November 2010
8 posts
DSPs are creating tension both within ad agencies... →
Says the Publicis employee of his counterparts at Vivaki: “They are like Gods internally, they are bringing in the profits now.” At the very least, it is obvious that these DSPs are creating…
How Google hand picked its competitors →
Android is powerful, but as Google is finding out, power can be very dangerous without control.
via Did Google Arm Its Own Enemies With Android? | asymco.
Google knew of Android’s power but…
Comparison of Facebook today and pre- IPO Google →
Google IPO’d in late summer of 2004 but 2-3 years before that event, they already the swagger of a tech titan because they saw a few big (and many small scrappy) companies had laid the groundwork…
Feedback loops: QVC Finesses Its Multimedia... →
Optimizing television content using real time feedback:
“We track new orders per minute in increments of six seconds; we can look backward in time and see what it was that drove that spike: ‘Ooh!…
Great question: What Percentage of 2010 Seed Deals... →
I’m not really big on the posts about the seed bubble because I don’t find them substantive. What I’m a fan of are posts opining on how these things will play out. That’s why I’ll spend time reading…
My quick thoughts on the end of Ask.com’s engine →
IAC’s Diller Surrenders to Google Juggernaut, Ends Ask.com Search Effort – Bloomberg.
They lasted a lot longer than I ever thought they would. The Teoma team (with ties to Rutgers) had a lot of…
Self Linking: Proof Ask.com Is Dead →
Since IAC just killed Ask.com, I was reviewing some of my past posts about them. Here’s an SERoundtable link from last May:
May 16, 2010 via Proof Ask.com Is Dead « ECPM BLOG.
Here is some…
Really? Ask.com:”The development of search as a... →
Not true. From Google’s point of view, they’ve committed significantly to development and it’s given them a very differentiated product.
“The development of search as a technology has become…
May 2010
25 posts
Sad if true: Online Advertising is Not an Intent... →
In response to a Chris Dixon post, Jonathan basically says that he thinks brand advertising is dead online and it’ll behoove Facebook to focus on performance based advertising.
Branding and…
Proof Ask.com Is Dead →
This about sums it up:
Here is some history on why I am so fed up with Ask.com. I think Ask.com is not about search, their technology is falling apart and they try to monetize everything as best…
blog.ChrisRicca.com – Maybe twitter isn’t that... →
Google Trends shows that Twitter is still small potatoes:
blog.ChrisRicca.com – Maybe twitter isn’t that popular….
Increase conversion rate by making your site ugly.... →
There’s a lot of truth in the title of this blog post. I’ve had the privilege of working with business minded UX guys and designers who were willing to try anything and we learned a lot of…
Americans Received 1 Trillion Display Ads in Q1... →
Total U.S. display ad spending in Q1 reached an estimated $2.7 billion, with the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) equal to $2.48.
U.S. Online Display* Advertising Market…
When the software platform you’re on changes the... →
Zynga is a marketing behemoth and they rake in the majority of their revenues on Facebook. So when Facebook makes seemingly small changes that impact a company’s marketing response rates, it makes a…
Teoma Is Back, But Still Run By Ask’s IAC →
On September 11, 2001(yea, I know), Teoma was acquired by Ask Jeeves in order for Ask Jeeves to focus more on competing with Google, but I wasn’t confident. Eventually Ask Jeeves was rebranded as…
Pre Announcements Have Value →
This Dan Frommer quote is so wrong:
There is ZERO reason for Google and Verizon to pre-announce a tablet collaboration, likely several months before anything is available for purchase.
via …
Now use Google to find quick, short answers →
The marketing and positioning is very reminiscent of Ask.com’s initial pitch:
Often people search to find basic facts, such as [catherine zeta-jones date of birth]. Three months ago we began…
The way enterprise software is sold →
There’s something wrong with this post but I can’t put it into words:
in 2010, there is no reason whatsoever for application performance management to be sold by a direct sales force. If the…
People on the internet are cheap – Another... →
Continuing my series on how people on the internet are cheap and don’t want to buy anything.
Facebook has a crisis of intent. When a visitor signs in to Facebook their intent is to socialize. They…
DSPs are advertiser/agency facing systems that let... →
I think the self service part might be a little misleading but this description and link provide a more than basic intro of Demand Side Platforms:
DSPs are advertiser/agency facing systems that…
iPhone App Monetization Outlier: OpenTable →
Here’s a nice story on how OpenTable’s mobile app contributes about $150 million in revenue:
Since OpenTable launched its iPhone app in November, 2008 it has booked restaurant reservations for 3…
Marketing On Twitter- Low Performance Suggests Low... →
A new study by Edison Research provides a complex and multi-layered picture of Twitter – along with some interesting data points that suggest it may not be worthwhile for some companies to focus…
Google invests in TV ad startup- Interesting... →
I thought this little TV ad schematic was interesting:
Google invests in TV ad startup Invidi’s $23M round | VentureBeat.
Good advice for cheap, tight on money startups... →
Search Engines don’t create intent, they harvest it. In other words, you can’t use Google to create demand for what you’re selling, you can only use it take advantage of any demand that already…
Conflicting Reports: iPad vs Netbooks →
Report #1:
iPad Brings the Growth of Netbooks to a Halt [CHART].
Less than a year ago, the netbook market was growing at a whopping 641% percent year-over-year. But in April, that growth slowed…
When you lack quality, you talk about scale,... →
When you lack quality, you talk about scale, targeting and efficiently priced ad executions — and BrightRoll is not alone in steering this type of conversation. Tremor is another big player in…
Possibly why Google bought Agnilux? →
Researchers at Harvard and Microsoft have authored a paper that seeks to prove that a small, power-efficient core like the Intel Atom chip can be better suited for search, a conclusion that might…
Terence Kawaja’s IAB Networks and Exchanges... →
And you if you have a few minutes to spare, go check out the A Few Good DSP video. It’s great especially if you’re a fan of A Few Good Men.
[Image] Online Advertising Value Chain →
A nice little graphic by GCA Savvian, via AdExchanger“
[Link] Demand-Side Platforms Gain Traction in... →
A rather pessimistic title to point out the same old issues:
Mr. Brunick said there are a few obstacles preventing the wider adoption of DSPs, including the lack of “huge chunks” of money…
[Link] Why Apple Needs to Loosen Up – Newsweek.com →
I really enjoyed this bit for some reason:
The first two decades of the World Wide Web have been a huge mistake. The Internet is not a philosophy. It’s a distribution mechanism. The laws of physics…
Adobe is laboriously rewriting the Wired app in... →
I don’t think all is lost though– I’m sure they are hoping to use the old stuff for Android.
So back to the drawing board: Adobe (ADBE) is laboriously rewriting the Wired app in Apple-approved…
Just because you didn’t know about them doesn’t... →
I say this in jest– Jeff is quite smart and I respect him as a VC (and entrepreneur). He just published a book on venture capital and I think it’s a mighty fine intro to the industry.
Amazing…
October 2009
16 posts
Complaints vs Video AdNets Rise as Buyers Pay for... →
With the popularity of online video advertising on the rise, media buyers are faced with large variations in pricing and options to decipher. Pre-roll video ads can run anywhere from CPMs under…
Schmidt:”In the deal dynamics, the price,... →
Nice little quote from Eric Schmidt speaking about Youtube’s valuation. At the time, this acquisition threw me off a bit and made me realize that I overestimated my understanding of Google’s…
“Google is fresher. Google is not only fresher but... →
Matt Cutts, talking about his job at Google. And in his description of Caffeine, he commits one of my biggest (off topic) pet peeves:
Caffeine was primarily an infrastructural change. That was…
AVG announces $200 million investment from TA... →
AVG announces $200 million investment from TA Associates the week after Microsoft revealed its free antivirus software. Their run rate must be pretty nice.
AVG is also announcing today it has…
How to market innovative products →
An interesting article in NYT from Mary Tripsas, an associate professor at HBS:
AS innovative products are introduced, category boundaries are continually shifting and new categories emerging….
Javascript at its best indeed! – HuffPo... →
Mike Hudack – HuffPo infiltrates your copy and paste.
There Are No Search Rock Stars – Search Engine... →
There Are No Search Rock Stars – Search Engine Watch (SEW).
” * * Yahoo and Google will account for... →
Here’s the latest datapoint on mobile market size.
via Bernstein Agrees: Mobile Ad Opportunity Is Smaller Than You Think.
…
I’m a fan of the non profit and cooperative... →
Founder of Tripod arguing that social networks should be operated as non profits:
Instead of expecting profits that won’t materialize, the entrepreneurial community should instead operate…
Nice– Google Shows View-through Conversions →
The Google AdWords Blog announced that Google is now showing you conversions, within the AdWords console, for when someone sees your ad but does not click on your ad, but yet, still buys…
“MySpace did about $500–$600 million of revenue... →
Here is Blodget trying to figure out how much MySpace is worth now. His best case valuation is MySpace cutting all costs and milking itself to death:
A glance at the financials–shrinking…
LinkedIn Should Be On Salesforce’s Radar Now:... →
If LinkedIn wasn’t on Salesforce’s radar, it should be now. I think Salesforce has around $400 million in cash, which is an order or magnitude lower than most of the companies that are in a…
Picnik has a built-in marketing challenge →
When you’re product’s name is too hard to spell, it creates a marketing nightmare:
Of the total traffic, almost half is direct traffic to http://www.picnik.com. Somebody is hearing about (it…
AOL Strategy- How will they grow? →
Typically, companies the size of AOL have two general ways of growing– by releasing old products in new markets or by releasing new products in old markets.
Both ways leverage existing…
It’s the ecosystem →
I’ve always been a fan of this answer when people ask why Silicon Valley is so dominant when it comes to entrepreneurship.
I thought this little bit about London as a financial center supports…
The U.K. has become the first major economy to see... →
Adding this to the advertising statistics category:
The U.K. has become the first major economy to see advertisers spending more on internet adverts than traditional TV ones.
via Online Ads…
September 2009
62 posts
Slashdot: Amazon’s Cloud May Provision 50,000 VMs... →
This indicates a growth of 4 billion S3 objects per month, giving a daily growth total of about 133 million new S3 objects per day. How big can the cloud get before it starts to rain?
via …