Marketing Pilgrim

ICANN has announced that companies and organizations will have the ability to turn their brands into domain name extensions starting in 2013. Applications are being accepted starting in January of 2012. TechCrunch reports

The ICANN board has voted to approve the new gTLD program, which was first announced three years ago. The new program will significantly expand Top-Level Domains (TLDs) to allow companies, organizations and even cities to turn their own brands into domain name extensions. Think .ADIDAS, .HOTEL, .BRUSSELS, .FACEBOOK and the likes.

The chart below gives the timeline for this happening.

So while this sounds like a very cool thing, don’t think it’s going to be something that everyone is going to be able to either use or afford. In other words, this is not a situation for the little guys.

As display ads continue to make their comeback and grow in popularity, Facebook appears to be the leader in the segment according to eMarketer.

Facebook will grow its net US display revenues this year by another 80.9% to $2.19 billion, eMarketer estimates. This will push it past Yahoo! to become the No. 1 display ad-selling company in the country.

The chart below examines how the other large players in the segment fare against Facebook.

Of course, the most likely challenger in all of this is Google. Of note, this is also one area where Apple isn’t part of the conversation so it’s money that will go to Apple’s competitors to fuel their battles against the leader on the device side of the coin.

Just as a little bit of a warning: In this post I totally jump the shark and start singing kumbaya and giving everyone hugs like a dirty hippie. You have been warned.

Man, I am happy! Like really happy. Why’s that? I am happy because the business I started 4 years ago is doing pretty good. But, more importantly, so many of my friend’s businesses are doing really well too. As an entrepreneur it feels good to see success both in yourself and in those working along side of you. I was talking about how good this all feels yesterday with my buddy, Alan Bleiweiss. After talking for a bit, Alan and I both decided that a central part of our success is our inclusion in such an amazing community.

TV networks would like to think that we’re giving their shows our undivided attention, but a recent survey by Adweek/Harris Poll proves it’s just not so.

They surveyed 2,309 US adults between May 24 and 26, 2011 and here’s what they found out.

• 56% of respondents said they surf the web on a computer while watching TV. 18% surf using a mobile phone and a few reported use of a tablet.
• 44% say they read a book, magazine or newspaper with 7% doing it with an eReader.
• 40% visit a social networking site.
• 29% said that they shop online while watching TV which I assume doesn’t take into account those who shop while watching the home shopping network on TV.

Twitter has been a real boon to online marketers, but unfortunately, it’s also gotten a few people into big trouble. This week it was a a PR guy who took a swipe at those who gave his video game a bad review.

“too many went too far with their reviews. We r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom.”

The game company fired the PR firm and the press that followed is probably making the rest of their clients a little nervous. But I’m not here to harp on this poor fellow who spoke his mind in public or the evils of Tweeting angry. It happens, we’re all human and social media allows us to tell the world, far too easily. It’s going to happen again, that’s a given.

comScore is reporting that the viewing of video on Google sites (read: YouTube) averaged 5 hours per viewer for the month of May. This is the first time this number topped the 5 hour mark. Sounds like a lot at first but when you break it down to about 10 minutes per day that doesn’t seem entirely out of line.

Here is how others stack up against Google.

So what are waiting for?! There has to be some stupid human trick or something that you haven’t had the pleasure of taking in today. Do your duty as a citizen and watch more video! Now!