There has been a lot of talk about going beyond the banner in online advertising this year—and our Top Ten ads for 2010 show that not only are we moving beyond the banner, we’re also leaving behind the constraints of the Web page itself.
In our team’s picks for the best ads on Yahoo! this year, ads exploded from their niche on the side of the page. Bugs walked on to the Yahoo! front page, and the pages themselves folded, tore and crumpled. Banners turned into magazines and catalogs where people could buy stuff.
Entertainment ads made the best use of our canvas this year, but more traditional brands did great stuff, too.
Below are our top ten ads for 2010, in no particular order. (They’re all first place in awesomeness, though.)
Alice in Wonderland
This is the ad Carol Bartz mentions when she talks about the potential of advertising on the Web, and for good reason: People liked how the page opened up and pulled them down the rabbit hole so much that lots of them clicked on the ad four or five times. Is it advertisement or entertainment?
Nissan Qashqai
My wife literally gasped when I played this ad for her. The Nissan crossover dodging paintballs on the front page of Yahoo! France is cool enough. But press the play button marked “Voir la Suite” and the car seems to leap out of two-dimensional space, the front page transforms into something out of “Inception,” and the Qashqai zooms between buildings that used to be columns of text. My French is rusty, but I’m guessing “Voir la Suite” stands for “Blow your mind.”
Discovery: LIFE
Discovery wanted an online campaign as epic as its new series LIFE, and it got it with a front-page ad that had customizable wallpaper, video footage from the series, and a green bug that scurries around the “back” of the home page and into the ad. The results? People who saw the ads were 28% more likely to see the series than those who didn’t.
Drew Brees in Dove Men+Care
Not everyone loves Drew, but you had to love the way the Yahoo! Sports page opened like a shower curtain to see the New Orleans Saints quarterback singing the William Tell Overture (OK, the Lone Ranger theme in our house) at the top of his lungs. And other people loved it, too—the ad won the IAB Mixx Bronze Award for Rich Media Execution.
You Again
Not surprisingly, the new “mosaic” ad format we created for omg seems tailor-made for movies, and You Again is one of the best examples of it. Flashbulb pops replace celebrity photos with images from the ad. When the actresses tear pictures of each other in half, the ad tears itself in half, too. If that’s not enough, there’s a great faux behind-the-scenes catfight where Sigourney Weaver taunts Kristen Bell by saying “Avatar!”
Toyota Avalon
How do you reintroduce your luxury car model online? It helps to have a well-groomed man walk across the Yahoo! News page and invite viewers behind a curtain to look at it. Toyota piqued curiosity for its redesigned Avalon by showing that luxury awaited—if they only pulled the golden cord. In another example of great branding, Avalon also helped launch our new video series, Who Knew?
Discovery Shark Week
Discovery’s ad for Shark Week may have taken advantage the visual space of our Log-in Page ads just a little too well, judging by a handful of user complaints about the image of a soaked geek with shark teeth. But it also showed the cult appeal of Shark Week, and the lengths to which its fans will go to watch it.
TRON
TRON just managed to zip in before the end of the year—and we mean that literally. When the famous TRON lightcycle zooms out of the video screen on Yahoo! Movies and everything goes neon blue, you know you’re in the world of TRON. For another bonus, check out our video about the TRONification of Yahoo! Search.
Macy’s Memorial Day Circular
Advertising isn’t always for flash—sometimes, just sometimes, you want to sell stuff, too. Macy’s used our new pullover ad format in Yahoo! Mail to create a Web version of its Memorial Day circular that customers could flip through and use to order the items they wanted. And our Smart Ads technology helped serve up custom versions of the ads to people based on location, demographics and interest. The result was an ad that kept users around and engaged for a lot longer than a normal display ad.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
I’ve always had a thing for movie storybooks, which is why I loved the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 ad that seemed to have everything, including a book that lets you flip through images from the film. If they’d one of those when Star Wars came out, I could have saved my parents $4.95.
Are there any other ads that you liked this year? Let us know in the comments. And if you want to try something like this yourself, contact us. See you on the Top Ten in 2011!
By Jeff Sweat
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Yahoo Makes Aggressive Pitch For TV Dollars, Releases New Mobile Units
Yahoo plans to release research Thursday supporting why traditional media buyers might want to pull time on broadcast TV to allocate budgets to mobile advertising. Supporting consumer behavior, the data accompanies the rollout of three rich media formats: Yahoo Mobile Screen Takeover, Yahoo Mobile Customized Expandable Ads, and iPad Tap to Video Ads.
Traditional advertisers who remove one or two TV ads from their mix will not notice any difference on the performance of that campaign if they allocate those funds toward mobile to find new audiences, according to Paul Cushman, senior director of mobile sales strategy at Yahoo. "A creative director who says he can't do anything with mobile is last year's story," he says. "HTML5 will become the major driver for scale and engagement within mobile. The ability for it to provide an app-like experience is significant and should not be underestimated."
Cushman, a mobile evangelist, says brands continue to waste ad dollars. The numbers revealing this trend sit behind Yahoo's firewall in mail and Front-Page data, Yahoo's "crown jewel," of which third-party companies can't gain access. The critical data suggests that consumers reach for their mobile devices while watching TV during a commercial break.
Yahoo supports between 49 million and 50 million unique mobile Internet users monthly. Commercial breaks during live TV events drive mobile Internet use, according to Cushman. Yahoo's analysis of consumer activity across the company's network found a correlation between TV commercial breaks and spikes in mobile Internet use. During commercials that ran with the 2010 Academy Awards, traffic and engagement on the Yahoo Mobile site increased on average 12%. Browser activity rose 125% on Yahoo News. Users consumed 39% more content on Yahoo Front Page, search rose 13%, and users checked and sent email 6% more.
Similarly, for the 2010 World Cup, traffic and engagement on the Yahoo Mobile site rose on average of 10% during commercials. Browsing activity rose 57% on Yahoo News, 24% more users consumed content on Yahoo Front Page, and search activity rose 12% on Yahoo Search.
Yahoo has offered the expandable ad format for more than a year, but customized the offering and began designing the other two formats during the past year to create a package for advertisers. Consumers are becoming more comfortable with mobile ads. Research from Yahoo Mobile and Nielsen suggests that the immediacy and portability of the mobile phone drives conversions. When consumers use their mobile phone to do research, about half the time they plan to make a purchase.
Yahoo isn't the only ad tech company capitalizing on mobile. Google also touted Wednesday high returns on investments for mobile ads on Google's network. Dai Pham, who supports Google mobile ads product marketing, writes in a blog post that Roy's restaurant managed to achieve click-though rates 539% higher on mobile than on desktop by investing in mobile-specific campaigns and hyperlocal advertising.
By Laurie Sullivan
Traditional advertisers who remove one or two TV ads from their mix will not notice any difference on the performance of that campaign if they allocate those funds toward mobile to find new audiences, according to Paul Cushman, senior director of mobile sales strategy at Yahoo. "A creative director who says he can't do anything with mobile is last year's story," he says. "HTML5 will become the major driver for scale and engagement within mobile. The ability for it to provide an app-like experience is significant and should not be underestimated."
Cushman, a mobile evangelist, says brands continue to waste ad dollars. The numbers revealing this trend sit behind Yahoo's firewall in mail and Front-Page data, Yahoo's "crown jewel," of which third-party companies can't gain access. The critical data suggests that consumers reach for their mobile devices while watching TV during a commercial break.
Yahoo supports between 49 million and 50 million unique mobile Internet users monthly. Commercial breaks during live TV events drive mobile Internet use, according to Cushman. Yahoo's analysis of consumer activity across the company's network found a correlation between TV commercial breaks and spikes in mobile Internet use. During commercials that ran with the 2010 Academy Awards, traffic and engagement on the Yahoo Mobile site increased on average 12%. Browser activity rose 125% on Yahoo News. Users consumed 39% more content on Yahoo Front Page, search rose 13%, and users checked and sent email 6% more.
Similarly, for the 2010 World Cup, traffic and engagement on the Yahoo Mobile site rose on average of 10% during commercials. Browsing activity rose 57% on Yahoo News, 24% more users consumed content on Yahoo Front Page, and search activity rose 12% on Yahoo Search.
Yahoo has offered the expandable ad format for more than a year, but customized the offering and began designing the other two formats during the past year to create a package for advertisers. Consumers are becoming more comfortable with mobile ads. Research from Yahoo Mobile and Nielsen suggests that the immediacy and portability of the mobile phone drives conversions. When consumers use their mobile phone to do research, about half the time they plan to make a purchase.
Yahoo isn't the only ad tech company capitalizing on mobile. Google also touted Wednesday high returns on investments for mobile ads on Google's network. Dai Pham, who supports Google mobile ads product marketing, writes in a blog post that Roy's restaurant managed to achieve click-though rates 539% higher on mobile than on desktop by investing in mobile-specific campaigns and hyperlocal advertising.
By Laurie Sullivan
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Right Media Introduces Audience Sharing on the Exchange
Audience-based buying has emerged as an efficient and effective way for buyers to engage consumers in today’s fragmented display market. At the Right Media Forum today, we announced the rollout of our latest capability, Audience Sharing. This feature enables more efficient audience-based buying on the Right Media Exchange (RMX), while providing customers with a more relevant online experience.
Audience Sharing enables buyers and sellers to share, manage and monetize audiences at scale, further reinforcing our position as the leading display advertising exchange that is shaping the marketplace. Audience Sharing provides sellers or segment owners, including data providers AlmondNet Data Division, BlueKai and eXelate, control and transparency when sharing their segments in our marketplace. Buyers or segment users can target audiences from multiple data providers, and Right Media’s platform takes into account user overlap and attributes data according to recency.
For audience-planning, participants see the potential size of the audiences before they buy, reducing the inefficiencies of the learn-as-you-go model. In the Right Media platform, Audience Sharing is accessible to segment owners through the Audience tab and seamlessly integrated into the segment users’ experience.
Trust and privacy are of utmost importance to Right Media and Yahoo!
Right Media is a neutral technology provider for our clients. We understand that some users may not want information collected via cookies used to show them relevant advertising, therefore we support our customers’ efforts to respect this. Before the end of this year, we expect Right Media to be able to support Clear Ad Notice for participating exchange members who offer and respect consumer opt-outs. If a consumer opts out from an RMX member who participates in Clear Ad Notice, the consumer should not be included in Audience Sharing.
Additionally, Right Media continues to prohibit our clients from sending personally identifiable information (PII) to us, and we do not collect PII about consumers during the ad delivery process. We require our clients to post a privacy policy that complies with applicable laws, rules and regulations, as well as offer consumers an opt-out that would extend to the Audience Sharing feature.
Right Media Delivers
Right Media delivers the capabilities needed to better connect with consumers online. Moreover, we believe that all members of the online advertising ecosystem will benefit from their adoption: from the consumers who have a more enriched online experience to website publishers who are better able to monetize their available ad space.
Audience Sharing enables buyers and sellers to share, manage and monetize audiences at scale, further reinforcing our position as the leading display advertising exchange that is shaping the marketplace. Audience Sharing provides sellers or segment owners, including data providers AlmondNet Data Division, BlueKai and eXelate, control and transparency when sharing their segments in our marketplace. Buyers or segment users can target audiences from multiple data providers, and Right Media’s platform takes into account user overlap and attributes data according to recency.
For audience-planning, participants see the potential size of the audiences before they buy, reducing the inefficiencies of the learn-as-you-go model. In the Right Media platform, Audience Sharing is accessible to segment owners through the Audience tab and seamlessly integrated into the segment users’ experience.
Trust and privacy are of utmost importance to Right Media and Yahoo!
Right Media is a neutral technology provider for our clients. We understand that some users may not want information collected via cookies used to show them relevant advertising, therefore we support our customers’ efforts to respect this. Before the end of this year, we expect Right Media to be able to support Clear Ad Notice for participating exchange members who offer and respect consumer opt-outs. If a consumer opts out from an RMX member who participates in Clear Ad Notice, the consumer should not be included in Audience Sharing.
Additionally, Right Media continues to prohibit our clients from sending personally identifiable information (PII) to us, and we do not collect PII about consumers during the ad delivery process. We require our clients to post a privacy policy that complies with applicable laws, rules and regulations, as well as offer consumers an opt-out that would extend to the Audience Sharing feature.
Right Media Delivers
Right Media delivers the capabilities needed to better connect with consumers online. Moreover, we believe that all members of the online advertising ecosystem will benefit from their adoption: from the consumers who have a more enriched online experience to website publishers who are better able to monetize their available ad space.
Yahoo's move to add Personalized Retargeting and rebrand its three-year-old Ad Network into Yahoo Network Plus integrates technology from the acquisition of Dapper the Sunnyvale, Calif. company announced in October.
The "Plus" in the name points to the available targeting data, access to ad inventory, and services. Aside from Personalized Retargeting, Yahoo offers behavioral, geographic, demographic, site, weather, search retargeting and a bunch more.
Admitting that Yahoo has failed to market the reach and scope of Yahoo's ad display network, David Zinman, vice president and general manager for display advertising at Yahoo North America, told MediaPost that Yahoo's strong portal brand and collection of content sites doesn't convey much more. "When we surveyed our advertisers, few were aware we're also an ad network," says Zinman. "We wanted to highlight our capabilities as an ad network."
Retargeting generally produces the best results for display in terms of return on investment for cost per lead or cost per conversion. Personalized Retargeting combines with search retargeting to reach consumers showing interest in specific keywords while searching the Web, but not necessarily landing on the marketer's site.
Retargeting platforms identify consumers, finds them on other sites, and serves up similar ads. Many times dynamic ad creation customizes what Web searchers see based on specific products on an advertiser's site. Retargeting generally produces the best results for display in terms of return on investment for cost per lead or cost per conversion.
Personalized retargeting, when customized, delivers "significantly greater lift," Zinman says. He says one client continues to see a 97% increase overall. "That's not a fluke," he says. "Most clients are doubling performance, compared with standard retargeting."
It also changes the pricing model, expanding the ability for advertisers to buy retargeting based on performance pricing, rather than CPM. This means expanding pricing based on a cost-per click (CPC) or a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model. The performance pricing model, a takeoff from search, drives better returns both for advertisers and Yahoo.
Zinman calls personalized retargeting a niche that will grow during the next couple of years. "Personalized retargeting is not yet offered by Microsoft, Google or AOL," he says. "If you know a solution like this offers better performance, you kind of expect the bigger players to be involved."
by Laurie Sullivan
The "Plus" in the name points to the available targeting data, access to ad inventory, and services. Aside from Personalized Retargeting, Yahoo offers behavioral, geographic, demographic, site, weather, search retargeting and a bunch more.
Admitting that Yahoo has failed to market the reach and scope of Yahoo's ad display network, David Zinman, vice president and general manager for display advertising at Yahoo North America, told MediaPost that Yahoo's strong portal brand and collection of content sites doesn't convey much more. "When we surveyed our advertisers, few were aware we're also an ad network," says Zinman. "We wanted to highlight our capabilities as an ad network."
Retargeting generally produces the best results for display in terms of return on investment for cost per lead or cost per conversion. Personalized Retargeting combines with search retargeting to reach consumers showing interest in specific keywords while searching the Web, but not necessarily landing on the marketer's site.
Retargeting platforms identify consumers, finds them on other sites, and serves up similar ads. Many times dynamic ad creation customizes what Web searchers see based on specific products on an advertiser's site. Retargeting generally produces the best results for display in terms of return on investment for cost per lead or cost per conversion.
Personalized retargeting, when customized, delivers "significantly greater lift," Zinman says. He says one client continues to see a 97% increase overall. "That's not a fluke," he says. "Most clients are doubling performance, compared with standard retargeting."
It also changes the pricing model, expanding the ability for advertisers to buy retargeting based on performance pricing, rather than CPM. This means expanding pricing based on a cost-per click (CPC) or a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model. The performance pricing model, a takeoff from search, drives better returns both for advertisers and Yahoo.
Zinman calls personalized retargeting a niche that will grow during the next couple of years. "Personalized retargeting is not yet offered by Microsoft, Google or AOL," he says. "If you know a solution like this offers better performance, you kind of expect the bigger players to be involved."
by Laurie Sullivan
Monday, November 1, 2010
Yahoo! rewrites the rules of retargeting, again
Yahoo! is no slouch when it comes to retargeting. After all, when it comes to breakthrough solutions like search retargeting, we invented it. Search retargeting allows advertisers to pinpoint users with display ads based on their search activities.
Let’s say a user has searched “Spider Man,” indicating a strong intent to buy tickets to the latest “Spider Man” film, a Halloween costume, or a figurine based on the film. As an advertiser, you can then target that user across our newly rebranded ad network, Yahoo! Network Plus to help make the sale.
The user gets what they want, the advertiser closes the deal. Everyone’s happy, right? But wait, it gets better.
With our new “Personalized Retargeting,” we can help you tap the potential of interested consumers who visit your website by retargeting them across the Web with personalized creative. It can help you turn prospects into customers at an even higher rate than standard retargeting—and you’ll only pay for clicks or conversions.
Long story short: You can bring back those who have clicked away from your site to engage with you again, encourage them to perform the actions you want, and we will charge you only on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-action basis (CPA). One of our travel clients was able to see a 97% overall lift in revenue—and a 104% increase in conversion rates.
Retarget with more reach on Yahoo! Network Plus
It’s a lot easier to target a narrow segment of users at scale when you reach massive numbers of them in the first place. Our Yahoo! Network Plus ad network, which combines Yahoo! sites with some of the top publishers on the Web, can reach 86% of the consumers on the Web, the largest reach and page views among any network, according to September’s comScore ad network report.
And, yes, this has to do with our recent acquisition of Dapper. We already delivered the largest, most engaged audience on the Web. With Dapper, that audience gets even larger, with campaigns traversing the Internet and bringing in-house ad technology that powers your campaigns.
With Yahoo! Personalized Retargeting, you’ll now have greater control over your campaigns with performance pricing and leading dynamic creative technologies from Dapper. And as with all user targeting initiatives at Yahoo!, we also reinforce the trust we’ve built with users by putting control in their hands with tools like Ad Interest Manager. On Yahoo! Network Plus, advertisers benefit from this environment of trust through more engaged users and more relevant experiences.
In short, Personalized Retargeting with Yahoo! Network Plus gives advertisers more reach through the biggest network, more scale through access to data to augment site retargeting audiences, and more confidence with the highest quality environments and with industry leading consumer trust initiatives.
Let’s say a user has searched “Spider Man,” indicating a strong intent to buy tickets to the latest “Spider Man” film, a Halloween costume, or a figurine based on the film. As an advertiser, you can then target that user across our newly rebranded ad network, Yahoo! Network Plus to help make the sale.
The user gets what they want, the advertiser closes the deal. Everyone’s happy, right? But wait, it gets better.
With our new “Personalized Retargeting,” we can help you tap the potential of interested consumers who visit your website by retargeting them across the Web with personalized creative. It can help you turn prospects into customers at an even higher rate than standard retargeting—and you’ll only pay for clicks or conversions.
Long story short: You can bring back those who have clicked away from your site to engage with you again, encourage them to perform the actions you want, and we will charge you only on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-action basis (CPA). One of our travel clients was able to see a 97% overall lift in revenue—and a 104% increase in conversion rates.
Retarget with more reach on Yahoo! Network Plus
It’s a lot easier to target a narrow segment of users at scale when you reach massive numbers of them in the first place. Our Yahoo! Network Plus ad network, which combines Yahoo! sites with some of the top publishers on the Web, can reach 86% of the consumers on the Web, the largest reach and page views among any network, according to September’s comScore ad network report.
And, yes, this has to do with our recent acquisition of Dapper. We already delivered the largest, most engaged audience on the Web. With Dapper, that audience gets even larger, with campaigns traversing the Internet and bringing in-house ad technology that powers your campaigns.
With Yahoo! Personalized Retargeting, you’ll now have greater control over your campaigns with performance pricing and leading dynamic creative technologies from Dapper. And as with all user targeting initiatives at Yahoo!, we also reinforce the trust we’ve built with users by putting control in their hands with tools like Ad Interest Manager. On Yahoo! Network Plus, advertisers benefit from this environment of trust through more engaged users and more relevant experiences.
In short, Personalized Retargeting with Yahoo! Network Plus gives advertisers more reach through the biggest network, more scale through access to data to augment site retargeting audiences, and more confidence with the highest quality environments and with industry leading consumer trust initiatives.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Yahoo Confirms Levinsohn Hiring
Confirming earlier reports, Yahoo Wednesday named ex-News Corp. digital exec Ross Levinsohn as executive vice president of the Americas region. Levinsohn replaces Hilary Schneider in that key role, giving him responsibility for the company's media group, advertising sales and partnerships.
He will report directly to CEO Carol Bartz, but will be based in Yahoo's Santa Monica office rather than its Silicon Valley headquarters, according to the All Things Digital blog, which first reported Levinsohn's hiring. He previously served as the president of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, where oversaw the unit's day-to-day business and was instrumental in its purchase of MySpace in 2005.
Levinsohn has also held management posts at early Internet portal AltaVista, CBS SportsLine and HBO. Prior to joining Yahoo, he was co-founder and managing director of Fuse Capital, an investment firm focused on digital media and communications companies.
"I am confident that Ross's strategic vision, in addition to his deep industry experience, will allow us to solidify our position as the largest digital media, content and communications business around the globe," said Bartz in a statement. The beleaguered Web portal will count on Levinsohn to help revitalize and expand its content offerings and boost its lackluster financial performance.
But it isn't the first time that Yahoo has turned to a high-profile media figure to help turn things around. The company in 2001 hired former Warner Bros. chairman and co-CEO Terry Semel as CEO and in 2004 brought on ex-ABC Entertainment Group Chairman Lloyd Braun to run the Yahoo Media Group.
Levinsohn's predecessor, Schneider, left Yahoo earlier this month in a high-level management shuffle that also saw the departures of former media group head Jimmy Pitaro and David Ko, who led Yahoo's mobile and audience units. Pitaro left to co-head Disney's interactive group while Ko went to lead the mobile business social game company Zynga.
by Mark Walsh
He will report directly to CEO Carol Bartz, but will be based in Yahoo's Santa Monica office rather than its Silicon Valley headquarters, according to the All Things Digital blog, which first reported Levinsohn's hiring. He previously served as the president of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, where oversaw the unit's day-to-day business and was instrumental in its purchase of MySpace in 2005.
Levinsohn has also held management posts at early Internet portal AltaVista, CBS SportsLine and HBO. Prior to joining Yahoo, he was co-founder and managing director of Fuse Capital, an investment firm focused on digital media and communications companies.
"I am confident that Ross's strategic vision, in addition to his deep industry experience, will allow us to solidify our position as the largest digital media, content and communications business around the globe," said Bartz in a statement. The beleaguered Web portal will count on Levinsohn to help revitalize and expand its content offerings and boost its lackluster financial performance.
But it isn't the first time that Yahoo has turned to a high-profile media figure to help turn things around. The company in 2001 hired former Warner Bros. chairman and co-CEO Terry Semel as CEO and in 2004 brought on ex-ABC Entertainment Group Chairman Lloyd Braun to run the Yahoo Media Group.
Levinsohn's predecessor, Schneider, left Yahoo earlier this month in a high-level management shuffle that also saw the departures of former media group head Jimmy Pitaro and David Ko, who led Yahoo's mobile and audience units. Pitaro left to co-head Disney's interactive group while Ko went to lead the mobile business social game company Zynga.
by Mark Walsh
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Yahoo Revenue Falls Short Of Expectations
Weaker-than-expected revenue growth for Yahoo in the third quarter will not ease the pressure on CEO Carol Bartz to deliver improved results nearly two years after she was brought on to reverse the Web portal's sagging fortunes.
A reduced fourth-quarter revenue outlook from Yahoo won't help, either. Yahoo is projecting fourth-quarter revenue of $1.125 billion to $1.225 billion, falling below the analysts' forecast of $126 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
For the third quarter, Yahoo posted a profit of $396.1 million, or 29 cents a share -- more than double the 13 cents it reported a year ago. But its earnings got a 13-cent boost from the sale of its HotJobs classified site during the quarter. Analysts had expected profit of 15 cents a quarter.
Net revenue was $1.12 billion compared to $1.13 billion a year ago, and came in slightly below analysts' forecast of $1.13 billion. Yahoo's stagnant results and internal turmoil have led to a series of takeover and other rumors in recent weeks.
The Wall Street Journal earlier this month reported that AOL and several private equity firms were exploring making a bid to buy Yahoo in an effort to merge the two struggling Internet brands. Speculation has also arisen that if Bartz doesn't improve the company's performance soon, the Yahoo board may consider replacing her.
A Dow Jones report Monday, however, indicated that the board is committed to Bartz for the remaining two years of her four-year contract. In relation to the takeover rumors, Bartz declined to comment on the matter during Yahoo's third-quarter conference call Tuesday. "We like our strategy, we like our progress, and that's what we're focused on," she said.
Despite a 7% year-over-year drop in search ad revenue to $331 million, Bartz and Yahoo CFO Tim Morse emphasized that the implementation of its 2009 search partnership with Microsoft was on schedule and would begin to boost revenue growth next year.
Yahoo last month completed transitioning to Bing-powered natural search results in the U.S. and Canada and would do the same for paid results by the end of October. Bartz said 97% of premium accounts have switched to Microsoft's AdCenter and the company is more than halfway through shifting its search queries to AdCenter. "By Q2 next year, we expect the [search] marketplace to be fully tuned," she said.
In the meantime, the process of integrating search systems with Microsoft isn't helping Yahoo's top line, and starting next quarter Microsoft will take its 12% revenue share under the deal. Morse said that will amount to about $30 million in the fourth quarter.
Yahoo's core display business fared better, with revenue up 17% to $465 million from a year ago and roughly flat from the second quarter. Premium display revenue was up 20% and spending was up in seven of 10 industry categories Yahoo tracks, with retail and technology especially strong and telecom notably weak.
Asked during the Q&A session with analysts about growing competition from Google in display, Bartz responded that Yahoo had a unique offering in its ability to deliver targeted, high-profile campaigns for large brand advertisers. "We're running very fast -- we're not going to give up this leadership in display very easily," she said.
Discussing a 4% drop in page views in the quarter, the Yahoo CEO did not directly explain the decline, but stressed the company was focused on upgrading its platforms for popular services like mail and news over the last year to facilitate increased user engagement. An outage of the Yahoo home page last week, however, did nothing to enhance the company's reputation for technical prowess.
Bartz also did not directly address a recent spate of high-level executive departures reminiscent of the management turmoil when she was hired, in part to quell after taking over from then-CEO Jerry Yang.
Hilary Schneider, the company's U.S. ad sales chief; David Ko, who led the mobile and local businesses; and Yahoo Media head Jimmy Pitaro have all exited in the last few weeks. Last spring, Yahoo hired former Microsoft executive Blake Irving as its chief product officer to bolster its content and ad offerings.
But in an apparent reference to the management changes, Bartz said: "Some people leave, some get promoted, and some good new people arrive. The most important thing is making sure the right person is in the right job at the right time."
That's something Yahoo's board is reportedly scrutinizing more closely when it comes to Bartz herself. But once Yahoo's search pact with Microsoft is fully up and running, and display continues steady growth, "we've got a completely new company here," she assured. Yahoo's shares were up 1% to $15.65 in after-hours trading Tuesday.
by Mark Walsh,
A reduced fourth-quarter revenue outlook from Yahoo won't help, either. Yahoo is projecting fourth-quarter revenue of $1.125 billion to $1.225 billion, falling below the analysts' forecast of $126 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
For the third quarter, Yahoo posted a profit of $396.1 million, or 29 cents a share -- more than double the 13 cents it reported a year ago. But its earnings got a 13-cent boost from the sale of its HotJobs classified site during the quarter. Analysts had expected profit of 15 cents a quarter.
Net revenue was $1.12 billion compared to $1.13 billion a year ago, and came in slightly below analysts' forecast of $1.13 billion. Yahoo's stagnant results and internal turmoil have led to a series of takeover and other rumors in recent weeks.
The Wall Street Journal earlier this month reported that AOL and several private equity firms were exploring making a bid to buy Yahoo in an effort to merge the two struggling Internet brands. Speculation has also arisen that if Bartz doesn't improve the company's performance soon, the Yahoo board may consider replacing her.
A Dow Jones report Monday, however, indicated that the board is committed to Bartz for the remaining two years of her four-year contract. In relation to the takeover rumors, Bartz declined to comment on the matter during Yahoo's third-quarter conference call Tuesday. "We like our strategy, we like our progress, and that's what we're focused on," she said.
Despite a 7% year-over-year drop in search ad revenue to $331 million, Bartz and Yahoo CFO Tim Morse emphasized that the implementation of its 2009 search partnership with Microsoft was on schedule and would begin to boost revenue growth next year.
Yahoo last month completed transitioning to Bing-powered natural search results in the U.S. and Canada and would do the same for paid results by the end of October. Bartz said 97% of premium accounts have switched to Microsoft's AdCenter and the company is more than halfway through shifting its search queries to AdCenter. "By Q2 next year, we expect the [search] marketplace to be fully tuned," she said.
In the meantime, the process of integrating search systems with Microsoft isn't helping Yahoo's top line, and starting next quarter Microsoft will take its 12% revenue share under the deal. Morse said that will amount to about $30 million in the fourth quarter.
Yahoo's core display business fared better, with revenue up 17% to $465 million from a year ago and roughly flat from the second quarter. Premium display revenue was up 20% and spending was up in seven of 10 industry categories Yahoo tracks, with retail and technology especially strong and telecom notably weak.
Asked during the Q&A session with analysts about growing competition from Google in display, Bartz responded that Yahoo had a unique offering in its ability to deliver targeted, high-profile campaigns for large brand advertisers. "We're running very fast -- we're not going to give up this leadership in display very easily," she said.
Discussing a 4% drop in page views in the quarter, the Yahoo CEO did not directly explain the decline, but stressed the company was focused on upgrading its platforms for popular services like mail and news over the last year to facilitate increased user engagement. An outage of the Yahoo home page last week, however, did nothing to enhance the company's reputation for technical prowess.
Bartz also did not directly address a recent spate of high-level executive departures reminiscent of the management turmoil when she was hired, in part to quell after taking over from then-CEO Jerry Yang.
Hilary Schneider, the company's U.S. ad sales chief; David Ko, who led the mobile and local businesses; and Yahoo Media head Jimmy Pitaro have all exited in the last few weeks. Last spring, Yahoo hired former Microsoft executive Blake Irving as its chief product officer to bolster its content and ad offerings.
But in an apparent reference to the management changes, Bartz said: "Some people leave, some get promoted, and some good new people arrive. The most important thing is making sure the right person is in the right job at the right time."
That's something Yahoo's board is reportedly scrutinizing more closely when it comes to Bartz herself. But once Yahoo's search pact with Microsoft is fully up and running, and display continues steady growth, "we've got a completely new company here," she assured. Yahoo's shares were up 1% to $15.65 in after-hours trading Tuesday.
by Mark Walsh,
Monday, October 18, 2010
Yahoo Advertising Blog Switches To FeedBlitz
The Yahoo Advertising Blog has switched from FeedBurner to FeedBlitz for new email subscriptions. To have a client like Yahoo! is great, but for everyone who isn't (yet) a public megacorporation take a look at how they're aggressively growing their list. As well as the email icon on the right, above the fold, in the subscriptions area, they also have house "ads" below each post asking the reader to subscribe. Simple text, clear call to action, big fat button. Awesome!
The blog carries good commentary beyond Yahoo's own services, so if you're a social media marketer, PR maven or online advertiser it's well worth following.
Sign Up Now
The blog carries good commentary beyond Yahoo's own services, so if you're a social media marketer, PR maven or online advertiser it's well worth following.
Sign Up Now
Thursday, October 14, 2010
AOL Bid For Yahoo Explored
AOL Inc. and several private-equity firms are exploring making an offer to buy Yahoo Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, devising a bold plan to marry two big Internet brands facing steep challenges.
Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.
The people familiar with the matter cautioned that these discussions—involving private-equity firms, AOL executives and financial advisers—are preliminary and don't yet involve Yahoo. The conversations may not lead to an approach given the complexities in structuring a proposal, the people said.
Spokeswomen for Yahoo and AOL declined to comment.
AOL, which spun off from Time Warner Inc. in late 2009, currently has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, far smaller than Yahoo's $20.56 billion market value.
Shares of Yahoo jumped 13% to $17.23 in after-hours trading Wednesday, after rising 5.7% to $15.25 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock traded 49.6 million shares in the regular session, compared with an average of 17 million shares a day so far this month. It was one of the best-performing tech stocks of the day.
One of the scenarios under discussion among the buyout firms is a complex deal in which China's Alibaba Group would buy back Yahoo's roughly 40% stake in Alibaba, the people said.
Some of Yahoo's other assets would also be sold off to interested media or technology companies, and the remaining company would be of a much smaller valuation that private-equity firms could get financing for, one of the people said.
Another scenario involves AOL combining its operations with Yahoo in a reverse merger after Yahoo disposes of the Alibaba stake, the people said. It is unclear if the resulting entity would be listed publicly.
Alibaba Chief Executive Jack Ma has expressed interest in repurchasing Yahoo's stake in his company, which analysts value at about $10 billion. A big chunk of Yahoo's current market value comes from its Alibaba stake.
Separately, AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong has also talked privately about the idea that Yahoo could buy AOL, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another person familiar with the matter said private-equity firms may also look to partner with media companies to buy Yahoo.
A combined Yahoo-AOL would have greater scale to compete in online advertising against industry juggernaut Google Inc. While both companies draw huge amounts of users, their advertising businesses have struggled as they've faced competition from a range of websites. The scenarios being discussed are similar to ones financial firms have discussed before. Yahoo and AOL discussed a merger in 2008, as Yahoo weighed a $45 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Microsoft eventually pulled its bid.
While private-equity firms have long contemplated a deal for Yahoo, talks have heated up in recent weeks as several senior Yahoo employees have left the company, intensifying pressure on Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz to prove she can turn the company around, the people familiar with the matter said.
Ms. Bartz has improved Yahoo's profitability by cutting costs, but revenue hasn't grown much and the company faces other problems. The Internet pioneer, for example, has shown fewer benefits than competitors from a broad recovery in display advertising—an area where it faces increasing competition from Google and Facebook Inc.
The company, which reports third-quarter earnings next week, claims that more than 600 million people use its home page, email service or other sites every month. But the number of Yahoo pages viewed by its users, known as "user engagement," began shrinking in the second quarter. Yahoo also has seen a drop in the value of advertising against content that Yahoo pulls from other sources.
Ms. Bartz said in a recent interview she needed more time to pull off a turnaround.
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO And ANUPREETA DAS
—Amir Efrati contributed to this article.
Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.
The people familiar with the matter cautioned that these discussions—involving private-equity firms, AOL executives and financial advisers—are preliminary and don't yet involve Yahoo. The conversations may not lead to an approach given the complexities in structuring a proposal, the people said.
Spokeswomen for Yahoo and AOL declined to comment.
AOL, which spun off from Time Warner Inc. in late 2009, currently has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, far smaller than Yahoo's $20.56 billion market value.
Shares of Yahoo jumped 13% to $17.23 in after-hours trading Wednesday, after rising 5.7% to $15.25 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock traded 49.6 million shares in the regular session, compared with an average of 17 million shares a day so far this month. It was one of the best-performing tech stocks of the day.
One of the scenarios under discussion among the buyout firms is a complex deal in which China's Alibaba Group would buy back Yahoo's roughly 40% stake in Alibaba, the people said.
Some of Yahoo's other assets would also be sold off to interested media or technology companies, and the remaining company would be of a much smaller valuation that private-equity firms could get financing for, one of the people said.
Another scenario involves AOL combining its operations with Yahoo in a reverse merger after Yahoo disposes of the Alibaba stake, the people said. It is unclear if the resulting entity would be listed publicly.
Alibaba Chief Executive Jack Ma has expressed interest in repurchasing Yahoo's stake in his company, which analysts value at about $10 billion. A big chunk of Yahoo's current market value comes from its Alibaba stake.
Separately, AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong has also talked privately about the idea that Yahoo could buy AOL, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another person familiar with the matter said private-equity firms may also look to partner with media companies to buy Yahoo.
A combined Yahoo-AOL would have greater scale to compete in online advertising against industry juggernaut Google Inc. While both companies draw huge amounts of users, their advertising businesses have struggled as they've faced competition from a range of websites. The scenarios being discussed are similar to ones financial firms have discussed before. Yahoo and AOL discussed a merger in 2008, as Yahoo weighed a $45 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Microsoft eventually pulled its bid.
While private-equity firms have long contemplated a deal for Yahoo, talks have heated up in recent weeks as several senior Yahoo employees have left the company, intensifying pressure on Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz to prove she can turn the company around, the people familiar with the matter said.
Ms. Bartz has improved Yahoo's profitability by cutting costs, but revenue hasn't grown much and the company faces other problems. The Internet pioneer, for example, has shown fewer benefits than competitors from a broad recovery in display advertising—an area where it faces increasing competition from Google and Facebook Inc.
The company, which reports third-quarter earnings next week, claims that more than 600 million people use its home page, email service or other sites every month. But the number of Yahoo pages viewed by its users, known as "user engagement," began shrinking in the second quarter. Yahoo also has seen a drop in the value of advertising against content that Yahoo pulls from other sources.
Ms. Bartz said in a recent interview she needed more time to pull off a turnaround.
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO And ANUPREETA DAS
—Amir Efrati contributed to this article.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Yahoo Snaps Up Ad Firm Dapper
Yahoo said Tuesday it acquired ad technology firm Dapper to bolster its core display advertising business. The company's technology allows marketers to assemble display ad creative on the fly -- and, it says, show the right ad or offer to the right audience at the right time. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Yahoo has already been working with Dapper under a program the Web portal launched last year to partner with outside ad technology providers to bolster its Smart Ads platform and to extend the customized display ad format to mobile phones.
"Yahoo currently partners with Dapper, along with others in this space, and owning this technology will help the company deliver innovative solutions to an even broader range of advertisers and integrate dynamic ad serving into key Yahoo properties," read the company's statement about the acquisition, expected to close by year's end.
Dapper's solution promises to let marketers use creative elements pulled from their own Web site, product inventory data, or database of marketing offers to automatically tailor display ads according to each impression delivered. The company also helps marketers buy display ad impressions on exchanges via real-time bidding.
Online weather service Weather Underground, among others, has used Dapper to generate dynamic ads with creative drawn from advertisers' product catalogs, Web sites and inventory systems. A fashion retailer, for instance, could then associate each item in its catalog with a particular weather condition so a user would see only apparel suitable to the local climate.
The San Francisco-based startup, which had raised $3 million in venture funding since 2006, hired ex-Efficient Frontier CEO James Beriker as chief executive. Beriker was quoted applauding the deal in the Yahoo statement, but the company did not indicate what role he would play following the acquisition or whether Dapper would be maintained as a separate brand.
For Yahoo, the acquisition amounts to playing to its traditional strength in display advertising rather than expansion into a new area. Yahoo increased profit 50% in the second quarter, but revenue grew only slightly as the company saw little gain from the gradual recovery in display advertising. While display ad revenue was up 19% in the second quarter, it fell short of the 20% growth rate in the first quarter.
In a research note, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross Sandler said the Dapper deal makes sense for Yahoo, especially in light of Google's widening push into display advertising through properties like YouTube, DoubleClick, the Adx display ad exchange, and Teracent. "The deal should eventually help Yahoo offer advertisers better tools and technologies, and ultimately, to increase the value of its own un-sold display inventory through better ad targeting," he wrote.
Dapper competes with Teracent, which Google acquired in November 2009, as well as ad companies like Tumri and Adready, which Yahoo has also partnered with.
Yahoo has also continued to suffer from executive turnover, with U.S. operations head Hilary Schneider, U.S. audience chief David Ko, and vice president of media Jimmy Pitaro all exiting the company in the last week. The company will report third-quarter earnings Oct. 19.
By Mark Walsh
Yahoo has already been working with Dapper under a program the Web portal launched last year to partner with outside ad technology providers to bolster its Smart Ads platform and to extend the customized display ad format to mobile phones.
"Yahoo currently partners with Dapper, along with others in this space, and owning this technology will help the company deliver innovative solutions to an even broader range of advertisers and integrate dynamic ad serving into key Yahoo properties," read the company's statement about the acquisition, expected to close by year's end.
Dapper's solution promises to let marketers use creative elements pulled from their own Web site, product inventory data, or database of marketing offers to automatically tailor display ads according to each impression delivered. The company also helps marketers buy display ad impressions on exchanges via real-time bidding.
Online weather service Weather Underground, among others, has used Dapper to generate dynamic ads with creative drawn from advertisers' product catalogs, Web sites and inventory systems. A fashion retailer, for instance, could then associate each item in its catalog with a particular weather condition so a user would see only apparel suitable to the local climate.
The San Francisco-based startup, which had raised $3 million in venture funding since 2006, hired ex-Efficient Frontier CEO James Beriker as chief executive. Beriker was quoted applauding the deal in the Yahoo statement, but the company did not indicate what role he would play following the acquisition or whether Dapper would be maintained as a separate brand.
For Yahoo, the acquisition amounts to playing to its traditional strength in display advertising rather than expansion into a new area. Yahoo increased profit 50% in the second quarter, but revenue grew only slightly as the company saw little gain from the gradual recovery in display advertising. While display ad revenue was up 19% in the second quarter, it fell short of the 20% growth rate in the first quarter.
In a research note, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross Sandler said the Dapper deal makes sense for Yahoo, especially in light of Google's widening push into display advertising through properties like YouTube, DoubleClick, the Adx display ad exchange, and Teracent. "The deal should eventually help Yahoo offer advertisers better tools and technologies, and ultimately, to increase the value of its own un-sold display inventory through better ad targeting," he wrote.
Dapper competes with Teracent, which Google acquired in November 2009, as well as ad companies like Tumri and Adready, which Yahoo has also partnered with.
Yahoo has also continued to suffer from executive turnover, with U.S. operations head Hilary Schneider, U.S. audience chief David Ko, and vice president of media Jimmy Pitaro all exiting the company in the last week. The company will report third-quarter earnings Oct. 19.
By Mark Walsh
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Yahoo-AOL Merger A No Brainer?
We kid you not, some top investors and industry watchers are suggesting that Yahoo and AOL -- which has mixed experience with mega-mergers -- should combine immediately.
"Big investors" want Yahoo and AOL to merge, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to become CEO of the combined company, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to become Chairman, according to BoomTown's Kara Swisher.
"Armstrong," sources tell Swisher, "has not shied away from the idea."
Certainly, the imminent departure of Yahoo's U.S. head Hilary Schneider, -- along with two other top execs -- a stagnant stock price, and weak growth are creating pressure on CEO Carol Bartz (and Yahoo's board) to do something dramatic.
Under the headline, "Game over, Carol Bartz," Fortune writes: "Yahoo's stock price is abysmal, employee morale is low, and top-level executives are fleeing. What's left? An Internet property slowly limping to its death and a mouthy CEO with no vision. [Bartz's] days are numbered."
"It's ridiculous that they haven't already," Business Insider's Henry Blodget says of the would-be merger.
"Yahoo and AOL are both in the same business, and it is a business that benefits greatly from scale. Yahoo and AOL are both basically media companies. They both use technology extensively, but their core competency is producing content to attract an audience and then selling display ads against that audience."
Adds Blodget, "They also both operate duplicative mail, instant-messaging, sports, finance, news, maps, and other services, all of which currently compete with each other. That is senseless. By combining, Yahoo and AOL would achieve greater scale and reduce duplication."
And Swisher notes, however, New Corp. could potentially give Yahoo some competition if it were to go after AOL. "The reason is that its own digital efforts, especially at the MySpace social networking site, have gone sideways," she writes.
"And there's history: News Corp. tried to facilitate a merger of MySpace, MSN and Yahoo into a company codenamed 'TrafficCo' at the time Microsoft was attempting a takeover of Yahoo."
Meanwhile, "AOL is affordable, even for Yahoo," according to Blodget. "AOL's enterprise value is about $2.4 billion. Yahoo's is $16 billion. Yahoo could probably get AOL for $3 billion, maybe $3.5 billion. That's only 20% dilution."
By Gavin O'Malley
"Big investors" want Yahoo and AOL to merge, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to become CEO of the combined company, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to become Chairman, according to BoomTown's Kara Swisher.
"Armstrong," sources tell Swisher, "has not shied away from the idea."
Certainly, the imminent departure of Yahoo's U.S. head Hilary Schneider, -- along with two other top execs -- a stagnant stock price, and weak growth are creating pressure on CEO Carol Bartz (and Yahoo's board) to do something dramatic.
Under the headline, "Game over, Carol Bartz," Fortune writes: "Yahoo's stock price is abysmal, employee morale is low, and top-level executives are fleeing. What's left? An Internet property slowly limping to its death and a mouthy CEO with no vision. [Bartz's] days are numbered."
"It's ridiculous that they haven't already," Business Insider's Henry Blodget says of the would-be merger.
"Yahoo and AOL are both in the same business, and it is a business that benefits greatly from scale. Yahoo and AOL are both basically media companies. They both use technology extensively, but their core competency is producing content to attract an audience and then selling display ads against that audience."
Adds Blodget, "They also both operate duplicative mail, instant-messaging, sports, finance, news, maps, and other services, all of which currently compete with each other. That is senseless. By combining, Yahoo and AOL would achieve greater scale and reduce duplication."
And Swisher notes, however, New Corp. could potentially give Yahoo some competition if it were to go after AOL. "The reason is that its own digital efforts, especially at the MySpace social networking site, have gone sideways," she writes.
"And there's history: News Corp. tried to facilitate a merger of MySpace, MSN and Yahoo into a company codenamed 'TrafficCo' at the time Microsoft was attempting a takeover of Yahoo."
Meanwhile, "AOL is affordable, even for Yahoo," according to Blodget. "AOL's enterprise value is about $2.4 billion. Yahoo's is $16 billion. Yahoo could probably get AOL for $3 billion, maybe $3.5 billion. That's only 20% dilution."
By Gavin O'Malley
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Yahoo Debuts Entertainment, News Shows
Marking its first collaboration with Ben Silverman's Electus entertainment studio, Yahoo Wednesday launched a new video series intended to capitalize on the popularity of TV shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and dance videos online.
"Ready. Set. Dance!" will present a dance competition over 12 weekly episodes on Yahoo Music with State Farm serving as the sole sponsor. Each three- to-five-minute show will feature a pair of contestants, selected through an audition process, who must break into their dance routines on the spot whenever they get a phone call from host Adrienne Bailon.
Online voters will decide which of the two dance contestants take home the $10,000 prize. In the premiere episode, graying, chunky "Will" had to get up and dance on the median just above 23rd St. in New York, while young "Marissa" showed off her moves to a Times Square crowd.
State Farm branding wraps around the "Ready. Set. Dance!" site and a prominent banner ad allows viewers to find their local agent. Bailon also introduces each episode with a brief "Presented by State Farm" message. "Understanding the popularity of dance contests among our target audience, State Farm sees this as an innovative opportunity to connect with young adults in the online space in a fun, engaging way," said Tim Van Hoof, advertising director at State Farm, in a statement.
The new show is among the latest in a line of short-form branded series that Yahoo has rolled out in recent years, including "This Week In Music," backed by Target; "The 411 on omg," sponsored by Starburst; and "Daytime in No Time." And "Ready. Set. Dance!" is the second Yahoo video series sponsored by State Farm after backing "Spotlight to Nightlight" last year, which drew 7.2 million streams.
It's the first program, however, resulting from a partnership earlier this year between Yahoo and Electus, the digital studio started by ex-NBC Entertainment co-chair Silverman and IAC/InterActiveCorp. Before joining NBC in 2007, Silverman's Reveille production company was responsible for producing hits such as "The Biggest Loser," "Ugly Betty" and "The Office." Silverman was also known for embracing branded content.
Jimmy Pitaro, Yahoo's vice president of media, who was quoted in the release about "Ready. Set. Dance!" was reported Tuesday as planning to leave the company soon. Yahoo yesterday, declined to comment on the report and Pitaro, appearing at a Yahoo event in New York for Advertising Week, did likewise.
Separately, Yahoo Wednesday also debuted "Fast Fix," a daily video update on political news featuring Washington Post political reporter and "The Fix" columnist Chris Cillizza.
The new show will be executive produced by Erik Rydholm, who created Emmy-winning ESPN shows "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption." "Fast Fix" will appear both within Yahoo News and on PostPolitics.com, the Washington Post's hub for political coverage. The one-minute "Fix" installments won't have a dedicated sponsor but will typically carry a 15-second pre-roll spot.
By Mark Walsh
"Ready. Set. Dance!" will present a dance competition over 12 weekly episodes on Yahoo Music with State Farm serving as the sole sponsor. Each three- to-five-minute show will feature a pair of contestants, selected through an audition process, who must break into their dance routines on the spot whenever they get a phone call from host Adrienne Bailon.
Online voters will decide which of the two dance contestants take home the $10,000 prize. In the premiere episode, graying, chunky "Will" had to get up and dance on the median just above 23rd St. in New York, while young "Marissa" showed off her moves to a Times Square crowd.
State Farm branding wraps around the "Ready. Set. Dance!" site and a prominent banner ad allows viewers to find their local agent. Bailon also introduces each episode with a brief "Presented by State Farm" message. "Understanding the popularity of dance contests among our target audience, State Farm sees this as an innovative opportunity to connect with young adults in the online space in a fun, engaging way," said Tim Van Hoof, advertising director at State Farm, in a statement.
The new show is among the latest in a line of short-form branded series that Yahoo has rolled out in recent years, including "This Week In Music," backed by Target; "The 411 on omg," sponsored by Starburst; and "Daytime in No Time." And "Ready. Set. Dance!" is the second Yahoo video series sponsored by State Farm after backing "Spotlight to Nightlight" last year, which drew 7.2 million streams.
It's the first program, however, resulting from a partnership earlier this year between Yahoo and Electus, the digital studio started by ex-NBC Entertainment co-chair Silverman and IAC/InterActiveCorp. Before joining NBC in 2007, Silverman's Reveille production company was responsible for producing hits such as "The Biggest Loser," "Ugly Betty" and "The Office." Silverman was also known for embracing branded content.
Jimmy Pitaro, Yahoo's vice president of media, who was quoted in the release about "Ready. Set. Dance!" was reported Tuesday as planning to leave the company soon. Yahoo yesterday, declined to comment on the report and Pitaro, appearing at a Yahoo event in New York for Advertising Week, did likewise.
Separately, Yahoo Wednesday also debuted "Fast Fix," a daily video update on political news featuring Washington Post political reporter and "The Fix" columnist Chris Cillizza.
The new show will be executive produced by Erik Rydholm, who created Emmy-winning ESPN shows "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption." "Fast Fix" will appear both within Yahoo News and on PostPolitics.com, the Washington Post's hub for political coverage. The one-minute "Fix" installments won't have a dedicated sponsor but will typically carry a 15-second pre-roll spot.
By Mark Walsh
Exclusive: Major Meltdown at Yahoo as More Top Execs to Depart, Including U.S. Head Hilary Schneider
The executive turmoil at the very top of Yahoo continues, with the company poised to announce the resignations of three top execs, including U.S. head Hilary Schneider (pictured here), according to sources close to the situation.
The other execs also leaving, which Yahoo (YHOO) is planning on revealing Friday: U.S. Audience head David Ko and, as BoomTown previously reported, VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro.
While some at Yahoo are trying to spin it as an ouster, sources close to the situation said that Schneider–who presides over media and advertising sales at Yahoo–has wanted to leave the company for a while, but was convinced to stay on by CEO Carol Bartz.
Schneider will, in fact, stay at Yahoo while it searches for her replacement. Heidrick & Struggles had already been headhunting candidates for her job in recent weeks.
Why Ko, who works directly for Schneider, is leaving now is uncertain, although sources said a lot of product control over properties under him is being moved over to Chief Product Officer Blake Irving.
Irving was hired several months ago by Bartz, and he has brought in many former colleagues from Microsoft (MSFT) to top product jobs at the company. And he’s appeared to have won the latest corporate power play too.
This entire mess–and that’s precisely what it is–calls into question the tenure of Bartz, a tough-talking, cost-cutting exec who was brought in to clean up Yahoo after the maelstrom around the failed takeover attempt by Microsoft several years ago.
She replaced co-founder Jerry Yang and came in with guns blazing and styling herself as an agent of change.
Except not too much as changed–except for finally striking a search technology deal with Microsoft–as the exodus of talent from Yahoo increases, advertising revenue growth is anemic, innovation is stalled, metrics are weak and the stock remains moribund.
In addition, Bartz’s frequent shoot-from-the-hip remarks appear to have alienated a number of partners, most recently in Asia.
This week, according to sources, some board members had an emergency meeting at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ to try to figure out how to deal with the burgeoning management issue.
Some speculate that they will hire a second-in-command to Bartz, who might be able to take over for her when her contract is up in 18 months.
Yahoo declined to comment.
by Kara Swisher
The other execs also leaving, which Yahoo (YHOO) is planning on revealing Friday: U.S. Audience head David Ko and, as BoomTown previously reported, VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro.
While some at Yahoo are trying to spin it as an ouster, sources close to the situation said that Schneider–who presides over media and advertising sales at Yahoo–has wanted to leave the company for a while, but was convinced to stay on by CEO Carol Bartz.
Schneider will, in fact, stay at Yahoo while it searches for her replacement. Heidrick & Struggles had already been headhunting candidates for her job in recent weeks.
Why Ko, who works directly for Schneider, is leaving now is uncertain, although sources said a lot of product control over properties under him is being moved over to Chief Product Officer Blake Irving.
Irving was hired several months ago by Bartz, and he has brought in many former colleagues from Microsoft (MSFT) to top product jobs at the company. And he’s appeared to have won the latest corporate power play too.
This entire mess–and that’s precisely what it is–calls into question the tenure of Bartz, a tough-talking, cost-cutting exec who was brought in to clean up Yahoo after the maelstrom around the failed takeover attempt by Microsoft several years ago.
She replaced co-founder Jerry Yang and came in with guns blazing and styling herself as an agent of change.
Except not too much as changed–except for finally striking a search technology deal with Microsoft–as the exodus of talent from Yahoo increases, advertising revenue growth is anemic, innovation is stalled, metrics are weak and the stock remains moribund.
In addition, Bartz’s frequent shoot-from-the-hip remarks appear to have alienated a number of partners, most recently in Asia.
This week, according to sources, some board members had an emergency meeting at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ to try to figure out how to deal with the burgeoning management issue.
Some speculate that they will hire a second-in-command to Bartz, who might be able to take over for her when her contract is up in 18 months.
Yahoo declined to comment.
by Kara Swisher
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Yahoo Starts 'Powered By Bing' In U.S., Canada
Yahoo searchers later this week will begin to see "Powered by Bing" at the bottom of results pages, as Microsoft starts moving in to support the back-end infrastructure on the Sunnyvale, Calif.'s search engine. The two announce the milestone Tuesday, along with several other updates to a variety of features.
Under the deal inked last year, Microsoft provides the back-end functions such as crawling and ranking search listings for Web, video and image results generated from queries. Yahoo remains responsible for how the content looks on the pages.
Shashi Seth, Yahoo Search strategy and product development lead, says it means creating a series of APIs in the Microsoft back-end infrastructure that allows Yahoo to process a search query and serve up results that meets criteria for relevance, click-through rates, clicks on ads, abandonment rates. "The process has a lot of minutia that includes the information we need to pass to Microsoft such as the IP address and user intent," he says. "In return we might get back questions on the correct spelling, different ways the query can be expressed, and should the results get filtered based on language. And all that happens, along with serving up results, in less than one second."
The organic search transition should take several weeks, estimates Betty Stooksberry, senior director of the search alliance at Yahoo.
Although Microsoft will power search for Yahoo pages, Webmasters that need to report problems or highlight new sites within Yahoo need to use Yahoo's Site Explorer for Yahoo pages, and Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Central for Bing pages. The process needs to occur because of the fragmented rollout. First the U.S. and Canada, followed by Europe.
Yahoo also will begin testing with a small set of advertiser accounts moving in and serving up paid search ads through adCenter. When an advertisers signs into their Yahoo Search account they will see a tab that points them to step-by-step instructions to transition their account. Less than 100 companies are participating in the test, but if all testing progresses as planned, all advertisers will have the ability to transition their accounts in the coming weeks.
Aside from organic and paid search results, Yahoo provided updates on a few development tools such as BOSS (build your own search service), and SearchMonkey.
In the next 30 days, Yahoo plans to announce specific details about how BOSS will change. The company is exploring potential fee-based and ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When Yahoo rolls out these changes, BOSS, Yahoo will begin charging developers to use the service, which had been free.
The SearchMonkey developer tool, gallery and app preferences will be discontinued on Oct. 1. However, Yahoo will continue to leverage and support structured data Web publishers and developers send by marketing up Web pages appropriately. The tools will stop working, but they can use the markup languages to provide Yahoo the data.
Under the deal inked last year, Microsoft provides the back-end functions such as crawling and ranking search listings for Web, video and image results generated from queries. Yahoo remains responsible for how the content looks on the pages.
Shashi Seth, Yahoo Search strategy and product development lead, says it means creating a series of APIs in the Microsoft back-end infrastructure that allows Yahoo to process a search query and serve up results that meets criteria for relevance, click-through rates, clicks on ads, abandonment rates. "The process has a lot of minutia that includes the information we need to pass to Microsoft such as the IP address and user intent," he says. "In return we might get back questions on the correct spelling, different ways the query can be expressed, and should the results get filtered based on language. And all that happens, along with serving up results, in less than one second."
The organic search transition should take several weeks, estimates Betty Stooksberry, senior director of the search alliance at Yahoo.
Although Microsoft will power search for Yahoo pages, Webmasters that need to report problems or highlight new sites within Yahoo need to use Yahoo's Site Explorer for Yahoo pages, and Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Central for Bing pages. The process needs to occur because of the fragmented rollout. First the U.S. and Canada, followed by Europe.
Yahoo also will begin testing with a small set of advertiser accounts moving in and serving up paid search ads through adCenter. When an advertisers signs into their Yahoo Search account they will see a tab that points them to step-by-step instructions to transition their account. Less than 100 companies are participating in the test, but if all testing progresses as planned, all advertisers will have the ability to transition their accounts in the coming weeks.
Aside from organic and paid search results, Yahoo provided updates on a few development tools such as BOSS (build your own search service), and SearchMonkey.
In the next 30 days, Yahoo plans to announce specific details about how BOSS will change. The company is exploring potential fee-based and ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When Yahoo rolls out these changes, BOSS, Yahoo will begin charging developers to use the service, which had been free.
The SearchMonkey developer tool, gallery and app preferences will be discontinued on Oct. 1. However, Yahoo will continue to leverage and support structured data Web publishers and developers send by marketing up Web pages appropriately. The tools will stop working, but they can use the markup languages to provide Yahoo the data.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Yahoo Starts 'Powered By Bing' In U.S., Canada
Yahoo searchers later this week will begin to see "Powered by Bing" at the bottom of results pages, as Microsoft starts moving in to support the back-end infrastructure on the Sunnyvale, Calif.'s search engine. The two announce the milestone Tuesday, along with several other updates to a variety of features.
Under the deal inked last year, Microsoft provides the back-end functions such as crawling and ranking search listings for Web, video and image results generated from queries. Yahoo remains responsible for how the content looks on the pages.
Shashi Seth, Yahoo Search strategy and product development lead, says it means creating a series of APIs in the Microsoft back-end infrastructure that allows Yahoo to process a search query and serve up results that meets criteria for relevance, click-through rates, clicks on ads, abandonment rates. "The process has a lot of minutia that includes the information we need to pass to Microsoft such as the IP address and user intent," he says. "In return we might get back questions on the correct spelling, different ways the query can be expressed, and should the results get filtered based on language. And all that happens, along with serving up results, in less than one second."
The organic search transition should take several weeks, estimates Betty Stooksberry, senior director of the search alliance at Yahoo.
Although Microsoft will power search for Yahoo pages, Webmasters that need to report problems or highlight new sites within Yahoo need to use Yahoo's Site Explorer for Yahoo pages, and Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Central for Bing pages. The process needs to occur because of the fragmented rollout. First the U.S. and Canada, followed by Europe.
Yahoo also will begin testing with a small set of advertiser accounts moving in and serving up paid search ads through adCenter. When an advertisers signs into their Yahoo Search account they will see a tab that points them to step-by-step instructions to transition their account. Less than 100 companies are participating in the test, but if all testing progresses as planned, all advertisers will have the ability to transition their accounts in the coming weeks.
Aside from organic and paid search results, Yahoo provided updates on a few development tools such as BOSS (build your own search service), and SearchMonkey.
In the next 30 days, Yahoo plans to announce specific details about how BOSS will change. The company is exploring potential fee-based and ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When Yahoo rolls out these changes, BOSS, Yahoo will begin charging developers to use the service, which had been free.
The SearchMonkey developer tool, gallery and app preferences will be discontinued on Oct. 1. However, Yahoo will continue to leverage and support structured data Web publishers and developers send by marketing up Web pages appropriately. The tools will stop working, but they can use the markup languages to provide Yahoo the data.
By Laurie Sullivan
Under the deal inked last year, Microsoft provides the back-end functions such as crawling and ranking search listings for Web, video and image results generated from queries. Yahoo remains responsible for how the content looks on the pages.
Shashi Seth, Yahoo Search strategy and product development lead, says it means creating a series of APIs in the Microsoft back-end infrastructure that allows Yahoo to process a search query and serve up results that meets criteria for relevance, click-through rates, clicks on ads, abandonment rates. "The process has a lot of minutia that includes the information we need to pass to Microsoft such as the IP address and user intent," he says. "In return we might get back questions on the correct spelling, different ways the query can be expressed, and should the results get filtered based on language. And all that happens, along with serving up results, in less than one second."
The organic search transition should take several weeks, estimates Betty Stooksberry, senior director of the search alliance at Yahoo.
Although Microsoft will power search for Yahoo pages, Webmasters that need to report problems or highlight new sites within Yahoo need to use Yahoo's Site Explorer for Yahoo pages, and Microsoft's Bing Webmaster Central for Bing pages. The process needs to occur because of the fragmented rollout. First the U.S. and Canada, followed by Europe.
Yahoo also will begin testing with a small set of advertiser accounts moving in and serving up paid search ads through adCenter. When an advertisers signs into their Yahoo Search account they will see a tab that points them to step-by-step instructions to transition their account. Less than 100 companies are participating in the test, but if all testing progresses as planned, all advertisers will have the ability to transition their accounts in the coming weeks.
Aside from organic and paid search results, Yahoo provided updates on a few development tools such as BOSS (build your own search service), and SearchMonkey.
In the next 30 days, Yahoo plans to announce specific details about how BOSS will change. The company is exploring potential fee-based and ad-revenue models that will enable BOSS developers to monetize their offerings. When Yahoo rolls out these changes, BOSS, Yahoo will begin charging developers to use the service, which had been free.
The SearchMonkey developer tool, gallery and app preferences will be discontinued on Oct. 1. However, Yahoo will continue to leverage and support structured data Web publishers and developers send by marketing up Web pages appropriately. The tools will stop working, but they can use the markup languages to provide Yahoo the data.
By Laurie Sullivan
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Yahoo-Bing Search Alliance: Four Steps Advertisers Should Take to Transition to the Unified Platform
By Matt Lawson
The Yahoo-Bing Search Alliance will result in a dramatic shift in the paid search marketing industry, changing the way advertisers manage their pay-per-click marketing programs. Under the new alliance, which starts this fall for U.S. accounts, advertisers will be required to use Microsoft's adCenter to manage both their Yahoo and Bing paid search advertising programs.
As an advertiser, what do you need to do to prepare your search engine marketing campaigns for the transition? There are several steps you can take to ensure your campaigns continue to function smoothly before, during, and after the transition to the new unified management platform.
Before we dive into the nuts-and-bolts of what you can do to prepare your campaigns for the transition, it's important to point out that you should start the process of transitioning to Microsoft adCenter now; waiting will cause undue headaches a few months from now, when you'll be deep into launching your critical Holiday 2010 campaigns. In our own research at my company, Marin Software, we've found that about two-thirds of large advertisers have begun to prepare their campaigns for the transition to a single Bing-Yahoo platform. If you're one of those advertisers who hasn't started the transition yet, it's time to get cracking!
For most search advertisers, the move to a single Bing-Yahoo platform will require adjustments to keywords, creative, bids, and analytical reports in order to maintain existing programs. Remember, this change isn't just a chore, but an opportunity. By combining your Bing and Yahoo programs on a single platform, you'll be able to streamline your search marketing efforts and more easily access the combined query volumes of these two engines.
Here are some strategies to make the Search Alliance transition as painless as possible:
Take stock of your programs. Among advertisers spending more than $100,000 a month on paid search, the average marketer spends 17% of its budget on Yahoo and only 5% on Bing. What's more, about 13% of advertisers do not currently run any campaigns on Bing. If you're one of the many search marketers with a smaller or non-existent Bing program, you'll need to invest in new keywords on Microsoft adCenter to maintain your paid search marketing revenues after the transition. Taking stock of the state of your Bing campaigns today can help you to assess the priority and level of effort required.
Decide on a transition plan. Before you begin adding keywords to your adCenter accounts, it's important to have a strategy. There are three options for getting your adCenter campaigns to parity with your previous Yahoo programs: you can augment your adCenter campaigns manually; you can copy your campaigns over from Yahoo; or you can attempt to replicate your Google campaigns in adCenter. If your adCenter campaigns are reasonably built out already, then the first option likely represents the least work and the lowest risk. The second option, copying your Yahoo campaigns over to adCenter, is supported by the Search Alliance. Adding Yahoo campaigns will be the easiest way to capture the same traffic you were receiving before, but remember Yahoo uses different match types and has different character limits for ad copy than adCenter does. If you plan to port Yahoo accounts over to adCenter, make sure to expand keywords to include misspellings and plurals, and modify creative to meet adCenter character limits. If this option isn't appealing, your Google campaigns have a similar structure to Bing campaigns, but copying these over will require a manual effort to download, format, and upload bulk-sheets to adCenter. Regardless of the option you choose, make sure to double check your landing pages and tracking URLs to avoid issues with missed traffic or miscounted conversions.
Prepare to bid with little history. As you build out your unified Bing-Yahoo search program, the new keywords you create in adCenter will lack the click and conversion history required to make effective bidding decisions. Adding to the complexity, the bid settings of any old keywords on Yahoo will be irrelevant, because the traffic and auction characteristics for the combined engines will be different. To prepare for this situation, make sure your bidding solution can create bids for new keywords and adjust quickly to changing traffic data. In order to start bidding accurately with a limited history, use data from similar keywords to determine bids. As individual keywords accumulate history, you can begin to weight their data more heavily into bidding decisions.
Monitor performance and react quickly. The transition itself will be a period of change, with keyword auctions clearing at new prices and traffic levels for some keywords rising dramatically. The best way to capitalize on this change is to proactively monitor keyword and campaign performance. Set up automated alerts that notify you when a keyword or group hits a specific threshold in terms of clicks, conversions, quality and cost. For terms that exceed benchmarks for performance, you can add similar keywords to your programs using misspellings, plurals, or even raw queries associated with the keyword. For high-volume keywords that end up lagging in quality and ROI, try switching out the copy to see if you can boost overall relevance and conversion. The Search Alliance transition is an opportunity for the smart marketer to optimize for the new combined traffic patterns.
The transition to a unified Yahoo-Bing ad management platform doesn't have to be a nightmare. Use this opportunity to fine tune campaigns, jettison poorly performing keywords, and analyze gaps in your programs. In six months time, you'll benefit from a streamlined search management process that gives you more time to invest in optimizing campaigns. More importantly, with lower management overhead and increased inventory, the Search Alliance represents an opportunity to grow your paid search programs through the new combined channel.
The Yahoo-Bing Search Alliance will result in a dramatic shift in the paid search marketing industry, changing the way advertisers manage their pay-per-click marketing programs. Under the new alliance, which starts this fall for U.S. accounts, advertisers will be required to use Microsoft's adCenter to manage both their Yahoo and Bing paid search advertising programs.
As an advertiser, what do you need to do to prepare your search engine marketing campaigns for the transition? There are several steps you can take to ensure your campaigns continue to function smoothly before, during, and after the transition to the new unified management platform.
Before we dive into the nuts-and-bolts of what you can do to prepare your campaigns for the transition, it's important to point out that you should start the process of transitioning to Microsoft adCenter now; waiting will cause undue headaches a few months from now, when you'll be deep into launching your critical Holiday 2010 campaigns. In our own research at my company, Marin Software, we've found that about two-thirds of large advertisers have begun to prepare their campaigns for the transition to a single Bing-Yahoo platform. If you're one of those advertisers who hasn't started the transition yet, it's time to get cracking!
For most search advertisers, the move to a single Bing-Yahoo platform will require adjustments to keywords, creative, bids, and analytical reports in order to maintain existing programs. Remember, this change isn't just a chore, but an opportunity. By combining your Bing and Yahoo programs on a single platform, you'll be able to streamline your search marketing efforts and more easily access the combined query volumes of these two engines.
Here are some strategies to make the Search Alliance transition as painless as possible:
Take stock of your programs. Among advertisers spending more than $100,000 a month on paid search, the average marketer spends 17% of its budget on Yahoo and only 5% on Bing. What's more, about 13% of advertisers do not currently run any campaigns on Bing. If you're one of the many search marketers with a smaller or non-existent Bing program, you'll need to invest in new keywords on Microsoft adCenter to maintain your paid search marketing revenues after the transition. Taking stock of the state of your Bing campaigns today can help you to assess the priority and level of effort required.
Decide on a transition plan. Before you begin adding keywords to your adCenter accounts, it's important to have a strategy. There are three options for getting your adCenter campaigns to parity with your previous Yahoo programs: you can augment your adCenter campaigns manually; you can copy your campaigns over from Yahoo; or you can attempt to replicate your Google campaigns in adCenter. If your adCenter campaigns are reasonably built out already, then the first option likely represents the least work and the lowest risk. The second option, copying your Yahoo campaigns over to adCenter, is supported by the Search Alliance. Adding Yahoo campaigns will be the easiest way to capture the same traffic you were receiving before, but remember Yahoo uses different match types and has different character limits for ad copy than adCenter does. If you plan to port Yahoo accounts over to adCenter, make sure to expand keywords to include misspellings and plurals, and modify creative to meet adCenter character limits. If this option isn't appealing, your Google campaigns have a similar structure to Bing campaigns, but copying these over will require a manual effort to download, format, and upload bulk-sheets to adCenter. Regardless of the option you choose, make sure to double check your landing pages and tracking URLs to avoid issues with missed traffic or miscounted conversions.
Prepare to bid with little history. As you build out your unified Bing-Yahoo search program, the new keywords you create in adCenter will lack the click and conversion history required to make effective bidding decisions. Adding to the complexity, the bid settings of any old keywords on Yahoo will be irrelevant, because the traffic and auction characteristics for the combined engines will be different. To prepare for this situation, make sure your bidding solution can create bids for new keywords and adjust quickly to changing traffic data. In order to start bidding accurately with a limited history, use data from similar keywords to determine bids. As individual keywords accumulate history, you can begin to weight their data more heavily into bidding decisions.
Monitor performance and react quickly. The transition itself will be a period of change, with keyword auctions clearing at new prices and traffic levels for some keywords rising dramatically. The best way to capitalize on this change is to proactively monitor keyword and campaign performance. Set up automated alerts that notify you when a keyword or group hits a specific threshold in terms of clicks, conversions, quality and cost. For terms that exceed benchmarks for performance, you can add similar keywords to your programs using misspellings, plurals, or even raw queries associated with the keyword. For high-volume keywords that end up lagging in quality and ROI, try switching out the copy to see if you can boost overall relevance and conversion. The Search Alliance transition is an opportunity for the smart marketer to optimize for the new combined traffic patterns.
The transition to a unified Yahoo-Bing ad management platform doesn't have to be a nightmare. Use this opportunity to fine tune campaigns, jettison poorly performing keywords, and analyze gaps in your programs. In six months time, you'll benefit from a streamlined search management process that gives you more time to invest in optimizing campaigns. More importantly, with lower management overhead and increased inventory, the Search Alliance represents an opportunity to grow your paid search programs through the new combined channel.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Yahoo Ready To Fix Advertising: What Will it Take?
Ramsey McGrory, Yahoo's vice president of North American Marketplaces and newly appointed head of Right Media, says fixing advertising requires the industry to focus on the "simple stuff." That means spending time on figuring out the standards for content classification, ad verification and data use. It's critical that the industry also addresses standards issues for order processing.
Bringing standards into digital advertising will bring down the cost of executing campaigns. Citing industry stats, McGrory says on average, digital campaigns cost about 25% to 30% to run, compared with 2% to 4% for TV. "We can't sustain that when the relative cost is much more, compared with other mediums," he says. "We also need better understanding at federal and state levels, as well as finding the appropriate use of data to give consumers what they expect."
They may not be the sexiest things, but they are the most important in the industry to address, McGrory says. Especially if agencies want to convince the largest brands that spend the majority of their dollars in television to have a reason to invest more in online campaigns.
The need for standards signals a maturing online advertising industry, although the industry remains in its infancy as it tries to support growth. There are disparate systems, aging technology platforms, ad-serving units and emerging ad video networks. "The industry feels somewhat like a gangly teenager in that you know all the capabilities are there," he says. "Someday that gangly teenager will grow into something bigger, but there are still things we must work out."
That maturing industry has left some companies admitting the need to update equipment. Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz recently spoke to analysts, pointing to the search engine's aging technology as a contributing factor to the company's declining performance. Similarly, Jay Herratti -- chief executive officer at CityGrid Media, formally Citysearch -- spent the last couple of years working to upgrade ad servers and platforms. Some might argue that many companies updated their infrastructure 10 years ago to deal with Y2K issues, but the technology has come a long way in the last decade.
Continued changes in digital will see traditional fixes move over to support customers, discover how to reach them, and determine the impact. The industry must take it back to core processes and implement them in digital, such as how to generate interest, intent and action.
While the discussion on how to fix advertising began during a panel at Internet Week, "much of the foundation to support processes will set in within the next three to four years," McGrory says. "It's already happening. Setting the foundations will reveal that the large digital companies and large industry organizations such as the IAB and 4As have a growing influence."
by Laurie Sullivan
Bringing standards into digital advertising will bring down the cost of executing campaigns. Citing industry stats, McGrory says on average, digital campaigns cost about 25% to 30% to run, compared with 2% to 4% for TV. "We can't sustain that when the relative cost is much more, compared with other mediums," he says. "We also need better understanding at federal and state levels, as well as finding the appropriate use of data to give consumers what they expect."
They may not be the sexiest things, but they are the most important in the industry to address, McGrory says. Especially if agencies want to convince the largest brands that spend the majority of their dollars in television to have a reason to invest more in online campaigns.
The need for standards signals a maturing online advertising industry, although the industry remains in its infancy as it tries to support growth. There are disparate systems, aging technology platforms, ad-serving units and emerging ad video networks. "The industry feels somewhat like a gangly teenager in that you know all the capabilities are there," he says. "Someday that gangly teenager will grow into something bigger, but there are still things we must work out."
That maturing industry has left some companies admitting the need to update equipment. Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz recently spoke to analysts, pointing to the search engine's aging technology as a contributing factor to the company's declining performance. Similarly, Jay Herratti -- chief executive officer at CityGrid Media, formally Citysearch -- spent the last couple of years working to upgrade ad servers and platforms. Some might argue that many companies updated their infrastructure 10 years ago to deal with Y2K issues, but the technology has come a long way in the last decade.
Continued changes in digital will see traditional fixes move over to support customers, discover how to reach them, and determine the impact. The industry must take it back to core processes and implement them in digital, such as how to generate interest, intent and action.
While the discussion on how to fix advertising began during a panel at Internet Week, "much of the foundation to support processes will set in within the next three to four years," McGrory says. "It's already happening. Setting the foundations will reveal that the large digital companies and large industry organizations such as the IAB and 4As have a growing influence."
by Laurie Sullivan
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Yahoo to turn subscribers' e-mail contact lists into social networking base
By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Yahoo plans to announce Tuesday that it is jumping into social networking by using its massive population of e-mail subscribers as a base for sharing information on the Web.
Over the next few weeks, its 280 million e-mail users will be able to exchange comments, pictures and news articles with others in their address books. The program won't expose a user's contact list to the public, as was done by Google through its social networking application, Buzz. But unless a user proactively opts out of the program, those Yahoo e-mail subscribers will automatically be part of a sweeping rollout of features that will incorporate the kinds of sharing done on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
The plan could spark criticism from Yahoo e-mail users, who signed up for the free service perhaps never imagining the people they e-mailed would become friends for sharing vacation videos, political causes and random thoughts throughout the day. And the move comes amid growing concern by federal lawmakers and regulators over how firms such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have handled the privacy of Internet users.
After backlash, Facebook last week announced new privacy tools to make it easier for users to block Web sites from tapping into their information, as well as a simpler way to configure who on the site can see personal data. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Facebook on Friday to explain what kind of user data it had shared with third-party sites. Conyers also asked Google to retain, for federal and state regulators, the data the company scooped off WiFi networks as it collected Street View mapping photos around the country.
To allay privacy concerns, Yahoo said it would give users a week's notice before launching the new features and provide a single button on the site for opting out entirely.
"We've been watching and trying to be thoughtful about our approach," said Anne Toth, head of privacy for Yahoo.
Specifically, the company will launch a product called Yahoo Updates that allows e-mail users to see what other contacts on their lists are commenting about or sharing on sites like Yahoo Finance, Facebook and the photo sharing site Flickr. Updates will initially include 15 sites and partnerships and will eventually expand to include partners such as Twitter this summer.
Yahoo has tiptoed into social media, launching a similar tool last year called Connections, which allowed each user to customize a list of contacts with whom to share information. The company also tried two years ago to build a competitive product to Facebook, where users sought "friends," or contacts, to join micro-networks within Yahoo in the same way Facebook users amass friends through requests. Yahoo abandoned that project and instead decided to tap into its captive audience of e-mail users.
The move is part of a revamping of the once-rudderless Internet pioneer. Chief executive Carol Bartz, brought in last year to lead the firm, has stripped the company of unprofitable business units to focus on its greatest strengths -- its popular free e-mail and messaging programs, and its library of sports, news and finance sites -- to keep users in the Yahoo universe longer.
The longer a user stays on the site, the more advertising dollars and e-commerce it generates. But it remains to be seen if users will view their contact lists as the kinds of people they choose to socialize with on the Web. When Google launched Buzz, some users complained that they used Gmail for business and to correspond with strangers and that they didn't want to share birthday videos with their plumbers or bosses.
Yahoo will begin notifying users of the change on June 7, one week before the launch. Users who don't want to participate can click one button on the settings page to opt out. Or they can customize each piece of information -- a Facebook update or a comment on a Yahoo news story -- to either be shared with Yahoo e-mail contacts or Facebook. Eventually, Twitter and other partners with social-networking platforms will also be included.
"What Yahoo has done is recognized that your e-mail or messenger network is a useful resource and that you may be interested in knowing what your contacts are interested in knowing about, and they stop there," said Jules Polonetsky, the director of the Future of Privacy Forum, a privacy think tank. "That's opposed to the idea that then, therefore, your relationship with them risks being exposed."
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Yahoo plans to announce Tuesday that it is jumping into social networking by using its massive population of e-mail subscribers as a base for sharing information on the Web.
Over the next few weeks, its 280 million e-mail users will be able to exchange comments, pictures and news articles with others in their address books. The program won't expose a user's contact list to the public, as was done by Google through its social networking application, Buzz. But unless a user proactively opts out of the program, those Yahoo e-mail subscribers will automatically be part of a sweeping rollout of features that will incorporate the kinds of sharing done on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
The plan could spark criticism from Yahoo e-mail users, who signed up for the free service perhaps never imagining the people they e-mailed would become friends for sharing vacation videos, political causes and random thoughts throughout the day. And the move comes amid growing concern by federal lawmakers and regulators over how firms such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have handled the privacy of Internet users.
After backlash, Facebook last week announced new privacy tools to make it easier for users to block Web sites from tapping into their information, as well as a simpler way to configure who on the site can see personal data. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Facebook on Friday to explain what kind of user data it had shared with third-party sites. Conyers also asked Google to retain, for federal and state regulators, the data the company scooped off WiFi networks as it collected Street View mapping photos around the country.
To allay privacy concerns, Yahoo said it would give users a week's notice before launching the new features and provide a single button on the site for opting out entirely.
"We've been watching and trying to be thoughtful about our approach," said Anne Toth, head of privacy for Yahoo.
Specifically, the company will launch a product called Yahoo Updates that allows e-mail users to see what other contacts on their lists are commenting about or sharing on sites like Yahoo Finance, Facebook and the photo sharing site Flickr. Updates will initially include 15 sites and partnerships and will eventually expand to include partners such as Twitter this summer.
Yahoo has tiptoed into social media, launching a similar tool last year called Connections, which allowed each user to customize a list of contacts with whom to share information. The company also tried two years ago to build a competitive product to Facebook, where users sought "friends," or contacts, to join micro-networks within Yahoo in the same way Facebook users amass friends through requests. Yahoo abandoned that project and instead decided to tap into its captive audience of e-mail users.
The move is part of a revamping of the once-rudderless Internet pioneer. Chief executive Carol Bartz, brought in last year to lead the firm, has stripped the company of unprofitable business units to focus on its greatest strengths -- its popular free e-mail and messaging programs, and its library of sports, news and finance sites -- to keep users in the Yahoo universe longer.
The longer a user stays on the site, the more advertising dollars and e-commerce it generates. But it remains to be seen if users will view their contact lists as the kinds of people they choose to socialize with on the Web. When Google launched Buzz, some users complained that they used Gmail for business and to correspond with strangers and that they didn't want to share birthday videos with their plumbers or bosses.
Yahoo will begin notifying users of the change on June 7, one week before the launch. Users who don't want to participate can click one button on the settings page to opt out. Or they can customize each piece of information -- a Facebook update or a comment on a Yahoo news story -- to either be shared with Yahoo e-mail contacts or Facebook. Eventually, Twitter and other partners with social-networking platforms will also be included.
"What Yahoo has done is recognized that your e-mail or messenger network is a useful resource and that you may be interested in knowing what your contacts are interested in knowing about, and they stop there," said Jules Polonetsky, the director of the Future of Privacy Forum, a privacy think tank. "That's opposed to the idea that then, therefore, your relationship with them risks being exposed."
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Yahoo Looks To Direct Mail Partner To Help it Crack Local Ad Markets
While Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) executives are preparing to discuss the company’s partnership with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) at a Monday morning press conference, other parts of the organization are also looking to outside alliances to extend its reach into local advertising. In a conversation with paidContent, Lem Lloyd, Yahoo’s VP of channel sales, said the company would be working with direct marketer Valassis on attracting local telcos to the online ad space, as these companies still tend to focus on affiliate TV stations and direct mail.
Yahoo’s targeting of telcos comes after a few months of aiming its local ad services at fast food franchises (in a sign of Yahoo’s attempts to woo these companies, it uses the preferred marketing jargon of “quick serve restaurants.”)
“All media companies are putting a focus on local ad spend, which still remains largely untapped,” Lloyd said. “Local represents half of all the $250 billion marketing spend in the U.S., but only a fraction is online. There are a lot of reasons these companies aren’t spending online. For one thing, many local ad buys are bought on a regional basis, as opposed to the more audience-targeted online ad sales structure. But mostly, it’s because companies haven’t put the time in to talk to all the various franchisee groups.”
As it seeks to reach out local marketers, Yahoo is partnering with companies like Valassis, which provides direct mail services to many telco companies. Yahoo believes it will open the door to moving more of that money online.
The partnership with a direct mail company also represents an evolution of the model behind the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium. As newspapers opened a lot of doors to Yahoo across local ad markets, the same is true of direct mail providers like Valassis. Also, in much the same way that Yahoo has provided ad sales training to newspapers through the Consortium, the company will also work with direct marketers to expand the digital possibilities there as well.
While Yahoo is looking to do more partnerships, it also has been cutting some ties to others. Over the past few months, Yahoo has parted ways with a handful of newspapers in the 800-member Consortium, as some members haven’t responded well to the company’s ad sales guidance.
Lloyd declined to discuss the specific issues there, or identify which members have left the fold, saying it was less than a dozen papers among hundreds. “We’re very selective on who we work with on a reseller basis,” he said. “One of our strategies is to have relationships that allow us to better go after specific industries. We simply want to focus on partners who put the same commitment into local ad sales as we do. It would be easy sign reseller agreements and brag about the numbers of partners. But we’re interested in quality, not quantity when it comes to who we work with.”
Yahoo’s targeting of telcos comes after a few months of aiming its local ad services at fast food franchises (in a sign of Yahoo’s attempts to woo these companies, it uses the preferred marketing jargon of “quick serve restaurants.”)
“All media companies are putting a focus on local ad spend, which still remains largely untapped,” Lloyd said. “Local represents half of all the $250 billion marketing spend in the U.S., but only a fraction is online. There are a lot of reasons these companies aren’t spending online. For one thing, many local ad buys are bought on a regional basis, as opposed to the more audience-targeted online ad sales structure. But mostly, it’s because companies haven’t put the time in to talk to all the various franchisee groups.”
As it seeks to reach out local marketers, Yahoo is partnering with companies like Valassis, which provides direct mail services to many telco companies. Yahoo believes it will open the door to moving more of that money online.
The partnership with a direct mail company also represents an evolution of the model behind the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium. As newspapers opened a lot of doors to Yahoo across local ad markets, the same is true of direct mail providers like Valassis. Also, in much the same way that Yahoo has provided ad sales training to newspapers through the Consortium, the company will also work with direct marketers to expand the digital possibilities there as well.
While Yahoo is looking to do more partnerships, it also has been cutting some ties to others. Over the past few months, Yahoo has parted ways with a handful of newspapers in the 800-member Consortium, as some members haven’t responded well to the company’s ad sales guidance.
Lloyd declined to discuss the specific issues there, or identify which members have left the fold, saying it was less than a dozen papers among hundreds. “We’re very selective on who we work with on a reseller basis,” he said. “One of our strategies is to have relationships that allow us to better go after specific industries. We simply want to focus on partners who put the same commitment into local ad sales as we do. It would be easy sign reseller agreements and brag about the numbers of partners. But we’re interested in quality, not quantity when it comes to who we work with.”
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Yahoo Beefs up B2B Marketing Team to Present Consistent Message
Yahoo's top business-to-business marketing exec has rounded out her team. After just a few months with the firm, Mollie Spilman, SVP of global b-to-b marketing, has hired former Tremor, Viacom, and Cisco marketing and research execs to help present a more consistent message to agencies, publishers, developers, and other non-consumer Yahoo customers.
Shane Steele, former VP marketing at video network Tremor Media, will start with Yahoo later this month as VP global b-to-b marketing communications and operations, and will report to Spilman. Spilman came on board in January as part of a marketing department restructuring devised by Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele. Shane Steele will be responsible for Yahoo outreach to industry through its advertiser and publisher portals, blogs, and other operations. She'll also head up an industry-aimed ad campaign set to break in June, according to Spilman.
Newly-hired senior director of b-to-b insights marketing, Lauren Weinberg, hails from Viacom, where she handled research for digital sales at the media firm. Reporting to Shane Steele, Weinberg is tasked with presenting a more comprehensive story to the market from an audience and consumer research and data perspective. She'll work alongside Yahoo research teams including its ad insights group, which is part of the sales division.
The goal, said Spilman, is to bring "more consistency to the message of all the work we do...it seemed schizophrenic to the market." She explained that currently some clients "have a hard time navigating" Yahoo's proprietary research, and "don't even know who to call to dive deeper."
Tanya Andrade, previously with Cisco, started today as Yahoo's new executive director of events, and will guide the company's business-aimed events team of around 30 people. "The volume and sophistication of the events could probably turn up a notch," said Spilman.
Spilman said her hiring spree is "done," adding, "I really felt like I wanted to bring some fresh perspective and fresh ideas into the company."
By Kate Kaye
Shane Steele, former VP marketing at video network Tremor Media, will start with Yahoo later this month as VP global b-to-b marketing communications and operations, and will report to Spilman. Spilman came on board in January as part of a marketing department restructuring devised by Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele. Shane Steele will be responsible for Yahoo outreach to industry through its advertiser and publisher portals, blogs, and other operations. She'll also head up an industry-aimed ad campaign set to break in June, according to Spilman.
Newly-hired senior director of b-to-b insights marketing, Lauren Weinberg, hails from Viacom, where she handled research for digital sales at the media firm. Reporting to Shane Steele, Weinberg is tasked with presenting a more comprehensive story to the market from an audience and consumer research and data perspective. She'll work alongside Yahoo research teams including its ad insights group, which is part of the sales division.
The goal, said Spilman, is to bring "more consistency to the message of all the work we do...it seemed schizophrenic to the market." She explained that currently some clients "have a hard time navigating" Yahoo's proprietary research, and "don't even know who to call to dive deeper."
Tanya Andrade, previously with Cisco, started today as Yahoo's new executive director of events, and will guide the company's business-aimed events team of around 30 people. "The volume and sophistication of the events could probably turn up a notch," said Spilman.
Spilman said her hiring spree is "done," adding, "I really felt like I wanted to bring some fresh perspective and fresh ideas into the company."
By Kate Kaye
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Yahoo Ad Campaign Zings Google
Yahoo posted a sneak peek of several creative pieces that will become part of the next phase of the company's "It's You!" marketing campaign. This second phase begins May 18, and will run through the year. The ads will appear online, on billboards, airplanes, television and radio. While the campaign aims to highlight Yahoo's products and services and what they mean to consumers, a video on Yahoo's site sets the tone.
That tone takes a blatant jab at Google. The video begins with the narrator explaining "There's a theory about homepages. They should get you where you want to go. You don't stop or linger. There's nothing to look at but a box and a button."
The video implies that Google's cold blank homepage isn't inviting, and as soon as you arrive it hustles you out the door. The narrator says when you look at this homepage nothing looks back at you. Yahoo's homepage, on the other hand, becomes the center of your online life by getting to know you. It contains the news and sports you want to read about, as well as items you're searching for on eBay and connections to friends on Facebook and Twitter. It's a network, homepage, search engine, as well as everything you're into.
Still, analysts and industry insiders remain skeptical that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz can turn Yahoo around. Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, vice president of marketing at Webtrends, and former Yahoo employee, says companies that go on the offensive from a marketing rather than a product perspective signal that they're in trouble. It would be interesting to know if the creative minds at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the agency responsible for the ad, see it that way.
Yahoo's challenge isn't about growing the brand, but rather the content and innovations they introduce into their network, says Kaykas-Wolff, who spent three and a half years at Yahoo. "The reality is, they're being beat in two different areas that are massively important," he says. "Those two areas are algorithmic search and semantic search."
Kaykas-Wolff believes Yahoo conceded algorithmic search to Google, and semantic search to Facebook. He called it a "curious time" for Yahoo because the company's challenge isn't just to stop the decline of the business -- but find ways to grow it. It you start going on the attack from a marketing perspective you start grasping at straws, he says.
Google's search share rose about 2% to 71.40% of all U.S. searches in April 2010, while the No. 2 search engine, Yahoo, declined about 1% to 14.96%, according to Experian Hitwise. Bing and Ask received 9.43% and 2.18%, respectively. The remaining 78 search engines measured accounted for 2.03% of U.S. searches.
Advertisers would likely agree with Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster, who believes Yahoo's strength remains in display ads, rather than search. "While the focus of investors around Yahoo's last earnings report mainly centered around the impact of Microsoft beginning to make payments to Yahoo in accordance with the search transition, we believe the most important part of Yahoo's business is the display segment," he wrote in a research note published Wednesday. "Display grew 20% year on year in Q1, ahead of our 12% estimate."
It's unclear whether the Sunnyvale, Calif., company can pull off a turnaround, though most folks hope for the best. It's also not clear if Yahoo's campaign will have or has had any impact.
That tone takes a blatant jab at Google. The video begins with the narrator explaining "There's a theory about homepages. They should get you where you want to go. You don't stop or linger. There's nothing to look at but a box and a button."
The video implies that Google's cold blank homepage isn't inviting, and as soon as you arrive it hustles you out the door. The narrator says when you look at this homepage nothing looks back at you. Yahoo's homepage, on the other hand, becomes the center of your online life by getting to know you. It contains the news and sports you want to read about, as well as items you're searching for on eBay and connections to friends on Facebook and Twitter. It's a network, homepage, search engine, as well as everything you're into.
Still, analysts and industry insiders remain skeptical that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz can turn Yahoo around. Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, vice president of marketing at Webtrends, and former Yahoo employee, says companies that go on the offensive from a marketing rather than a product perspective signal that they're in trouble. It would be interesting to know if the creative minds at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the agency responsible for the ad, see it that way.
Yahoo's challenge isn't about growing the brand, but rather the content and innovations they introduce into their network, says Kaykas-Wolff, who spent three and a half years at Yahoo. "The reality is, they're being beat in two different areas that are massively important," he says. "Those two areas are algorithmic search and semantic search."
Kaykas-Wolff believes Yahoo conceded algorithmic search to Google, and semantic search to Facebook. He called it a "curious time" for Yahoo because the company's challenge isn't just to stop the decline of the business -- but find ways to grow it. It you start going on the attack from a marketing perspective you start grasping at straws, he says.
Google's search share rose about 2% to 71.40% of all U.S. searches in April 2010, while the No. 2 search engine, Yahoo, declined about 1% to 14.96%, according to Experian Hitwise. Bing and Ask received 9.43% and 2.18%, respectively. The remaining 78 search engines measured accounted for 2.03% of U.S. searches.
Advertisers would likely agree with Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster, who believes Yahoo's strength remains in display ads, rather than search. "While the focus of investors around Yahoo's last earnings report mainly centered around the impact of Microsoft beginning to make payments to Yahoo in accordance with the search transition, we believe the most important part of Yahoo's business is the display segment," he wrote in a research note published Wednesday. "Display grew 20% year on year in Q1, ahead of our 12% estimate."
It's unclear whether the Sunnyvale, Calif., company can pull off a turnaround, though most folks hope for the best. It's also not clear if Yahoo's campaign will have or has had any impact.
Yahoo Gains Search Market Share -- But Do New Features Cloud Picture?
Wall Street analysts aren't convinced data from comScore's U.S. April 2010 report tell the whole picture of gains in search market share for Yahoo -- up from 16.9% in the prior month, to 17.7%. This marks a continual sequential rise in search engine market share gains for the company that some marketers wrote off long ago.
Analyst don't doubt comScore reported the numbers correctly, but digging a little deeper, some attribute the uptick to various new features that could be falsely raising the numbers. But perhaps comScore and Yahoo should more closely define a search as the industry continues to change.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Ben Schachter believes the slideshow feature on Yahoo News inflated Yahoo's results. As people scroll through images in the slideshow, they generate a search for each picture. ComScore tracks those searches. Schachter writes that backing out of the queries gives Yahoo about a 16.9% search market share in the U.S., which would make its share flat, compared with March.
Similar to Schachter, Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth points to Yahoo features -- such as the slideshow -- that recently boosted query numbers counted by comScore. That's regardless of the fact that during the first quarter earnings call with analysts, Yahoo management indicated search share had bottomed and execs expected a rebound in the second quarter.
Anmuth tells us in a research note that April comScore data backs up Yahoo exec's assertions. And while he believes these features boost query numbers, Yahoo has made progress in building search deeper into verticals and providing more search-related links across the site. Anmuth, however, "would prefer to see share gains come more from higher quality searches that could have a greater direct impact on revenue."
Despite the good but cloudy search data, Anmuth likes Yahoo shares based on display strength, margin expansion, Asian assets, and attractive valuation.
J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan attributes the increase to a new interface that ties content with relevant searches. He describes the navigation as more likely to occur during a series of searches, which are counted by comScore and contribute to search share. Yahoo also benefited from better data collection at Yahoo Finance, he wrote.
Khan believes "significant user interface changes cloud the picture" that prevents you from comparing the numbers from this month to last. He tells investors not to become too optimistic and explains additional months of data under the new method could help clarify search results.
Analyst don't doubt comScore reported the numbers correctly, but digging a little deeper, some attribute the uptick to various new features that could be falsely raising the numbers. But perhaps comScore and Yahoo should more closely define a search as the industry continues to change.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Ben Schachter believes the slideshow feature on Yahoo News inflated Yahoo's results. As people scroll through images in the slideshow, they generate a search for each picture. ComScore tracks those searches. Schachter writes that backing out of the queries gives Yahoo about a 16.9% search market share in the U.S., which would make its share flat, compared with March.
Similar to Schachter, Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth points to Yahoo features -- such as the slideshow -- that recently boosted query numbers counted by comScore. That's regardless of the fact that during the first quarter earnings call with analysts, Yahoo management indicated search share had bottomed and execs expected a rebound in the second quarter.
Anmuth tells us in a research note that April comScore data backs up Yahoo exec's assertions. And while he believes these features boost query numbers, Yahoo has made progress in building search deeper into verticals and providing more search-related links across the site. Anmuth, however, "would prefer to see share gains come more from higher quality searches that could have a greater direct impact on revenue."
Despite the good but cloudy search data, Anmuth likes Yahoo shares based on display strength, margin expansion, Asian assets, and attractive valuation.
J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan attributes the increase to a new interface that ties content with relevant searches. He describes the navigation as more likely to occur during a series of searches, which are counted by comScore and contribute to search share. Yahoo also benefited from better data collection at Yahoo Finance, he wrote.
Khan believes "significant user interface changes cloud the picture" that prevents you from comparing the numbers from this month to last. He tells investors not to become too optimistic and explains additional months of data under the new method could help clarify search results.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Blake Irving Joins Yahoo! as Chief Product Officer
Blake Irving Joins Yahoo! as Chief Product Officer
Chief Scientist Position, Held by Prabhakar Raghavan, Elevated to Report to CEO Bartz
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Apr 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced the appointment of Blake Irving as Chief Product Officer. In related news, Prabhakar Raghavan will continue to lead innovation efforts at Yahoo! Labs as Chief Scientist. Both Irving and Raghavan will report directly to Carol Bartz, CEO. This new leadership will focus on speeding key inputs and decision making into product strategy and direction.
Ari Balogh, current head of products and technology, will be leaving the company on June 3 for personal reasons and will work closely with Irving to ensure a smooth transition. Irving will assume the position on May 17.
"Blake brings to Yahoo! genuine large scale Internet expertise from a mature company known for world-class technology. In addition, Prabhakar has invaluable technological insights and expertise that I look forward to having my executive team hear more directly," said Bartz. "With leaders like Blake and Prabhakar, I am confident that we will increase technological innovation and deliver against our vision to be the center of people's online lives."
"Yahoo! has an impressive product and technology portfolio that has provided unparalleled value to its customers at scale," said Irving. "I look forward to working with the team to bring forward more unique and highly personal experiences to Yahoo! consumers, deliver on the company's promise of Science, Art and Scale to Yahoo! advertisers, and develop the amazing talent at the company so we may continue to deliver more and faster innovations to the market."
As Chief Product Officer, Irving will lead the company's products organization, which is responsible for the vision, strategy, design and development of Yahoo!'s global consumer and advertiser product portfolio.
Irving was most recently a professor at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management in Malibu, California. In his prior role as corporate vice president of the Windows Live Platform group, Irving led a team of 4,000 to build and operate Microsoft's Internet-scale services platform, advertiser and developer ecosystem. Irving also held a variety of development and general management positions at Microsoft.
Before joining Microsoft, Irving held development and product marketing management positions at Xerox Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. and Compaq Computer Corp. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and a Master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.
Raghavan joined Yahoo! in 2005, and serves as Chief Scientist and head of Yahoo! Labs. Raghavan's research priorities include text and web mining, and algorithm design. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Raghavan was the chief technology officer at Verity and held a number of technical and managerial positions at IBM Research. He is a consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Association of Computing Machinery. He has co-authored textbooks on algorithms and information retrieval, more than 100 papers and holds a dozen patents. Raghavan received his PhD from Berkeley and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of the ACM and of the IEEE.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!'s vision is to be the center of people's online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Yahoo! Inc.
Yahoo! Inc.Mojgan Khalili, 408-349-7482
mojgan@yahoo-inc.com
Meagan Busath,
408-349-364
8meaganb@yahoo-inc.com
Chief Scientist Position, Held by Prabhakar Raghavan, Elevated to Report to CEO Bartz
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Apr 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced the appointment of Blake Irving as Chief Product Officer. In related news, Prabhakar Raghavan will continue to lead innovation efforts at Yahoo! Labs as Chief Scientist. Both Irving and Raghavan will report directly to Carol Bartz, CEO. This new leadership will focus on speeding key inputs and decision making into product strategy and direction.
Ari Balogh, current head of products and technology, will be leaving the company on June 3 for personal reasons and will work closely with Irving to ensure a smooth transition. Irving will assume the position on May 17.
"Blake brings to Yahoo! genuine large scale Internet expertise from a mature company known for world-class technology. In addition, Prabhakar has invaluable technological insights and expertise that I look forward to having my executive team hear more directly," said Bartz. "With leaders like Blake and Prabhakar, I am confident that we will increase technological innovation and deliver against our vision to be the center of people's online lives."
"Yahoo! has an impressive product and technology portfolio that has provided unparalleled value to its customers at scale," said Irving. "I look forward to working with the team to bring forward more unique and highly personal experiences to Yahoo! consumers, deliver on the company's promise of Science, Art and Scale to Yahoo! advertisers, and develop the amazing talent at the company so we may continue to deliver more and faster innovations to the market."
As Chief Product Officer, Irving will lead the company's products organization, which is responsible for the vision, strategy, design and development of Yahoo!'s global consumer and advertiser product portfolio.
Irving was most recently a professor at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management in Malibu, California. In his prior role as corporate vice president of the Windows Live Platform group, Irving led a team of 4,000 to build and operate Microsoft's Internet-scale services platform, advertiser and developer ecosystem. Irving also held a variety of development and general management positions at Microsoft.
Before joining Microsoft, Irving held development and product marketing management positions at Xerox Corp., Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. and Compaq Computer Corp. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and a Master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.
Raghavan joined Yahoo! in 2005, and serves as Chief Scientist and head of Yahoo! Labs. Raghavan's research priorities include text and web mining, and algorithm design. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Raghavan was the chief technology officer at Verity and held a number of technical and managerial positions at IBM Research. He is a consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Association of Computing Machinery. He has co-authored textbooks on algorithms and information retrieval, more than 100 papers and holds a dozen patents. Raghavan received his PhD from Berkeley and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of the ACM and of the IEEE.
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!'s vision is to be the center of people's online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Yahoo! Inc.
Yahoo! Inc.Mojgan Khalili, 408-349-7482
mojgan@yahoo-inc.com
Meagan Busath,
408-349-364
8meaganb@yahoo-inc.com
Monday, April 12, 2010
Yahoo Strikes Content Deal With Reveille, Debuts Toyota-Backed Show
Yahoo Monday announced a new content production deal with Reveille -- the studio behind TV hits including "The Office" and Showtime's "The Tudors" -- and the launch of its first original daily news show, "Who Knew?" with Reveille and sponsor Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.
The new series will focus on little-known and out-of-the-ordinary facts and information behind high-profile news stories and will feature a new 90-second episode each weekday based on the most-clicked story of the day. As sponsor, Toyota will promote the launch of its redesigned Avalon sedan. The effort, geared to young baby boomers, will include branding elements such as "one comforting fact" each week about the car as part of Toyota's campaign featuring the tag line "Comfort Is Back. Travel Avalon Class."
The debut "Who Knew?" episode uses the news peg of the Shroud of Turin going on public display this weekend to provide a breezy, fast-paced video looking at quirky facts surrounding the famous relic. (Who knew formal study of the Shroud was called sindonology?)
The video is bookended by a brief "brought to you by" message for the Avalon and a 15-second post-roll ad for the car. Toyota also has a pair of display units on the right side of the "Who Knew?" page within Yahoo News that lead to interactive landing pages with more information about the new car. One launches a slow-loading video of a slick-haired emcee introducing the Avalon on stage.
The automaker will also sponsor a takeover of the Yahoo home page on April 14 and what it calls a "first-of-its kind" ad execution on the Yahoo News home page in May. The arrangement with Reveille and Toyota is part of Yahoo's broader strategy to step up original branded entertainment across its content properties in collaboration with advertisers and Hollywood talent.
Yahoo and Reveille, for instance, also recently produced "Real Life Makeover" for Wal-Mart on Yahoo Shine, the Web portal's site for women. In January, Yahoo also struck a production deal with Electus, the digital studio started by Reveille founder and former NBC entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman and Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp. No new shows have debuted on Yahoo from that partnership yet.
Last fall, Yahoo struck a deal with WPP's GroupM Entertainment to develop short-form Web series that tightly integrate brand messaging into programming. Yahoo's existing lineup of sponsored programs including "This Week In Music," "The 411 on omg"; and "Daytime in No Time," the spinoff of Yahoo's popular "Primetime in No Time," offering a video recap of the prior evening's TV shows, and "Tech Ticker," which is focused on technology and finance.
Reveille itself is no stranger to digital programming, having entered into a similar partnership in 2006 with Microsoft on "MSN Originals," a branded content initiative that has led to shows including "It's Everybody's Business with Jack and Suzy Welch," sponsored by Microsoft; "The Guy's Manual," featuring ESPN personality Kenny Mayne, sponsored by Grape Nuts; and "Five Minute Office Workout," by Kraft and starring Bob Harper from "The Biggest Loser."
For its part Yahoo, has been pleased with the response to its sponsored Web series and plans to continue expanding its original video production with advertiser backing. Video was the fastest-growing segment of online display advertising last year -- increasing 39% to $1 billion, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The new series will focus on little-known and out-of-the-ordinary facts and information behind high-profile news stories and will feature a new 90-second episode each weekday based on the most-clicked story of the day. As sponsor, Toyota will promote the launch of its redesigned Avalon sedan. The effort, geared to young baby boomers, will include branding elements such as "one comforting fact" each week about the car as part of Toyota's campaign featuring the tag line "Comfort Is Back. Travel Avalon Class."
The debut "Who Knew?" episode uses the news peg of the Shroud of Turin going on public display this weekend to provide a breezy, fast-paced video looking at quirky facts surrounding the famous relic. (Who knew formal study of the Shroud was called sindonology?)
The video is bookended by a brief "brought to you by" message for the Avalon and a 15-second post-roll ad for the car. Toyota also has a pair of display units on the right side of the "Who Knew?" page within Yahoo News that lead to interactive landing pages with more information about the new car. One launches a slow-loading video of a slick-haired emcee introducing the Avalon on stage.
The automaker will also sponsor a takeover of the Yahoo home page on April 14 and what it calls a "first-of-its kind" ad execution on the Yahoo News home page in May. The arrangement with Reveille and Toyota is part of Yahoo's broader strategy to step up original branded entertainment across its content properties in collaboration with advertisers and Hollywood talent.
Yahoo and Reveille, for instance, also recently produced "Real Life Makeover" for Wal-Mart on Yahoo Shine, the Web portal's site for women. In January, Yahoo also struck a production deal with Electus, the digital studio started by Reveille founder and former NBC entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman and Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp. No new shows have debuted on Yahoo from that partnership yet.
Last fall, Yahoo struck a deal with WPP's GroupM Entertainment to develop short-form Web series that tightly integrate brand messaging into programming. Yahoo's existing lineup of sponsored programs including "This Week In Music," "The 411 on omg"; and "Daytime in No Time," the spinoff of Yahoo's popular "Primetime in No Time," offering a video recap of the prior evening's TV shows, and "Tech Ticker," which is focused on technology and finance.
Reveille itself is no stranger to digital programming, having entered into a similar partnership in 2006 with Microsoft on "MSN Originals," a branded content initiative that has led to shows including "It's Everybody's Business with Jack and Suzy Welch," sponsored by Microsoft; "The Guy's Manual," featuring ESPN personality Kenny Mayne, sponsored by Grape Nuts; and "Five Minute Office Workout," by Kraft and starring Bob Harper from "The Biggest Loser."
For its part Yahoo, has been pleased with the response to its sponsored Web series and plans to continue expanding its original video production with advertiser backing. Video was the fastest-growing segment of online display advertising last year -- increasing 39% to $1 billion, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Ask, Yahoo, Microsoft Gain In Search Market Share As Google Slides
Analysts report search market performance gains from unexpected sources -- Ask and Yahoo -- this week. This represents the first time for Yahoo in more than a year.
Ask.com's market share in search rose from 3.7% in February to 3.8% in March, remaining stable for the past year, according to comScore. Core search volume rose by 8.5% from the prior year, up from 0.7% year-on-year growth in February. The network's U.S. search volume rose 8.0% year-on-year in 1Q versus 8.8% growth in the fourth quarter.
Market share varies slightly depending on the data firm. Experian Hitwise reports that Ask.com had the highest gains, rising 21% to 3.44% in March, sequentially. Yahoo Search and Bing received 15.04% and 9.62%, respectively. Yahoo rose 3% and Bing declined 1%, compared with the prior month.
Still, Ask isn't the only search engine to capture new growth. Although Barclays Capital's Douglas Anmuth says it's too early to confirm that Yahoo's share has "stabilized," the analyst remains "encouraged." Data firm comScore delivered the positive news that Yahoo inched up 0.08% in February to 16.89% of searches in March. Yahoo lost roughly 3.1% market share since last year.
Meanwhile, Yahoo did experience a setback. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company confirmed Thursday that Ari Balogh, chief technology officer and executive vice president of products, will leave the company for personal reasons. Broadpoint AmTech Analyst Ben Schachter believes Balogh, who drove product initiatives and restructuring Yahoo's infrastructure, remains instrumental in the potential turnaround for the company.
Although Balogh would not return from sabbatical in June for personal reasons, "the loss of his leadership is likely to be a blow as he was highly regarded both internally and externally," Schachter writes in a research note. "His loss is a negative for Yahoo."
Schachter has concerns about the recent loss of Yahoo employees, such as ad sales exec Joanne Bradford. He says high turnover throughout the organization makes Yahoo's turnaround more challenging.
The exodus of Yahoo execs aside, Microsoft Bing's market share rose from 11.5% to 11.7%, but the pace of its share gains have slowed, according to Schachter, citing comScore numbers. Bing's March share gain represented its lowest basis point increase since Bing was launched in June, 2009, but the bottom line is that Microsoft continues to take share, pointing to its marketing and cashback programs as having a positive impact.
It appears that Ask, Bing and Yahoo gained in March at the expense of Google. Google domestic core search market share fell slightly to 65.1% in March from 65.5% in February, according to comScore. Google grew March core search volume by 10.1% year-on-year, slightly below 14.3% growth in February. Google domestic core search volume growth of 13.6% year-on-year in 1Q is below 4Q's 19.9% year-on-year increase.
Ask.com's market share in search rose from 3.7% in February to 3.8% in March, remaining stable for the past year, according to comScore. Core search volume rose by 8.5% from the prior year, up from 0.7% year-on-year growth in February. The network's U.S. search volume rose 8.0% year-on-year in 1Q versus 8.8% growth in the fourth quarter.
Market share varies slightly depending on the data firm. Experian Hitwise reports that Ask.com had the highest gains, rising 21% to 3.44% in March, sequentially. Yahoo Search and Bing received 15.04% and 9.62%, respectively. Yahoo rose 3% and Bing declined 1%, compared with the prior month.
Still, Ask isn't the only search engine to capture new growth. Although Barclays Capital's Douglas Anmuth says it's too early to confirm that Yahoo's share has "stabilized," the analyst remains "encouraged." Data firm comScore delivered the positive news that Yahoo inched up 0.08% in February to 16.89% of searches in March. Yahoo lost roughly 3.1% market share since last year.
Meanwhile, Yahoo did experience a setback. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company confirmed Thursday that Ari Balogh, chief technology officer and executive vice president of products, will leave the company for personal reasons. Broadpoint AmTech Analyst Ben Schachter believes Balogh, who drove product initiatives and restructuring Yahoo's infrastructure, remains instrumental in the potential turnaround for the company.
Although Balogh would not return from sabbatical in June for personal reasons, "the loss of his leadership is likely to be a blow as he was highly regarded both internally and externally," Schachter writes in a research note. "His loss is a negative for Yahoo."
Schachter has concerns about the recent loss of Yahoo employees, such as ad sales exec Joanne Bradford. He says high turnover throughout the organization makes Yahoo's turnaround more challenging.
The exodus of Yahoo execs aside, Microsoft Bing's market share rose from 11.5% to 11.7%, but the pace of its share gains have slowed, according to Schachter, citing comScore numbers. Bing's March share gain represented its lowest basis point increase since Bing was launched in June, 2009, but the bottom line is that Microsoft continues to take share, pointing to its marketing and cashback programs as having a positive impact.
It appears that Ask, Bing and Yahoo gained in March at the expense of Google. Google domestic core search market share fell slightly to 65.1% in March from 65.5% in February, according to comScore. Google grew March core search volume by 10.1% year-on-year, slightly below 14.3% growth in February. Google domestic core search volume growth of 13.6% year-on-year in 1Q is below 4Q's 19.9% year-on-year increase.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Yahoo Considers Buying Foursquare For ~$100 Million
Yahoo's M&A deal-makers are deciding right now whether or not to buy super-hot location-based startup Foursquare for ~$100 million, says a source close to bankers involved in Foursquare's current fundraising efforts.
A source close to Yahoo told us a Foursquare-owned Yahoo "would be nice." This source told us "we've had discussions," but cautioned: "We talk to everybody."
For his part, Foursquare CEO and cofounder Dennis Crowley spent all last week meeting with all the big name companies in the Valley, including Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. Reached, Dennis declined to comment.
A Foursquare acquisition makes tons of sense for Yahoo, where product executives believe that paradigm of Web pages could soon go away, to be replaced by a universe of service built on Internet-connected devices in, around, and outside the home. It would be a relatively cheap way for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to show employees and Wall Street that she's serious about innovating.
Yahoo hasn't made many big bets on consumer products since its Web 2.0-era acquisitions Flickr and Delicious. At one point before 2007, Yahoo could have purchased Facebook for $1 billion, but then-CEO Terry Semel balked at the price and the amount of control Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg wanted to retain.
Thing is, we'd be surprised to see Foursquare sell so soon. During a recent interview with SAI, Dennis said he only sold Dodgeball, his first location-based startup, to Google because, "We couldn't get any funding."
That's not an issue for Dennis this time. Reports have it that brand name venture capitalists (Khosla, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz) are competing to give Foursquare money at a valuation of $80 million more. Dennis could be using talks with Yahoo to milk higher valuations out of these investors.
Reached, a Yahoo spokesperson told us “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation."
A source close to Yahoo told us a Foursquare-owned Yahoo "would be nice." This source told us "we've had discussions," but cautioned: "We talk to everybody."
For his part, Foursquare CEO and cofounder Dennis Crowley spent all last week meeting with all the big name companies in the Valley, including Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. Reached, Dennis declined to comment.
A Foursquare acquisition makes tons of sense for Yahoo, where product executives believe that paradigm of Web pages could soon go away, to be replaced by a universe of service built on Internet-connected devices in, around, and outside the home. It would be a relatively cheap way for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz to show employees and Wall Street that she's serious about innovating.
Yahoo hasn't made many big bets on consumer products since its Web 2.0-era acquisitions Flickr and Delicious. At one point before 2007, Yahoo could have purchased Facebook for $1 billion, but then-CEO Terry Semel balked at the price and the amount of control Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg wanted to retain.
Thing is, we'd be surprised to see Foursquare sell so soon. During a recent interview with SAI, Dennis said he only sold Dodgeball, his first location-based startup, to Google because, "We couldn't get any funding."
That's not an issue for Dennis this time. Reports have it that brand name venture capitalists (Khosla, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz) are competing to give Foursquare money at a valuation of $80 million more. Dennis could be using talks with Yahoo to milk higher valuations out of these investors.
Reached, a Yahoo spokesperson told us “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation."
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Yahoo Readies Launch Of iPad Advertising Model
Inspired by video game development, Yahoo has been working on a new advertising model for tablets, such as Apple's iPad, to provide another option for brands to tap its ad network. The strategy for the new screen moves more toward product placement similar to tactics seen in videos, television and movies, and away from banner and display ads typically used in mobile phones and on PCs.
The strategy gives advertisers support for interactive product placement through Wi-Fi connections, as well as 3G cellular service offered by telecom carrier AT&T. The iPad also has local memory and can cache information. The possibilities for product placement range from animation to video clips to mini games.
Mobile advertising has struggled to gain momentum during the past few years, but Apple's tablet introduces more power on a bigger screen. "On mobile you have to oversimplify the advertising message," says Sandeep Gupta, senior director of Yahoo applications. "The tablet may be bigger, but because it's more entertaining, it's less intrusive."
Gupta calls the ad model a "user interface" that integrates into Yahoo's ad platform. The iPad ad offering will initially become available for the Yahoo Entertainment application introduced on April 3, the day Apple began selling the iPad. Consumers can download the free application from Apple's iPad apps store. Gupta says the ad platform didn't make the first release because of deadline crunches.
Engineers at Yahoo have begun to create a dynamic layout, so when the consumer reloads the home screen -- which resembles a living room with couch, magazines and television -- they will get a different experience. Perhaps the next time a consumer launches the application they see a can of Coca-Cola, cup filled with Starbuck's coffee, area rug from IKEA, and Bose speakers hooked up to the TV.
The HTML 5 content driven to the device from servers makes the advertising possibilities endless. Since the iPad supports Wi-Fi, and a later version cellular service, clicking on a can of Coca-Cola can take the consumer to a Web site, downloadable gift, coupons, and more.
Yahoo will expect brands and their agency partners to create the interactive art that marketing reps at Yahoo can drop into its ad platform. Gupta says the ability to dynamically change the content on the Yahoo Entertainment home page also provides options for ad targeting.
"We know interactive ads work because last year we ran fun fantasy football ads that had a much higher click-through rate than straight banner ads," Gupta says.
The tablet ad model will need to easily scale as more hardware manufacturers bring devices online. Hewlett-Packard also leaked news this week of a tablet on the horizon. Analysts believe about 50 competitors will bring versions to market. The iPad sold 300,000 units on the first day.
The strategy gives advertisers support for interactive product placement through Wi-Fi connections, as well as 3G cellular service offered by telecom carrier AT&T. The iPad also has local memory and can cache information. The possibilities for product placement range from animation to video clips to mini games.
Mobile advertising has struggled to gain momentum during the past few years, but Apple's tablet introduces more power on a bigger screen. "On mobile you have to oversimplify the advertising message," says Sandeep Gupta, senior director of Yahoo applications. "The tablet may be bigger, but because it's more entertaining, it's less intrusive."
Gupta calls the ad model a "user interface" that integrates into Yahoo's ad platform. The iPad ad offering will initially become available for the Yahoo Entertainment application introduced on April 3, the day Apple began selling the iPad. Consumers can download the free application from Apple's iPad apps store. Gupta says the ad platform didn't make the first release because of deadline crunches.
Engineers at Yahoo have begun to create a dynamic layout, so when the consumer reloads the home screen -- which resembles a living room with couch, magazines and television -- they will get a different experience. Perhaps the next time a consumer launches the application they see a can of Coca-Cola, cup filled with Starbuck's coffee, area rug from IKEA, and Bose speakers hooked up to the TV.
The HTML 5 content driven to the device from servers makes the advertising possibilities endless. Since the iPad supports Wi-Fi, and a later version cellular service, clicking on a can of Coca-Cola can take the consumer to a Web site, downloadable gift, coupons, and more.
Yahoo will expect brands and their agency partners to create the interactive art that marketing reps at Yahoo can drop into its ad platform. Gupta says the ability to dynamically change the content on the Yahoo Entertainment home page also provides options for ad targeting.
"We know interactive ads work because last year we ran fun fantasy football ads that had a much higher click-through rate than straight banner ads," Gupta says.
The tablet ad model will need to easily scale as more hardware manufacturers bring devices online. Hewlett-Packard also leaked news this week of a tablet on the horizon. Analysts believe about 50 competitors will bring versions to market. The iPad sold 300,000 units on the first day.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Yahoo Mail Gets Unrestricted API Access with OAuth
Last week, we were very excited about all the possiblities offered by adding OAuth with IMAP/SMTP to Gmail, but as we noted then, don't let those acronyms cause your eyes to glaze over. What sounds like
complicated, techie stuff really means simply useful additions to your email experience and this time, we're talking about Yahoo Mail, still the leading webmail provider.
As Programmable Web pointed out this morning, it looks like Yahoo actually implemented OAuth several days before Gmail got around to it.
OAuth access to your email means that you can give simple, one-click authorization to external applications to have full access to your emails. This also means you can have seemless access to the information in your email account, from the contents of the emails themselves to your contact list, on other websites.
If you think of going to a website and finding all the people you know on there by using Twitter, you're most likely already familiar with OAuth - it's that window that pops up that you click "Allow" on.
From the Yahoo! Mail Developer Community group on March 25:
Today we're super exited to announce our OAuth API for Yahoo Mail! Not only have we moved to a much cleaner authentication technology, but we have removed all the restrictions limiting message access of "free" accounts. That means that you can now use the full API for all Yahoo Mail users regardless of their free/premium status, accessing full message contents if your application needs it. Cool, eh?
For those of you out there using Yahoo Mail, which is still a majority, expect to see some cool new add-ons for the age old email service to be released soon. At least, that's what we're hoping for.
complicated, techie stuff really means simply useful additions to your email experience and this time, we're talking about Yahoo Mail, still the leading webmail provider.
As Programmable Web pointed out this morning, it looks like Yahoo actually implemented OAuth several days before Gmail got around to it.
OAuth access to your email means that you can give simple, one-click authorization to external applications to have full access to your emails. This also means you can have seemless access to the information in your email account, from the contents of the emails themselves to your contact list, on other websites.
If you think of going to a website and finding all the people you know on there by using Twitter, you're most likely already familiar with OAuth - it's that window that pops up that you click "Allow" on.
From the Yahoo! Mail Developer Community group on March 25:
Today we're super exited to announce our OAuth API for Yahoo Mail! Not only have we moved to a much cleaner authentication technology, but we have removed all the restrictions limiting message access of "free" accounts. That means that you can now use the full API for all Yahoo Mail users regardless of their free/premium status, accessing full message contents if your application needs it. Cool, eh?
For those of you out there using Yahoo Mail, which is still a majority, expect to see some cool new add-ons for the age old email service to be released soon. At least, that's what we're hoping for.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Yahoo Hacked in China (Still Waiting for Other Shoe)
In January, Google reported a coordinated hack attack targeting Chinese human rights activists’ Gmail accounts. In response, Google (eventually) pulled their search engine from China.
And now the hackers are at it again. The Yahoo “e-mail accounts of more than a dozen rights activists, academics and journalists who cover China have been compromised by unknown intruders” last month, according to the New York Times. NYT reporter Andrew Jacobs, one of the targeted journalists, said the “hackers altered e-mail settings so that all correspondence was surreptitiously forwarded to another e-mail address.”
Several of the affected users received messages from Yahoo after problems accessing their accounts, according to the AP.
Yahoo hasn’t yet decided to respond, as Agence France Presse reports. Yesterday, the side stepped the news agency’s questions on the matter, only stating
And now the hackers are at it again. The Yahoo “e-mail accounts of more than a dozen rights activists, academics and journalists who cover China have been compromised by unknown intruders” last month, according to the New York Times. NYT reporter Andrew Jacobs, one of the targeted journalists, said the “hackers altered e-mail settings so that all correspondence was surreptitiously forwarded to another e-mail address.”
Several of the affected users received messages from Yahoo after problems accessing their accounts, according to the AP.
Yahoo hasn’t yet decided to respond, as Agence France Presse reports. Yesterday, the side stepped the news agency’s questions on the matter, only stating
Yahoo Kills Small-Publisher Ad Network That No One Used
Update: Yahoo is shutting down its Publisher Network beta program effective April 30. This is Yahoo's equivalent of Google's AdSense ad network, directed at small publishers, and has not been very popular. Yahoo is NOT shutting down its big ad network, directed at large publishers.
UMore: Why Yahoo Just Killed Its AdSense Clone
Here's a memo Yahoo just sent to publishers. In it, Yahoo suggests its customers might consider Chitika if they need an ad network.
Dear Publisher,
Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.
Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.
For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Click here for more information.
We thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.
Sincerely,
Your Partners at Yahoo!
UMore: Why Yahoo Just Killed Its AdSense Clone
Here's a memo Yahoo just sent to publishers. In it, Yahoo suggests its customers might consider Chitika if they need an ad network.
Dear Publisher,
Yahoo! continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services, in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences. After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.
Because our content will no longer be delivered to your ad unit spaces after April 30, 2010, we recommend removing all YPN ad code from your pages by that date.
For the opportunity to continue earning revenue, we suggest using Chitika, a leading advertising network that syndicates Yahoo! Content Match and Sponsored Search ads. Chitika has set up a special process for YPNO beta publishers to participate in its platform. Click here for more information.
We thank you for your participation in the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please contact our Support Team at (866) 785-2636, Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT.
Sincerely,
Your Partners at Yahoo!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
How Yahoo's Search Retargeting Platform Delivers Many Happy Returns
Advertisers have finally begun to consider search retargeting as a way to increase accuracy when targeting ads. They're still not ecstatic about the increase in price, compared with serving up plain old ads, but how can they ignore talk of campaigns that begin with $168 cost per acquisition and fall to $29, and .93% conversion rates that rise to 6.93% within one month?
Consider how Yahoo's retargeting platform helped Value City Furniture, whose parent company, American Signature, is reportedly ranked as one of the largest furniture retailers in the country. Value City decided to launch a promotional sweepstakes that gave away six $2,500 shopping sprees during the fourth quarter of 2009.
When customers responded to the promotion, Value City captured data that allowed it to prescreen applicants for its private-label credit card offering. It also used the data to retarget visitors who engaged with the ad but didn't convert.
The goal to increase registrations for pre-approved Value City credit applications and in-store sales through its online channel led the retailer to tap Yahoo's My Display Ads for a retargeting and sponsored search campaign. The company saw its site and sweepstakes registrations increase by 650%.
Value City had a 5% conversion rate, with a CPA of $32, when the campaign began. After one month, the company had a 14.5% conversion rate and a CPA of just $12. Yahoo and Value City developed a Sponsored Search campaign that included 200 branded keywords to help promote the sweepstakes and its overall business. The campaign found display drove search activity, with a 168% increase in branded term searches. As a result, the company increased its display budget by 30%.
"It's becoming easier for advertisers to take a data set and activate it against all inventory in the company's target markets," says David Zinman, vice president and general manager for display advertising at Yahoo.
Cycle back to 2006, when Zinman offered retargeting at Blue Lithium and advertisers had to approach each online ad network, pull a pixel, and hope it could cover the majority of the ad impressions online. It's much easier to ensure coverage today, he says.
That assurance has prompted more than Value City into retargeting and search retargeting. Companies such as Travelocity have also jumped into the fray.
"Marketing to people who have already been to your site is a very effective form of advertising and driving conversion," Zinman says. "There's really not resurgence, it's just always been up and to the right on the chart for money spent on retargeting."
Yahoo added search retargeting in 2009, but began to push it into the marketplace in January 2010. It allows Yahoo's engine to target everyone who searches on relevant keywords and then targets them with display advertising.
Google's AdWords and the startup Magnetic also offer this service.
Yahoo moved toward offering clients retargeting with the acquisition of Blue Lithium in October 2007, but tweaked the technology in February 2009, adding search retargeting and dynamic ads. "Search retargeting has a lot of potential and growth ahead of it, mainly because it's so new," Zinman says.
Consider how Yahoo's retargeting platform helped Value City Furniture, whose parent company, American Signature, is reportedly ranked as one of the largest furniture retailers in the country. Value City decided to launch a promotional sweepstakes that gave away six $2,500 shopping sprees during the fourth quarter of 2009.
When customers responded to the promotion, Value City captured data that allowed it to prescreen applicants for its private-label credit card offering. It also used the data to retarget visitors who engaged with the ad but didn't convert.
The goal to increase registrations for pre-approved Value City credit applications and in-store sales through its online channel led the retailer to tap Yahoo's My Display Ads for a retargeting and sponsored search campaign. The company saw its site and sweepstakes registrations increase by 650%.
Value City had a 5% conversion rate, with a CPA of $32, when the campaign began. After one month, the company had a 14.5% conversion rate and a CPA of just $12. Yahoo and Value City developed a Sponsored Search campaign that included 200 branded keywords to help promote the sweepstakes and its overall business. The campaign found display drove search activity, with a 168% increase in branded term searches. As a result, the company increased its display budget by 30%.
"It's becoming easier for advertisers to take a data set and activate it against all inventory in the company's target markets," says David Zinman, vice president and general manager for display advertising at Yahoo.
Cycle back to 2006, when Zinman offered retargeting at Blue Lithium and advertisers had to approach each online ad network, pull a pixel, and hope it could cover the majority of the ad impressions online. It's much easier to ensure coverage today, he says.
That assurance has prompted more than Value City into retargeting and search retargeting. Companies such as Travelocity have also jumped into the fray.
"Marketing to people who have already been to your site is a very effective form of advertising and driving conversion," Zinman says. "There's really not resurgence, it's just always been up and to the right on the chart for money spent on retargeting."
Yahoo added search retargeting in 2009, but began to push it into the marketplace in January 2010. It allows Yahoo's engine to target everyone who searches on relevant keywords and then targets them with display advertising.
Google's AdWords and the startup Magnetic also offer this service.
Yahoo moved toward offering clients retargeting with the acquisition of Blue Lithium in October 2007, but tweaked the technology in February 2009, adding search retargeting and dynamic ads. "Search retargeting has a lot of potential and growth ahead of it, mainly because it's so new," Zinman says.
Yahoo Has Flat Traffic, Flat Revenues, And Limited Growth Opportunities -- Here's Why
A source close to Yahoo's strategic planning recently complained to us that Yahoo has "a fundamental innovator's dilemma."
What he meant is that while Yahoo has flat traffic, flat revenues, and increasingly limited growth opportunities, it can't innovate it's way out of the problem with bold new products because it has to fund, protect, and iterate on "a big existing business that is, let's face it, very profitable" -- display advertising on Yahoo.com and the company's other media sites.
So while there is, at Yahoo, "a core group of people who still want [and] believe that Yahoo can change things," these product directors and line engineers increasingly find themselves working not for a tech company, but for a media company content to serve ad impressions against an already huge Web audience.
Right now, this "innovator's dilemma" is mostly a mild inconvenience that makes Yahoo a less fun place for Silicon Valley engineers and executives to work (which is why so many are quitting). But someday soon, it could kill the company.
That's because Yahoo's entire big, existing, profitable business is dependent on consumers continuing to use the Internet and the "Web" the way they are right now for the foreseeable future. That may be a bad bet.
Just ask Google, which is cranking out $25 billion a year on desktop search, but is scrambling to develop a mobile business anyway. Ask Apple, which used to just make Macs, but now calls itself a mobile devices maker. Or ask our source close to Yahoo who believes "the Web is on a verge of a tectonic shift" and that "the [Web] page as a dominate paradigm is going away."
Our source believes this upcoming "tectonic shift" presents an opportunity for Yahoo to "leverage and benefit from the next disruption." We agree. But first Yahoo has to solve its "innovator's dilemma."
Here are four possible solutions Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Yahoo's historically inept board of directors could pursue:
Seek a leveraged buyout lead by a large private equity firm such as KKR or Blackstone. In theory, this would allow Yahoo to ignore the quarter-by-quarter scrutiny that forces it to protect its display business above all else and re-invest in innovation. To do it it, a PE firm would have to borrow about $30 billion. The problem is PE firms typically buy a company because they believe they can "strip mine" it down to a single, healthy business and then sell it back to the public as a more efficient machine. That doesn't sound a like a recipe for innovation to us. Finally, remember when Terra Firma acquired record label EMI in hopes of figuring out the Internet? That was a big nasty old bust.
Sell 20% or more of the company to a mid-stage private equity firm, such as Digital Sky Technologies, Elevation Partners, or whomever else Quincy Smith and CODE Advisers could con into the gig. The new part-owners could kick Carol upstairs into the chairmanship and bring in a product-oriented chief executive, who, unlike the last one (cofounder Jerry Yang) is also able to make decisions. The problem with this option is that it requires co-operation from Carol and the board. Also, it assumes shareholders will provide Yahoo some leash after the deal. The other problem is that the model to follow here is Palm, which brought on a ton of Apple execs after Elevation Partners invested. That experiment failed.
Buy Zynga and put Mark Pincus in charge. We've heard Facebook gamesmaker Zynga is cranking out $1 million of revenue a day, putting it at annual run rate well over $350 million selling virtual goods that make its games easier to play. That's ridiculous, and it's happening thanks to three factors:
Give up on innovation and merge with AOL. Limited innovation is only a dilemma if the company's future depends on innovation. It's a tech company problem. Maybe Yahoo is a media company. If that's the case, it needs to focus on increasing scale and cutting costs. The best and most immediate way to do that is to merge with AOL, keep the winning media properties from both sides, and cut all the redundant human resources between them (starting with ad sales). The best person to run this company is a champion salesman like current AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Whomever's in charge of the Miley Cyrus empire at Disney wouldn't be a bad hire, either.
What he meant is that while Yahoo has flat traffic, flat revenues, and increasingly limited growth opportunities, it can't innovate it's way out of the problem with bold new products because it has to fund, protect, and iterate on "a big existing business that is, let's face it, very profitable" -- display advertising on Yahoo.com and the company's other media sites.
So while there is, at Yahoo, "a core group of people who still want [and] believe that Yahoo can change things," these product directors and line engineers increasingly find themselves working not for a tech company, but for a media company content to serve ad impressions against an already huge Web audience.
Right now, this "innovator's dilemma" is mostly a mild inconvenience that makes Yahoo a less fun place for Silicon Valley engineers and executives to work (which is why so many are quitting). But someday soon, it could kill the company.
That's because Yahoo's entire big, existing, profitable business is dependent on consumers continuing to use the Internet and the "Web" the way they are right now for the foreseeable future. That may be a bad bet.
Just ask Google, which is cranking out $25 billion a year on desktop search, but is scrambling to develop a mobile business anyway. Ask Apple, which used to just make Macs, but now calls itself a mobile devices maker. Or ask our source close to Yahoo who believes "the Web is on a verge of a tectonic shift" and that "the [Web] page as a dominate paradigm is going away."
Our source believes this upcoming "tectonic shift" presents an opportunity for Yahoo to "leverage and benefit from the next disruption." We agree. But first Yahoo has to solve its "innovator's dilemma."
Here are four possible solutions Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Yahoo's historically inept board of directors could pursue:
Seek a leveraged buyout lead by a large private equity firm such as KKR or Blackstone. In theory, this would allow Yahoo to ignore the quarter-by-quarter scrutiny that forces it to protect its display business above all else and re-invest in innovation. To do it it, a PE firm would have to borrow about $30 billion. The problem is PE firms typically buy a company because they believe they can "strip mine" it down to a single, healthy business and then sell it back to the public as a more efficient machine. That doesn't sound a like a recipe for innovation to us. Finally, remember when Terra Firma acquired record label EMI in hopes of figuring out the Internet? That was a big nasty old bust.
Sell 20% or more of the company to a mid-stage private equity firm, such as Digital Sky Technologies, Elevation Partners, or whomever else Quincy Smith and CODE Advisers could con into the gig. The new part-owners could kick Carol upstairs into the chairmanship and bring in a product-oriented chief executive, who, unlike the last one (cofounder Jerry Yang) is also able to make decisions. The problem with this option is that it requires co-operation from Carol and the board. Also, it assumes shareholders will provide Yahoo some leash after the deal. The other problem is that the model to follow here is Palm, which brought on a ton of Apple execs after Elevation Partners invested. That experiment failed.
Buy Zynga and put Mark Pincus in charge. We've heard Facebook gamesmaker Zynga is cranking out $1 million of revenue a day, putting it at annual run rate well over $350 million selling virtual goods that make its games easier to play. That's ridiculous, and it's happening thanks to three factors:
- Facebook's rapidly growing audience (over 200 million people check the site each day)
- Consumers' willingness to pay small amounts of money to make the games they've been using for years to divert themselves slightly easier.
- Zynga CEO Mark Pincus's relentless focus on building products that people will actually love to use. (Seriously, the guy will kill a product if there's any doubt about its popularity.)
Give up on innovation and merge with AOL. Limited innovation is only a dilemma if the company's future depends on innovation. It's a tech company problem. Maybe Yahoo is a media company. If that's the case, it needs to focus on increasing scale and cutting costs. The best and most immediate way to do that is to merge with AOL, keep the winning media properties from both sides, and cut all the redundant human resources between them (starting with ad sales). The best person to run this company is a champion salesman like current AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Whomever's in charge of the Miley Cyrus empire at Disney wouldn't be a bad hire, either.
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