The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that six men have been charged with fraud for participating in a phishing scam that used email and phony online greeting cards to steal credit card numbers and other information from AOL users.
Three...
continue reading »
Google has purchased the Silicon Valley house where its cofounders rented a garage from a future employee to help launch their business.
Google bought the 1,900-square-foot Menlo Park home from Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice president of product management, who eight years...
continue reading »
Control of the internet's root directory, which enables any user anywhere in the world to locate any webpage, will remain with the United States.
The European Union, in particular, has been critical of the Department of Commerce's influence over the internet's...
continue reading »
With the launch of its ASL 2.0, Ask.com has improved its sponsored-listings management tools and increased premium inventory available to search advertisers.
Ask Sponsored Listings (ASL) has a revamped dashboard and bulk management tools (for up to 65,000 keywords), and IAC's...
continue reading »
Email addiction is growing, with no cure in sight, according to online marketing company eROI's September Email Addiction Survey.
Some 61 percent of survey respondents said they continue to check email even while on vacation, and 56 percent reported a high...
continue reading »
Self-destructing email is proving beneficial to lawyers who need to protect privacy, but there's talk that email direct marketers could benefit from the technology.
Lawyers are using Echoworx Corp.'s "secure send" option to remove time-sensitive emails from a recipient's inbox and...
continue reading »
comScore has issued an open letter in response to a recent Ad Week article citing publishers who question the accuracy of comScore and Nielsen/NetRatings metrics.
comScore President and CEO Magid Abraham published an open letter addressing web analytics challenges and publishers'...
continue reading »
Yahoo has invited more than 500 outside programmers to build new applications with Yahoo's services, and has dubbed the move "Yahoo Hack Day."
In opening up its email service, Yahoo is allowing developers to customize the visual aspects of the service,...
continue reading »
Most people think their PC is the must-have communications device, with TV (not surprisingly - since it's an entertainment device) pretty far back in second place, but online video is not yet a significant part of the PC experience (not...
continue reading »
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Google concerning its practice of allowing companies to buy search-related ads that are displayed when users type in the name of a competitor.
The lawsuit, filed in early 2005 by computer repair...
continue reading »
The internet is about to overtake outdoor as the fifth-largest global ad medium this year, is closing in on fourth-place radio, and has achieved a first in two countries, according to the quarterly revision of ZenithOptimedia's global ad tracking study.
Internet...
continue reading »
As anticipated, French corporate raider and Havas Chairman Vincent Bollore has requested that the Aegis Group convene an emergency shareholder meeting, sources say.
Bollore, who owns 29 percent of Aegis shares, has been trying to gain a foothold on the Aegis...
continue reading »
In the face of possible reduced funding and the loss of two major sponsors, PBS has begun offering sponsors increased exposure through integrated buys that include product tie-ins, the internet, podcasts and longer-form sponsor messages.
ExxonMobil, a leading sponsor for Masterpiece...
continue reading »
Even before President Bush has signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, gambling sites are suspending activity in the U.S.
Late last week, Congress approved legislation that requires banks and credit card companies to block payments to the estimated...
continue reading »
After months of pressuring movie studios not to partner with Apple to make movies available for download via iTunes, Wal-Mart itself may be ready to partner with Apple over movie, music, and TV show downloads.
Apple and Wal-Mart are considering an...
continue reading »
Interpublic Group's R/GA has redesigned Nike's e-commerce site with Flash, saying the technology offers not only an improved user experience but also an easier purchase process.
Nike's move to switch to flash for its e-commerce site is a break from traditional...
continue reading »
A new research study into baby boomers has identified six distinct groups of consumers 42 and older.
The study's findings were released last week at a forum hosted by Focalyst, a joint venture of AARP Services and research consultancy Kantar, MediaPost...
continue reading »
Up to 67 percent of consumers who have visited an online store to make a purchase have left without doing so because of a lack of information on the product, according to a survey.
Only 36 percent of online shoppers prefer...
continue reading »
As online video advertising takes off, pre-roll spots have become a source of ad revenue for websites - but mini rebellions may result in losing site visitors to rivals.
For that very reason, some video sites, including YouTube and Google's, don't...
continue reading »
Internet and cable helped propel a 6.6 percent increase in U.S. media revenue, which reached $268.48 billion for the 100 leading media companies, as compiled by AdAge's annual report.
Time Warner remained the No. 1 media company in the U.S. with...
continue reading »
Google not only wants to see Madison Avenue "get bigger" but also wants to be a key catalyst for that growth, combining Silicon Valley with Mad Ave, according to a Google Exec speaking at the official opening of Google's new...
continue reading »
News Corp. on Tuesday said it will be offering full episodes of Fox TV shows on MySpace and local Fox TV websites.
The ad-supported Fox On Demand service will offer episodes of "Prison Break," "Justice" and "Bones" on MySpace and via...
continue reading »
The ultimate fate of newspapers has been questioned in recent months, as subscribers flee to the internet and ad spend slowly diminishes, but dire predictions about papers' imminent demise are nothing new.
With the advent of commercial radio and the arrival...
continue reading »
Insurance company Aflac announced that former Coke and Zyman Group exec Jeff Herbert has been named SVP and CMO, a newly created position.
Herbert will be in charge of Aflac's U.S. operations strategy, advertising, product development, sponsorships and consumer research for...
continue reading »
Online financial portal Zecco.com, currently in beta, will offer free stock trading to registered users starting next week.
Zecco says it can offer free trading because it won't have expensive traditional marketing bills, as it hopes to build business by word-of-mouth,...
continue reading »
A new study points to markedly different online behavior between children ages 8-11 and those 12-14, with consequences for
Teens are much more online savvy, spending more time online engaged in communication and on social-networking sites, a new study by eMarketer...
continue reading »
Web marketers are beginning to embrace conversion rates over traffic data as the metrics of choice to measure online advertising's effectiveness.
There are two main modes of converting website visitors - the search mode and the pitch mode - writes Scott...
continue reading »
After just 10 weeks, Wal-Mart has pulled the plug on "The Hub," a social-networking site for teens that the nation's largest retailer had hoped would become a competitor for MySpace.
When users try to access the The Hub, they are greeted...
continue reading »
Partnering with Yahoo, premium cable network Showtime will stream select episodes of some of its series online, hoping to add new subscribers by exposing viewers to the series in a new medium.
Showtime will stream full-length episodes of Weeds, Sleeper Cell,...
continue reading »
A series of recent lawsuits is challenging an assumption about blogging - that most bloggers are judgment-proof because they're average Joes without money or clout.
More than 50 lawsuits in the past two years, stemming from postings on blogs and website...
continue reading »
Here's another difference between Europeans and Americans: Though Europe has been quick to embrace mobile technology overall, including texting and mobile advertising, not so in the U.S.
U.S. mobile subscribers' response rate to mobile text ads in August was 7.0 percent...
continue reading »
AOL's new broadband-optimized software lets users multitask via an integrated, four-part screen.
AOL on Wednesday launched OpenRide, the free version of its software optimized for high-speed connections, in beta, reports CNET. Users can access multiple email accounts; send and receive instant...
continue reading »
Despite some economic concerns, media and information industry mergers and acquisitions activity remained vibrant through the third quarter, according to the The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI).
Across the 11 media and information industry sectors tracked by JEGI, acquirers completed 493...
continue reading »
LiveJournal has been selling ads on its site since April, but now the blogging website will also add sponsored communities and sponsored features such as text messaging integration.
The first sponsored community on LiveJournal is hosted by Warner Bros. for the...
continue reading »
The Cinncinati Bengals have become the first NFL franchise to create a website for fans to submit their own videos. At the same time, the NFL is restricting local news sites from posting videos of postgame press conferences or locker...
continue reading »
Multi-channel retailers are beginning their holiday marketing earlier this year, and one in five expects growth of 75 percent or more in sales over last year.
Nearly four in ten multichannel retailers - 38.5 percent - plan to start marketing for...
continue reading »
Google has created a new, unbranded site called SearchMash, where user-interface features and ideas can be tested.
SearchMash allows users to perform a search with web and image results presented side by side, SearchEngineWatch writes. Search results are listed in...
continue reading »
Online advertising spend in Britain totaled 917.2 million pounds ($1.72 billion) in the first half of 2006 - 40.3 percent more than in the year-earlier period, according to a new study by the Internet Advertising Bureau in the U.K.
The study,...
continue reading »
The average number of monthly visitors to U.S. newspaper websites increased nearly a third in the first half of 2006, underscoring the importance of the web to papers buffeted by falling circulation and ad revenue.
The average number of unique visitors...
continue reading »
Top companies in retail, automotive and financial services are allotting 10-15 percent of marketing budgets for the internet, with additional dollars for mobile media and other areas, says Steve Grubbs, CEO of Omnicom Group's PHD USA.
Sprint is one such company,...
continue reading »
Web-based audio and video search engine PodZinger announced it will launch its own ad platform and begin offering podcast and other content partners an ad revenue share program.
PodZinger plans to show 10-15-second audio or video ads and will share ad...
continue reading »
Yahoo on Wednesday announced the launch, in beta, of paid-search ads for its mobile service in the U.S. and the U.K.
A "select group of advertisers" are participating in the test of sponsored listings on mobile web search results, according to...
continue reading »
Among the roughly 117 million "Active Gamers" in the U.S. in 2006, more than half (56 percent) play games online, and 64 percent of all online gamers are women, according to Nielsen Entertainment's third annual Active Gamer Benchmark Study, released...
continue reading »
The NFL Internet Network had a strong showing during the opening weekend of the NFL season, posting a 28 percent increase in web traffic over the same time period in 2005.
Traffic was up 28 percent this year after increasing by...
continue reading »
Nickelodeon has launched a mash-up product for the latest version of its broadband hub, TurboNick 2.0, giving visitors access to a variety of Nickelodeon assets, including video clips, audio and photos, along with tools that allow them to create...
continue reading »
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is launching several education and research initiatives for the in-house search marketer.
SEMPO is focusing on in-house search, aiming to help marketers in building their search team, improving knowledge-sharing within their organization and making...
continue reading »
Craigslist, which has been charging for classified jobs ads on its New York and Los Angeles sites since 2004, will begin charging employers a flat-rate fee of $25 per post in Boston, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
The move is...
continue reading »
Kids are increasingly watching television programming online, according to a new study from MindShare Online Research group.
One-third of teens age 12-17 and a quarter of tweens age 8-12 watch TV on the internet, writes MediaPost, citing the Mindshare survey of...
continue reading »
ATT has unveiled an online hub - an updated AT&T Blue Room - that brings together music, sports and other entertainment content, including internet games.
As part of a strategic initiative to link the AT&T brand to premier communications and entertainment...
continue reading »
Burger King has developed videogames for the Xbox featuring The King, his girlfriend Brooke Burke, and The Subservient Chicken.
The videogames mark BK's boldest move into videogames, previously consisting of in-game advertising, AdWeek writes. Three titles are planned - "Big Pumpkin,"...
continue reading »
