report, Yahoo’s board of directors are expected to talk about whether or not to spin off the Alibaba stake, find a buyer for Yahoo’s web properties (possibly a private equity firm), or both.

    The New York Times also reported the news citing people briefed on the plans.

    Yahoo shareholders haven’t been incredibly thrilled with the Marissa Mayer-led company after three years. Activist shareholder Starboard called on Yahoo last month to put a stop to its plan to spin off the Alibaba stake, which is otherwise expected to happen next month. Starboard wants Yahoo to sell its core web businesses (search and advertising) instead.

    Unsurprisingly, Yahoo isn’t offering up any official comment on the reports.

    According to Kara Swisher, who has a long history of reporting on insider Yahoo information (previously for the Journal in fact), Yahoo’s board is behind Mayer and doesn’t want to sell the core Web business.

    Swisher also says her sources indicate the company has already selected a CEO for Abaco Holdings, which is the what the Alibaba stake’s spinoff is called.

    After the Journal’s report, Yahoo shares jumped 7% in extended trading.

    Yahoo Mail and Yahoo News combined for 210 million visitors in the U.S. in October according to comScore.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yahoo Directory, Yahoo Small Business Are No More

    Yahoo Directory, Yahoo Small Business Are No More

    What was at one time the premiere way to find things on the Internet has completely gone away.

    Yahoo announced in September of last year that it was shutting down Yahoo Directory (among other products). In late December, it was killed and began redirecting to Yahoo Small Business.

    But now even Yahoo Small Business is gone.

    Yahoo announced over the summer that Yahoo Small Business was being rebranded as Luminate, which would belong to a new company called Aabaco Small Business, LC, which was at the time owned by Yahoo, but would become owned by Aabaco Holdings, inc. as Aabaco was spun off from Yahoo to shareholders. The spinoff was announced in an SEC filing for Yahoo’s spinoff of its stake in Alibaba Group. Yahoo, by the way, is now facing pressure to not spin that off.

    As Barry Scwhartz points out today, dir.yahoo.com, which had been redirecting to Yahoo Small Business is now redirecting to aabacossmallbusiness.com, which looks like this:

    Screen Shot 2015-11-20 at 2.12.20 PM

    Yep, this is what once was the main way many people navigated the web has become.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, Aabaco Small Business

  • Yahoo Finance Launches ‘The Final Round’

    Yahoo Finance Launches ‘The Final Round’

    Yahoo announced the launch of a new daily live broadcast called The Final Round. It will air each weekday just before the closing bell sounds at 3:58 p.m. ET.

    The show will provide updates on the day’s important business news, discussion about what’s driving markets, and insights about what to expect in the future.

    The first one will air today with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer interviewing Charles Koch. According to Serwer, the two will discuss politics, Koch’s book Good Profit and Koch Industries. Serwer writes in a blog post:

    Every Monday through Friday, Jen Rogers will anchor The Final Round from Yahoo’s New York studios, with additional Yahoo Finance reporters in the field, tracking the biggest stories on the street, and providing the latest market buzz. We’ll also regularly feature interviews with bold-faced names, from CEOs to entrepreneurs to authors.

    As the No. 1 financial news site in the U.S., we’re committed to bringing you the most comprehensive, need-to-know financial news of the day. The Final Round adds to our daily slate that already includes Market Movers and Midday Movers.

    Fidelity Investments is sponsoring the show at launch. You can watch at finance.yahoo.com.

    Image via Yahoo

  • Yahoo Product Ads Launch For Holiday Shopping Season

    Yahoo Product Ads Launch For Holiday Shopping Season

    Yahoo just announced new Product Ads, which it describes as ” new, comprehensive product offering that allows retailers to reach consumers with high performance search and display ads across mobile, tablet and desktop devices.”

    “A recent study from Yahoo and Ipsos revealed that 44% of consumers use a search engine as their primary or secondary step when researching holiday gifts, and 53% spend more time online in search of the best deal,” a spokesperson tells us. “Yahoo Product Ads are available just in time for the holiday shopping season, and will help brands deliver more relevant ads to shoppers, in order to influence and re-engage them at every stage of the purchase funnel. Top brands like Kohl’s, Wayfair and Overstock are already piloting components of the new offering.”

    The ads are powered by the company’s existing targeting abilities, reach and dynamic ad formats. The goal is to provide advertisers an easy way to showcase their products while people are shopping to convert them to customers.

    The ads utilize Yahoo’s proprietary data and insights and will show across Yahoo’s properties and the other properties it reaches, including Yahoo Search.

    Marketers can create image rich, dynamic search and display ads from a single feed.

    “With support from ChannelAdvisor’s Managed Services team, one retailer with product ads on Yahoo Search since July has seen as high as a 14-to-1 return on ad spend. The retailer is greatly benefiting from the additional revenue these ad campaigns are providing,” said Andrew Belsky, Director of US Digital Marketing Services at ChannelAdvisor. “We’re excited to partner with Yahoo to help brands and retailers get their product offerings in front of a more comprehensive audience.”

    Advertisers are advised to get in touch with their account reps to take advantage of the new ads.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, Yahoo

  • Yahoo Search Gets Overhaul on Firefox

    Yahoo Search Gets Overhaul on Firefox

    Yahoo announced that it’s giving Firefox users in the U.S. a new desktop search experience. This includes a redesigned header and more prominent image and video results.

    The design will be especially noticeable when users search for famous people and movies. They’ll see a strip of related videos and images across the top of the page.

    “Taking a page from our redesigned Yahoo mobile search experience, Yahoo Search in Firefox delivers the most relevant results upfront so that you can take action right away,” says Mason Ng, VP of Search Distribution at Yahoo.

    Also on display will be movie info from IMDb, movie times and ticket purchasing from Fandango, listening/purchasing from iTunes, photos/reviews from Yelp and TripAdvisor, stats from Yahoo Sports, and personalized Flickr results in image search, which was actually announced separately the other day, and applies across browsers.

    “We have accomplished a lot over the last year,” says Mozilla’s Denelle Dixon-Thayer. “We worked closely with Yahoo to improve the search experience for our U.S. users. And, while we tend to be an opinionated and passionate project, Yahoo has been collaborative and flexible as we’ve provided continual feedback. Ultimately, these advances in the experience improve the competitive landscape for search which is good for our users.”

    The new design is rolling out on Firefox on Windows, Mac, and Linux in the U.S.

    As you probably know, Yahoo has an agreement with Firefox that puts it as the default search experience in the browser. Ever since then, Yahoo has tried to push users to that browser. To this day, Yahoo still displays an “Upgrade to the new Firefox” message at the top of its home page in other browsers.

    Images via Yahoo

  • Tumblr Messaging Is Now A Reality

    Tumblr announced that it is rolling out messaging, which should go a long way in making the service more social while making users happy about a much-wanted functionality.

    Frankly, it’s hard to believe Tumblr hasn’t had this until now, but better late than never.

    To be fair, Tumblr has had ways for users to communicate with one another before now, but this is “real, threaded, instant messaging,” as the company puts it.

    “This is a big launch, and it’s going to take a few weeks to get it out to everyone (we need to make sure our servers can handle the weight of your discourse),” Tumblr says on its staff blog. “If you don’t have it now, you’ll have it soon.”

    Tumblr displays this smiley balloon on you screen when you have a message:

    As far as the roll-out goes, you’ll find it in the latest updates of the Android and iOS apps, and on the web, but it might take a while. If you get a message, you’ll obviously know you have the feature. If you have it and send a message to someone else, they’ll have it too.

    Image via Tumblr

  • Yahoo Image Search Gets More Personalized With Flickr Integration

    Yahoo Image Search Gets More Personalized With Flickr Integration

    Yahoo announced that it has revamped its image search offering to include imagery from Flickr on a personalized basis. In addition to showing web results, it will also now display Flickr-based images from your own Flickr account, from people you follow on Flickr, and “top” public photos from the service.

    Yahoo says it only shows images from your Flickr account if they’re actually relevant to the search results. We’ll see how good they are at that.

    The company says in a blog post:

    Don’t forget Yahoo also has advanced search options, like color and size, that now apply to both images from the Web and Flickr. And if you’re looking for a photo to use, just select the use case you need in the “License” drop-down menu.

    There’s also a new “More images” button that appears on each category of Flickr image results and links directly to Flickr.com for even more photos.

    The revamp is currently available in the United States on desktop. It’s unclear if and when it will be available on mobile and in other regions.

    If nothing else, it’s a good example of Yahoo integrating its products together in an organic way. Frankly, it’s a little surprising that Yahoo didn’t offer personalized Flickr image results in image search before now.

    In other image search news, Pinterest just unveiled a new visual search tool that lets you search within image pins to find related items.

    Image via Yahoo

  • Google’s 65/100 Is The BEST Score on New Digital Rights Survey

    Google’s 65/100 Is The BEST Score on New Digital Rights Survey

    How are Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other major tech companies protecting your digital rights?

    No so well, according to a new study.

    Google scored a 65 out of 100 in the inaugural Ranking Digital rights Corporate Accountability Index, which you might think sounds pretty bad.

    But Google’s 65%, a ‘D’ on the grade scale with which you’re likely familiar, is the best of the bunch.

    The Ranking Digital Rights initiative’s first Corporate Accountability Index looked at 16 of the world’s most powerful tech companies – eight internet giants and eight telecommunications companies. The index evaluates each company on on 31 separate criteria in three main categories – commitment, freedom of expressions, and privacy.

    Questions companies were evaluated upon include:

    Does the company commit to provide meaningful notice and documentation to users when it changes its Terms of Service?

    Does the company explain the circumstances under which it may restrict or deny users from accessing the service?

    If the company restricts content or access, does it disclose how it notifies users?

    Does the company disclose what user information it collects, how it collects this information, and why?

    Does the company disclose if and how it shares user information with third parties?

    In aggregate scoring, Google performed the best with a 65. Yahoo, Microsoft, and Twitter followed that with scores of 58, 56, and 50, respectively. Facebook mustered at 41.

    But even the “winners” aren’t really winners.

    “When we put the rankings in perspective, it’s clear there are no winners,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of Ranking Digital Rights. “Our hope is that the Index will lead to greater corporate transparency, which can empower users to make more informed decisions about how they use technology.”

    On the bright side, every company researched was at least doing something, even if that something is not enough.

    “All of the companies assessed have at least some practices and/or policies in place that help to protect freedom of expression or privacy,” said Ranking Digital Rights. But “even the companies that ranked highest are missing the mark in some ways, and improvements are needed across the board to demonstrate a greater commitment to users’ freedom of expression and privacy.”

  • Yahoo Boasts 33.6M Streams of NFL Game, But That Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

    According to Yahoo, its livestream of the Buffalo Bills / Jacksonville Jaguars London contest was a smashing success.

    Yahoo says the livestream, which was the first of its kind for the NFL, snagged 33.6 million total streams.

    Here’s are all the data points, via Yahoo:

    – We saw 33.6M streams of the game and over 15.2M unique viewers tuned in for one of the largest live streamed sporting events in history.
    – Football fans streamed over 460 million total minutes of the game across devices.
    – 33% of those streams came in internationally, across 185 countries worldwide.
    – More than 30 top brands partnered with Yahoo to kick off this new era of sports programming, making this a sold out event.
    – We performed a technical first with rebuffering ratio of nearly 1%, while delivering over 8.5 petabytes to end users.

    “We’re thrilled with the results of our initial step distributing an NFL game to a worldwide audience and with the work of our partner, Yahoo,” said Hans Schroeder, senior vp, media strategy, business development & sales for the NFL. “We are incredibly excited by the fact that we took a game that would have been viewed by a relatively limited television audience in the United States, and by distributing it digitally were able to attract a global audience of over 15 million viewers.”

    Sounds good. 15.2 million unique viewers is a hell of a number. But how popular was Yahoo’s livestream, really? Could it really have been more popular than previous World Series?

    The short answer – no.

    All a person had to do was stream the game for a few seconds for Yahoo to count it as a stream. When you think about it that way, a “stream” doesn’t sound all that impressive.

    It’s probably more informative to look at another figure, the per-minute viewership. For Yahoo’s Bills / Jags stream, the average viewers per minute was about 2.36 million.

    For comparison, NFL games on TV average 10 to 20 million viewers per minute.

    And Yahoo also forced its stream to a lot of people. Any logged-in Yahoo user saw the game begin to autoplay.

    Also, this:

    Long story short, it was definitely a successful venture for Yahoo. Getting an average of 2.36 million eyes per minute on an internet-only 9:30am London game between the Bills and Jags is admirable.

    It would be interesting to see what the streaming numbers would have been for, let’s say, a Sunday night game between the Giants and the Steelers. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

  • Do You Welcome A Yahoo-Google Deal?

    Yahoo announced its Q3 earnings on Tuesday, and also took the opportunity to reveal that it has entered into a search and advertising deal with Google.

    Do you look forward to seeing Yahoo search results powered by Google? Let us know in the comments.

    This isn’t the all-encompassing deal Yahoo was aiming for years ago ahead of its “search alliance” with Microsoft. Nor does it have the exclusivity that the Yahoo/Microsoft alliance had until recently. Google now just gives Yahoo more options and exists in addition to Yahoo’s relationship with Microsoft.

    Yahoo said in a press release, “In October, the Company reached an agreement with Google that provides Yahoo with additional flexibility to choose among suppliers of search results and ads. Google’s offerings complement the search services provided by Microsoft, which remains a strong partner, as well as Yahoo’s own search technologies and ad products.”

    The deal expires at the end of 2018 as long as it gains approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and regulators in India and the European Union.

    An SEC filing about the deal explains:

    Pursuant to the Services Agreement, Google will provide Yahoo with search advertisements through Google’s AdSense for Search service (“AFS”), web algorithmic search services through Google’s Websearch Service, and image search services. The results provided by Google for these services will be available to Yahoo for display on both desktop and mobile platforms. Yahoo may use Google’s services on Yahoo’s owned and operated properties (“Yahoo Properties”) and on certain syndication partner properties (“Affiliate Sites”) in the United States (U.S.), Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Middle East, Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Australia and New Zealand.

    Under the Services Agreement, Yahoo has discretion to select which search queries to send to Google and is not obligated to send any minimum number of search queries. The Services Agreement is non-exclusive and expressly permits Yahoo to use any other search advertising services, including its own service, the services of Microsoft Corporation or other third parties.Google will pay Yahoo a percentage of the gross revenues from AFS ads displayed on Yahoo Properties or Affiliate Sites. The percentage will vary depending on whether the ads are displayed on U.S. desktop sites, non-U.S. desktop sites or on the tablet or mobile phone versions of the Yahoo Properties or its Affiliate Sites. Yahoo will pay Google fees for requests for image search results or web algorithmic search results.

    In April, Yahoo and Microsoft announced an amendment to their search partnership, saying they “reaffirmed commitments made by both companies in the original 2009 agreement, while implementing changes to keep the partnership strong and productive”. Both companies, the announcement said, are “committed to maximizing the alliance.”

    The changes gave Yahoo increased flexibility to enhance its own search experience on any platform. The partnership is non-exclusive for both desktop and mobile. Yahoo would continue to serve Bing ads and search results for most of tis desktop search traffic, it said.

    They said the changes also offered an increased “agility and sales focus.” Microsoft would be the exclusive salesforce for ads delivered by its own Bing Ads platform, and Yahoo would continue to be the exclusive salesforce for its Yahoo Gemini ads platform.

    GeekWire shares a quote from Microsoft on the Yahoo’s Google news: “We remain committed to the Yahoo syndication partnership and will continue to serve the majority of Yahoo traffic as outlined in our contract extension. Yahoo is a valued partner and we look forward to continuing to serve our advertising customers through the Bing Ads marketplace.”

    Yahoo CEO (and former Googler) Marissa Mayer said during a conference call discussing the company’s earnings report (via SeekingAlpha’s transcript):

    As part of this process, we’re going to be investing in understanding how to balance the marketplace of our search queries in terms of how to provide the best results as well as the best monetization, and so we see some opportunities in terms of providing coverage of more ads on more queries. We also see some opportunities in different international regions to just achieve a different blending.

    And I would also say we’re very confident in our Yahoo! Gemini platform for search. And when we look at mobile we actually, as you know, have a different view in terms of what mobile search should be over time and what the best possible ways to monetize that are and really provide value to advertisers. And so for us the Yahoo! Gemini platform is really where we want to invest particularly on mobile in new formats, new ideas, and so I think you should expect to see a lot of our mobile traffic move to Yahoo! Gemini and for us to basically develop a technology that does a good job competitively balancing both the Bing and Google opportunities in terms of monetization.

    Obviously a deal would mean that businesses using Google for advertising and optimizing for Google search stand to gain increased visibility across Yahoo properties where it chooses to show their ads and content. It will be interesting to see how Yahoo uses Google in conjunction with Bing and its own stuff.

    Under Yahoo’s agreement with Microsoft, the latter powers at least 51% of Yahoo searches with Bing Ads on the desktop. On mobile, where Yahoo utilizes its own algorithm, Yahoo has more flexibility to deliver the mix its feels as best.

    I don’t know about Yahoo’s mobile search share, but Google recently said that mobile has overtaken desktop in terms of search volume worldwide.

    The Yahoo Google deal could fall apart just as their original deal did years ago if regulators don’t like the look of it, but it’s hard to imagine the companies aren’t confident about their ability to gain that approval. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with that.

    Do you think a Yahoo/Google deal will be good for businesses? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • This Google Stat Has Major Implications For Your Site

    This Google Stat Has Major Implications For Your Site

    In May, Google casually noted in a blog post that mobile searches have overtaken desktop searches in ten countries including the United States and Japan. It didn’t elaborate on what the other countries were.

    Do you get more mobile traffic than desktop traffic? What’s the split like? Discuss.

    The following month, Google mentioned another country by name, adding the United Kingdom to the list. Matt Jackson at SocialMediaToday reported at the time:

    During a presentation at London Tech Week, Google’s Eileen Naughton said that not only are more searches conducted on UK mobile devices than on UK desktops, but that more UK YouTube searches were also conducted on mobile devices.

    The YouTube part is interesting as well, as Google hadn’t mentioned that before when talking about this subject, at least to my knowledge.

    The growing mobile search trend obviously illustrates why Google has put so much emphasis on websites being mobile-friendly and begun taking app indexing into account when ranking search results.

    The world is going mobile, and websites that don’t follow are going to be left behind. A recent study found that the mobile-friendly update bumped down about half of pages it threatened to, but it’s still early days. It’s not as if mobile-friendliness is going to become less of a factor going forward.

    Last week, Search Engine Land spoke with Google, and was told that mobile searches have now exceeded desktop searches worldwide. In other words, more than 50% of Google’s searches happen on mobile.

    Danny Sullivan wrote, “It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that desktop searches have diminished. Stats on desktop search from comScore routinely show the overall amount has risen from month to month. Rather, it’s that mobile searches have been a growing new segment that have caught up and now overtaken desktop search. On the whole, desktop search has grown. As a percentage, it has dropped.”

    Google’s John Mueller said in a Google+ post (via Search Engine Roundtable), “More than half of Google’s searches are now coming from mobile. If you haven’t made your site (or your client’s sites) mobile-friendly, you’re ignoring a lot of potential users.”

    On the app indexing front, Google has also indexed over 100 billion pages within apps so far, and it’s only really getting started with this on iOS.

    Yahoo’s Flurry recently released a report looking at people’s addiction to their mobile devices. In short, addiction is on the rise.

    “On June 29th Bank of America released the findings of its second annual report on Consumer Mobility,” said Simon Khalaf, SVP of Publisher Products at Flurry. “The report showed that the US population is perpetually plugged-in with 71% of those surveyed disclosing they actually sleep with their smartphones. This prompted us to revisit the study we conducted in Q2 of 2014 in which we first uncovered the rise of a new breed of mobile users: the Mobile Addicts.”

    According to the report, worldwide mobile addicts grew 59% over the last year.

    Year over year, the total population of smart devices measured by Flurry grew from by 38% from 1.3B to 1.8B. Regular Users (those who use apps between once and sixteen times daily) grew by 25% from 784 million to 985 million. Super Users (those who use apps between 16 and 60 times daily) grew 34% from 440 million to 590 million. Mobile addicts (those who launch applications 60 times or more per day) grew 59% from from 176 million to 280 million.

    According to Flurry, if the amount of mobile addicts were the population of a country, it would be the fourth largest just behind the United States.

    Flurry shares more analysis on its findings here.

    Related Reading: Will ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages’ Help Google Rankings?

    Is your site in good shape when it comes to reaching mobile users or do you have some work to do? Let us know in the comments.

    Images via Google, Flurry

  • Yahoo Mail Also Lets You Block Senders, Adds Desktop Alerts

    Yahoo Mail Also Lets You Block Senders, Adds Desktop Alerts

    Last week, Google announced the addition of address blocking to Gmail. Yahoo appears to be following suit, announcing that Yahoo Mail also now allows you to block people from your inbox.

    In Yahoo Mail, users will be able to find “Block” under the “More” drop-down menu when you’re in the inbox or have an email open. From there, you can block future emails from the selected sender and automatically delete all existing emails from that sender. This saves you the hassle of manually searching and deleting.

    Users can also block multiple email addresses simultaneously. After you make a selection, you’ll see a confirmation notification with an undo option.

    Yahoo also announced new desktop notifications for Yahoo Mail that alert you of new messages when you’re not in your inbox, as long as you have it open in a tab. It includes a photo of the contact if available.

    While Firefox is pictured (and believe me, Yahoo really wants you to use Firefox), Chrome and Safari are also supported by this feature. No extensions are required.

    The notifications can be enabled by going to Yahoo Mail settings and checking the box for “enable desktop notifications”.

    Images via Yahoo

  • Yahoo Has BrightRoll and Gemini News

    Yahoo Has BrightRoll and Gemini News

    With Advertising Week in full swing, there’s a ton of ad-related news coming out from the big players. Yahoo announced some updates to its ad tech portfolio, which it says brings together the strengths of Yahoo, BrightRoll, and Flurry into one offering that “simplifies the overall experience of digital advertising.”

    Yahoo acquired BrightRoll in December, and is now calling it its new, unified brand for programmatic ad tech, offering a suite of tools to help advertisers, publishers, and partners.

    “As one of the leading programmatic advertising technology offerings in the marketplace, BrightRoll powers digital advertising for 99 of the AdAge Top 100 advertisers and half of the comScore Top 50 publishers,” the company says.

    “The BrightRoll DSP drives efficient programmatic buying for video, display and native advertising, leveraging exclusive access to Yahoo data and unique insights from one billion people and 165 billion daily data events to target the right audience,” it adds. “The BrightRoll Exchange seamlessly connects buyers and sellers of high-quality video and display inventory, including Yahoo properties and other premium publishers. The exchange is integrated with 100 DSPs and enables access to thousands of sites and apps via RTB, private marketplaces and programmatic direct.”

    Yahoo also has news for Gemini in that it has a new custom audience feature letting advertisers utilize their own data alongside Yahoo data for retargeting.

    They also launched the Yahoo Preferred Partner Program for advertisers to connect with ad tech and service providers like Acquisio, ChannelAdvisor, Dealer.com, DrivenLocal, Fiksu, Kenshoo, Marin Software, Sprinklr and Tealium. Partners are selected via the Yahoo Gemini Certification Program.

    Image via Yahoo

  • Yahoo Mail Gives You New Way To View Attachments

    Yahoo announced the launch of a new Yahoo Mail feature that gives users a different way to look at attachments. The company says it solves the hassle of having to switch back and forth between writing emails and referencing attachments.

    When the user clicks on an attachment, it will display a side-by-side preview allowing them to read their message or compose a reply while simultaneously viewing the attachment.

    “New technology under-the-hood also means that previews of attachments, including PDFs and Microsoft Office files, are lightning fast,” a spokesperson for Yahoo tells WebProNews. “Some of the core technology is powered by Bookpad, a Yahoo acquisition from last year.”

    Senior product manager Mayukh Bhaowal says in a blog post, “Previews of attachments in Yahoo Mail has been growing at a fast pace and engagement is off the charts. We love it when our users find value in our features. In the meantime, the industry around document sharing and collaboration has also been growing rapidly. In the fall of last year, we acquired Bookpad (a company working on document previewing and collaboration technology) to build some of the new technology behind Yahoo Mail attachment preview and collaboration. We think there will be a time in the near future where you’ll have all the tools you need in mail, without having to ever download an attachment.”

    Last week, Yahoo announced the launch of a new Yahoo Mail app for Windows 10.

  • There’s A New Yahoo Mail App For Windows Users

    There’s A New Yahoo Mail App For Windows Users

    Yahoo announced the launch of a new Yahoo Mail app for Windows 10, which is now available in the Windows Store.

    The app includes real-time notifications, and lets you see snippets of your latest messages with Live Tile.

    “There are three new ways to check to see if you have new messages. On the lock screen, a count of new messages will appear so you can see if you need to even sign in to your computer,” explains Yahoo Mail director of product management Josh Jacobson. “In the Start Menu, a Live Tile is available that shows you snippets of the latest new email (Just ‘pin’ the Yahoo Mail app to the Start Menu to enable the Live Tile). And as you use your computer throughout the day, desktop notifications will appear to alert you of any new messages. All of these can be controlled in the Windows Settings.”

    “Of course, being a Windows app, it’s now super easy to also access your Yahoo Mail from the taskbar or via the popular ‘alt-tab’ shortcut,” Jacobson adds. “And you always have the option to set Yahoo Mail as your default app for sending new mails any time you click an email address from the web or other apps. All of these features are available for any Windows 10 tablet or desktop computer, including the Microsoft Surface.”

    Yahoo Mail Windows

    Yahoo recently added package and event notifications at the top of the inbox, so for example, if Amazon sends you an order email, you’ll see a package notification with shortcuts to shipment tracking and the original email for your order. More on that here.

    Image via Yahoo Mail

  • NFL Inching Slowly Toward More Free Streams

    (Legally) streaming NFL games isn’t easy to do – especially if you don’t have a cable subscription. Of all the major sports, the National Football League has been the hardest to find online.

    This could be changing – ever so slowly – as CBS has announced a new NFL streaming venture that will see two regular season games streamed for free. No cable authentication required.

    The October 4th, 9:30am ET game between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins will be streamed live on laptops, desktops, tablets, CBSSports.com and select Connected TV devices including Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, and Roku TV. Why so early? That’s one of this year’s London games.

    CBS will also stream the Thanksgiving Day game between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys. That kicks off at 4:30pm ET on November 26th.

    CBS will also stream the AFC playoffs – but the network did that last year. Super Bowl 50 will be streamed, as well.

    “We’re very excited to offer more NFL ON CBS streaming coverage across more digital platforms than ever before,” said Jeffrey Gerttula, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS Sports Digital. “All NFL fans will have access through their computers, tablets and now Connected TVs to two regular season games for the first time in addition to all of the AFC playoff action, culminating with a truly historic Super Bowl.”

    This is the first time the NFL on CBS has ever live-streamed regular season games, but it’s not the first deal made to stream a regular season game. Yahoo won that honor earlier this year, buying the rights to stream the London game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills.

    And Yahoo reportedly paid a pretty penny for the privilege.

    Image via Thinkstock