Internet Marketing Weblog
Julian Sharpe | 11:50 am | July 30, 2008 | Google, News, yahoo
A new report released states that Yahoos share of UK search spend has dropped again in the second quarter, by a further 1.3% to just 10.6% of the market. Yahoo had already suffered a share drop 0.5% in Q1. Meanwhile Googles share of the search spend has increased by 0.6% to 85.4% in Q2 showing its dominance of the market remains.
Brands have stated that Yahoo which has been stuck in search-focused takeover battles with both Microsoft and Google this year isn’t a focal point for their search campaigns, with main budget focus being on Google.
Quotes
David Lengen, head of e-business at Egg parent company Citibank, told NMA, “All of our search budget is geared towards Google. We rarely optimise for Yahoo! and don’t manage the Yahoo! search account like we manage Google. If we want volume, we have to be on Google.”
Likewise, Tom Bennett, marketing director at Confused.com, said, “These numbers don’t surprise me. We don’t have a fixed search budget, so what we look at is purely where we get the best ROI, and that’s on Google basically.”
Andrew Girdwood, head of search at Big Mouth Media, said Yahoo!’s position was weak. “When you look at how long it takes to optimise Yahoo! then report on the success, in many cases its wasting clients’ money. That’s obviously a big problem for Yahoo! to overcome.”
What do we think?
At Lakestarmedia we have a similar attitude like that of Alan Harding, Head of search at Moneysupermarket, and we agreed that value can still be achieved from well-run Yahoo! and Microsoft campaigns.
Although the volume of overall traffic is not as high as Google for obvious reasons the conversions and the resulting ROI is normally above or comparable with Google and the point of online marketing is achieving a positive ROI for your clients. By using a positive media mix you can achieve this, just because it takes longer to optimise for Yahoo does not mean it should be simply dismissed.
Julian Sharpe | 1:00 pm | July 21, 2008 | News, Online Media Planning (OMP)
Online ad exchange site AdJug has signed network deals with classified ad websites The Sun Local and Oodle. The new deals will see AdJug serving banner ads from its network to The Sun Local and Oodle sites. The ads will be targeted to key classified categories such as pets, cars, property and items for sale, as well as run-of-site.
Oodle provides classified advertising for numerous websites including Lycos UK, Magic Radio and Infospace. The economic downturn is proving to be a boon for companies selling remnant inventory.
Max Moore, vice-president of publishing at AdJug, said the ad exchange and marketplace sector was seeing growth.
“Publishers are taking advantage of the opportunity in the marketplace, they’ve got nothing to lose as its free to use and non-exclusive.
“Adding Oodle’s high calibre inventory to the AdJug inventory mix will provide our advertisers with a great cross-section of classified sites to target, and further expand AdJug’s local channel.”
AdJug’s marketplace currently records more than half a billion ad impressions a month across 1,200 sites.
Julian Sharpe | 12:56 pm | July 18, 2008 | Google, News
Google share prices have dropped after the search king failed to achieve analyst targets for its second quarter results. Googles shares dropped by around 10% last night after the search giant reported a profit increase that fell below market expectations.
Despite posting a net profit increase of 35% to 1.25bn (629m) for the second quarter.
UK revenues were down 1% year-on-year, at 774m (390m), and now representing 14% of Google’s total revenues, with the company attributing the slowdown to seasonality.
However, overall revenues from outside the US were up from 48% to 52% to 2.8bn (1.41bn) year-on-year. Overall gross revenues for Google rose by 39% to 5.37bn (2.7bn).
Quote
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said: “Strong international growth as well as sustained traffic increases on Google’s web properties propelled us to another strong quarter, despite a more challenging economic environment.”
Julian Sharpe | 2:21 pm | July 16, 2008 | News, Social Media
Junk food brands are continuing to target children online and via mobile phones this is despite growing concerns about childhood obesity, a new report from Which claims.
Various media sources including Social networking, SMS and viral promotions were all named in the report cleverly titled ‘Food Fables - The Second Sitting’ as more methods are used to target children, this is despite 88% of consumers saying brands need to be more responsible.
The main culprits have been identified as Bebo, MySpace and YouTube as the main channels for promotions and competitions from junk food brands.
The report also highlighted Cadbury, Mars and Fanta as examples of brands, which used ‘complex’ brand sites and social networks to pick out young people. Mobile was also highlighted as a further channel exploited by brands to target children, through mobile promotions and WAP sites.
Its not all bad news as Which also credited brands such as Kellogg’s, Nestle and Weetabix for reducing or closing down sites which previously targeted children.
However the advertiser body ISBA has criticised the report claiming it is “seriously misleading” and accused Which of wrongly highlighting practices aimed at people aged over 16, and not young teens.
Ian Twinn, public affairs director at ISBA, said, “Any under-16s seeing these ads will have had to lie about their age.”
“The report simply misses the point. Where obesity is concerned, advertising is not the issue. Tackling the problem needs to involve a much wider range of factors such as parental responsibility, healthy diets and activity levels.”
ISBA said online ads are subject to the same degree of regulation as broadcast and print ads
Julian Sharpe | 2:21 pm | July 15, 2008 | MSN, News, yahoo
Microsoft reacted angrily at claims from Yahoo that the latest offer for the Microsoft was final and non-negotiable. The continuing battle of wits between the two internet giants increased further yesterday, when Yahoo rejected an offer over the weekend by Microsoft, and called it a “take it or leave it” deal.
Microsoft returning quotes were that the offer was not final, but a way in for more negotiations.
“This discussion has been mischaracterised as a ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum, rather than a timetable in order to move forward to intensive negotiations,” a company statement read.
Microsoft said the latest offer, which had been more search-focused, had been prompted in part by conversations at the top level between Yahoo chairman Ray Bostock and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
But Yahoo are quoted as saying that the proposed deal was not as financially favourable as the one it recently agreed with Google.
Rogue Yahoo! shareholder Carl Icahn, who yesterday submitted his final list of proposed candidates to replace the Yahoo! board, said Yahoo!’s rejection of the new deal aimed to “distort, omit and twist events and facts in the manner that Yahoo! has done.”
Meanwhile, research from US search specialist Search Ignite has suggested the cost of a click on Yahoo! will increase by 22% if Google sells the ads.
Julian Sharpe | 8:51 am | | News, Social Media
Channel 4 Education will tonight launch a new show called the The Insiders, one of many online-only shows it aims to combine careers guidance with a comedy drama twist.
The Insiders will run over 12 week period and its aim is to reveal the true workings of six different styles profession, which including a doctor, police officer and actress.
Social network MySpace has joined with the Channel 4, which allows fans of the programme to meet the cast, ask them questions and become their friend.
The project is based on blogs of six professionals, aims to reveal details on the jobs that careers advisors fail to tell. Channel 4 claims the show is “an upfront, funny and honest account of the world of work”.
Julian Sharpe | 1:51 pm | July 14, 2008 | Google, News, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The Google map car has finally made its visit to Manchester and passed by the Lake Star Media offices this morning, with an array of pointing members of public wondering what was going on.
Using an 11-sided camera it will be interesting to see if anyone in the office was caught on camera, with the privacy law people still trying to fight it, we say hurrah to Google and look forward to Manchester getting its street level views at last.
Julian Sharpe | 9:58 am | | News, yahoo
News Corps media mogul Rupert Murdoch has said his company would definitely not be interested in any deal with Yahoo currently. Despite rumours of talks with Yahoo soon after Microsoft originally tabled its 44.6bn takeover offer, Murdoch’s interest has cooled, now saying that possibility of a partnership “very unlikely.”
Speaking at the annual Allen & Co Sun Valley Conference, Murdoch said he also doubted Yahoo and Microsoft would ever complete a deal. “There won’t be a deal. There are bad personal feelings,” he said. “Within six months, Microsoft will walk away.” Meanwhile, at the same conference Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang said he wouldn’t be talking with Microsoft attendees while he was there.
Google co-founder Sergie Brin, whose company recently signed a multi-million dollar search deal with Yahoo!, told reporters Yang, who had been photographed with his head in his hands, was coping well with the current situation. “I think he’s a good leader, but under stress. There’s obviously a lot of frustration, but he’s doing pretty well,” he said
Julian Sharpe | 12:25 pm | July 10, 2008 | Events, News
BBC Worldwide has signed a new global content deal with internet TV platform Babelgum. The deal will ensure that BBC Worldwide provide a variety of short form content from programmes such as Top Gear and Tribe.
The advertising-supported content will available via three new branded channels:
BBC LoveEarth
BBC Knowledge
BBC Entertainment
This is the latest content deal from the BBC’s commercial arm, which already has a number of similar deals in place with social media channels such as YouTube and MySpace. The deal will boost Babelgum’s content offering, which includes Serie A Football and Ministry of Sound TV.
The internet TV platform aims to persuade 20-30m people to download the platform to a PC or Mac by the end of the year.
Quotes:
Valerio Zingarelli, CEO of Babelgum, said, “The BBC brand is known around the world and by bringing these brands to the Babelgum platform we further emphasise our position as a leading player in the internet TV space and a point of reference for Nature and Science’s passionate audiences.”
Jemma Adkins, head of content and development, Digital Media at BBC Worldwide, said, “Babelgum is an innovative player in the market and a great way of reaching out to an audience that perhaps doesn’t see our content on more traditional channels.”
Julian Sharpe | 12:19 pm | | Google, News
Google, Ebay and PayPal have formed a partnership in an attempt to combat phishing within Gmail, Google’s free email service.
Google is using email authentication technology called DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), to stop, control and report fake Ebay and PayPal messages from reaching Gmail users worldwide.
Brad Taylor, the senior staff software engineer, in charge of Gmail’s anti-spam efforts, said: “We’re always looking for ways to eliminate unwanted email from our users’ inboxes. Phishing is an especially nasty form of spam, so we appreciate having another weapon in our arsenal against it. We’re glad to be working with Ebay and PayPal to protect our users.”
Garreth Griffith, PayPal UK head of risk management, said, “The Gmail team’s decision to work with Ebay and PayPal on this issue is a significant step forward in our fight to keep consumers safe from phishing and cybercrime. Today’s announcement will enhance online safety for millions of Ebay and PayPal customers who use Gmail.”
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