Marketing Pilgrim

UPDATE: YuMe tells us that the deal is a partnership, not an acquisition.

If the race between the Soviet Union and the United States to get the first man in space was coined “the Space Race,” perhaps we should call Google and Microsoft’s race to plaster the digital frontier with ads “the AdSpace Race.”

This week, Microsoft purchased YuMe, the largest provider of online video ads on the web. YuMe represents more than 500 million streams each month and reaches more than 68% of the total US online population (more than 120M uniques). YuMe will now offer advertisers MSN inventory and was also selected as the video ad platform to serve and manage all of Microsoft’s unsold and excess video inventory.

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Here’s a shocker–the majority of shows on TV are boring and cable is expensive.

It’s no wonder then that consumption of online video has gone up significantly as less and less people watch TV.  Ipsos MediaCT conducted a study involving 1,102 early adopters who currently stream and download video online. From February 2007 to February 2008, video consumption from television went down 7 percent in just one year among this group.  Video consumption online went up 72% in the same time period.

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By Michelle Greer

There is nothing more annoying than trying to browse the web on a tiny mobile phone screen. Viewing one page on the web is hard enough. Conducting searches, updating web content, or watching a YouTube clip on a run-of-the-mill cell phone is nothing more than a painful experience.

It’s no surprise then that social networking is not very popular on mobile phones. According to a a survey conducted by Local Mobile Search, only 6% of the 1,022 respondents to a survey on the topic have actually used their mobile phones for social networking. However, 30% of respondents said they were interested in the idea of using their cell phones this way. 10% showed a “keen interest” in mobile social networking.

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By Michelle Greer

The idea of ads somehow understanding our lifestyles and behavioral patterns sounds kind of creepy at first thought. But according to a survey done by SEMPO, many search engine marketers are all about it.

The survey found that 57% of online advertisers polled were willing to spend more on demographic targeting, such as age and gender. Advertisers, on average, would pay 11% more for both behavioral and demographic targeting. While advertiser interest in behavioral targeting is very strong, actual investment is still low, according to the survey respondents.

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By Michelle Greer.

You have broken down creating keywords and negative keywords to a science. You have your clients running a full throttle social media campaign, complete with Facebook group, Twitter followers, blog, et al. They are now enjoying more exposure and tangible results than they ever did before. If you don’t know how to properly sell this value to your clients, you could be losing money and not even know it.

RainToday, a service based marketing firm, surveyed 343 marketing, advertising and PR professionals on their thoughts of pricing.

What was the scariest part of their jobs, according to the survey?

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By Michelle Greer.

It’s official. As much as people want to pile on the social media consulting gravy train to bring in the big theoretical bucks, even Biz Stone at Twitter sends email newsletters. Apparently, the guys at Twitter have cool news they want you to hear that requires more than 140 characters.

How can marketers actually send emails that people want to read, according to a study done by eROI?

• Put out something people can use. Of those who responded to the study, only 29% offer access to preferred content, 24% offer discounts/coupons, and only 22% offer some kind of contest.

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By Michelle Greer.

Apparently, some online advertisers are realizing that having ads on the 60th page of a Google keyword search isn’t exactly fruitful.

According to a study done by the Kelsey Group, the U.S. interactive classified and vertical share of online advertising will grow from 18 percent in 2007 to 24 percent by 2012. Revenues for interactive classifieds and verticals will grow from US$3.9 billion to US$14.7 billion during the same forecast period, representing a 30.5 percent compound annual growth rate.

What are other key points brought out in the Kelsey Group’s Research?

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By Michelle Greer.

As Andy and Alan have both pointed out both here and here, Google squashed the hype behind comScore’s reports of tepid Google click-through rates for Q1 2008. ComScore’s defense? Their report was for domestic click-through rates only. Considering 30-50% of traffic to U.S. based websites is from overseas, this was a lot of fuss over what has become fairly useless data.

The damage was done though. Analysts used comScore’s figures to show that Google was not bulletproof against recession. Some even speculated that Google was dead.

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By Michelle Greer.

You’ve created a company newsletter because it’s part of the “business plan”. Every month or so, you take a look at the deliverability and click-through rates. You know people actually open them. You also know your email marketing campaign needs work. It’s just not as exhilarating as building your Twitter following or creating that Colbert Fan Club on Ning.

Although email marketing isn’t often associated with Web 2.0, 3.0, or 12.0, people still actively open, read and act upon information from emails. According to a study done by MailerMailer, people open emails just as frequently as they did before the social web, and sometimes more often in certain industries.

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By Michelle Greer.

33% of consumer time is spent online, and yet internet advertising only accounts for 7% of advertising spending. Unfortunately, these users often have the attention span of a three month old golden retriever when it comes to online advertising. Advertisers have to think smarter to capitalize on this untapped market.

How are ad networks making sure that ads actually connect to the products and services they want to buy? Here are just a few highlights from the Rubicon Project’s report “Q1: Ad Network Landscape, Trends and Outlook”:

• Ad networks are shifting to cost-per-action and cost-per-engagement model rather than charging for impressions.

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By Michelle Greer.

You can have the most attractive website of all your competitors. You can hire usability experts, professional photographers, and the greatest PHP developers money can buy. If you aren’t on the first page of Google, you might as well be from Mars. Sorry.

Why? It’s not that we don’t value what you have to offer. It’s that we, the search engine using public, are too hard-pressed for time and/or lazy to bother to look for you. According to a study done by iProspect, 49% of us change our search terms and/or search engine after not finding our desired result on the first page. This compares with 40% in 2007, 42% in 2005 and just 28% in 2004. Only 8% of us actually bother going past the third page.

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