ads

Mixing and matching video ads formats with Panache

The world of video advertising right now is a bit chaotic with multiple types of ad formats and different players, making it difficult for publishers and advertisers to easily serve up the best ads on sites.

A Los Angeles-based start-up thinks it has found the solution. Panache offers technology that allows publishers to use video ads in any format and plug them into any type of video player. Now, publishers have to re-engineer their players for different ad formats.

The technology supports Flash Action Script 2 and 3, Adobe Media Player, IPTV, and Microsoft's Silverlight. Panache also offers a … Read more

Google-DoubleClick: The next phase

Now that Google has acquired DoubleClick--the display advertising feather in its proverbial cap--it's time to see if the hat fits.

The $3.1 billion acquisition, which finally closed last week upon European regulator approval, gives Google a much needed boost in the market for display advertising.

Google hasn't offered many clues as to what its plans are with DoubleClick, other than to hint at layoffs. But Google pundits and executives at small ad outfits do have concerns and plenty of opinions about what the search king should do.

Google's AdSense serves up pay-per-click text ads to Web … Read more

New York lawmaker wants opt-in online ad tracking

A New York lawmaker wants you to have the choice over whether Internet companies can serve up ads based on your actions online and who you are.

Companies like Microsoft and Yahoo are already serving ads that reflect your interests, such as Web sites you visit, and even your geography. Behaviorally targeted advertising is the vanguard of online marketing because it can lead to more sales than random ads can.

Privacy advocates say that Web surfers don't understand how much they are being tracked online, and that if they did they wouldn't like it.

With this in mind, … Read more

Yahoo turns to radio ads to lure Google Web searchers

Updated 10 a.m. PDT with quotes from radio ad.

Yahoo is running radio ads in the San Francisco Bay Area and several other markets in an effort to get more people to use its search engine instead of Google's.

"Search engines like Google get you lost in all the links, but not Yahoo search," one of the ads says before noting that Yahoo offers drop-down menus with related suggestions as the searcher types.

"You won't find that on your Google page!" it says, before ending with the trademark Yahoo yodel.

The radio spots … Read more

Yahoo looks to up ante with investor pitch

Updated 5:20 p.m. PST with Alibaba looking to purchase Yahoo's stake.

Yahoo is using rosy financial projections to bolster its case with shareholders in a "last-ditch attempt" to get Microsoft to up the ante in its bid for the company, analysts say.

Yahoo executives began a series of meetings on Tuesday with the company's largest institutional investors and showed them a presentation detailing the company's three-year financial projections that illustrates "the broader picture of all the assets," says a source familiar with the matter.

Under Regulation Fair Disclosure, Yahoo is required … Read more

eMarketer lowers online ad spend forecast

Research firm eMarketer has lowered its forecast for online ad spending due to the "foundering" economy and problems social networks are having attracting ad dollars.

The firm now projects that 2008 online ad spending in the U.S. will be $25.8 billion, down slightly from the $27.5 billion it had forecast for 2008 in October.

The growth rate for online ads, which was nearly 35 percent in 2006 and 25 percent last year, is expected to be 23 percent this year, then drop to around 16 percent or 17 percent for a few years until rising … Read more

Google's DoubleClick gets in on the ad widget act

Google says "gadgets" and DoubleClick says "widgets."

Semantics is probably the last thing on Google's mind right now as it starts integrating DoubleClick and its online ad technologies into its business. But it's something they'll have to figure out, nonetheless.

Google's new DoubleClick business, a recent acquisition following U.S. and European regulator scrutiny, announced on Monday that it is adding rich media widget ads to the repertoire of online advertising types it serves up to customers.

Widget ads aim to be interactive and clever enough to entice Web surfers to grab … Read more

CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits

CBS Television Stations has launched a new program to get its local news headlines onto blogs and social-media sites, the CBS division said Monday.

Called the CBS Local Ad Network, it's a way for participating region-focused blogs to pull in extra cash by embedding CBS news widgets on their sites and splitting the revenue of accompanying ads with CBS.

On Monday, the program was launched in a selection of the TV network's regional markets: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Within the next few weeks, CBS has said, the CBS Local Ad Network will come to … Read more

BrightRoll brings HD video ads to the Web

If you're among the majority of Americans, you probably aren't watching high-definition on your television yet. But come Monday, you may start to see HD commercials on your PC.

San Francisco-based BrightRoll is offering advertisers the ability to run large-format, high-quality video ads across its network of Web site publishers.

The ads initially appear as banner ads on the page. When a user click on one, a large separate window opens up on top of the Web page.

There are trade-offs for serving up high-definition video in terms of time it takes for them to load, but these … Read more