Men plan to spend more than women this Mother's Day, with an anticipated average "spend" of $170 compared with women's $110, according to a Brand Keys survey, writes MarketingCharts.
The survey, part of the Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, asked 1,200 men...
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Mattel has tapped online ad firm Gorilla Nation to manage online display ad inventory for Barbie.com and PollyPocket.com.
The Barbie site serves 7.3 million unique visitors per month; PollyPocket.com draws about four million.
Both sites will be incorporated in Gorilla Nation's GNKids...
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Men's lifestyle destination CraveOnline has acquired HockeysFuture.com and HFBoards.com.
HockeysFuture covers prospects for the 30 NHL clubs and as well as news on leagues in North America and Europe. It also has a web radio station dedicated to hockey news.
HFBoards is...
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BazaarVoice has unveiled a partner program, Radius, which ports customer comments and reviews into online ads.
Radius gives firms access to an open API which enables clients to syndicate comments and reviews from product pages, then include them in display ads...
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Today TBA Global is expected to announce the launch of its digital entertainment division, MediaPost reports.
TBA Digital Entertainment Engagement Programming (TBA DEEP) is reportedly already used amongst clients like MTV, McDonald's and Ford.
Its 12 employees — six specialists, six...
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Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are combining wireless broadband units, reports The Associated Press.
The duo will operate under the Clearwire label and focus on the development and implementation of WiMax high-speed internet technology.
WiMax is faster than standard Wi-Fi. Clearwire and...
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Business marketers on average spend 29.42 percent of their current marketing budget on the creation and execution of custom content, according to a Junta42 survey of 150 marketing decision makers who subscribe to BtoB magazine, MarketingCharts writes (via MediaPost).
That finding...
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Lauren Zalaznick has been made president of women and lifestyle entertainment at NBCU. Properties under her jurisdiction include iVillage, Oxygen and TV show The Biggest Loser.
News of her promotion occurred in tangent with the creation of Women@NBC. This division will...
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Google leads in the European search market with more than 19 billion searches conducted in March - or 79 percent of the market - according to the comScore qSearch 2.0 rankings (via MarketingCharts). No. 3 Yandex of Russia outpaced both...
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Quantcast has launched a service that allegedly enables marketers to search for websites by readership demographic.
"If a marketer is targeting black male readers, over 40, with an income over $60,000, then Quantcast’s new service serves up a list of websites...
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The market share of April US visits to a custom category of 57 of the leading social-networking websites increased 3 percent from March - but was down 16 percent from April 2007, Hitwise reports - via MarketingCharts. MySpace.com led in...
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Ad Networks and Analytics:
DoubleClick introduced a widget calculating tool that tells advertisers how much weight their widgets are pulling among users.
Agencies and Execs:
DG FastChannel and Enliven Marketing Technologies Corp. plan to merge in a deal valued at $98 million.
Havas Media...
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The One Club hosted its annual One Show ceremony last night at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York. The ceremony honors outstanding ads and campaigns across radio, TV, online and in theatres.
HBO/Voyeur, which included an outdoor installation as well as...
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A source for the Wall Street Journal claims Microsoft has asked Facebook whether it is interested in selling.
Last year, Microsoft purchased 1.6 percent of Facebook for $240 million.
Microsoft's investment bankers allegedly approached the social networking site around the time the...
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To buttress users against inappropriate conduct and content, Facebook has joined ranks with 49 Attorneys General.
"Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from its outset," said Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly.
"We are proud to join...
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Proprietary rich media techologies, such as Flash and Silverlight, threaten the open nature of the internet, warned the founder of Mozilla Europe this week.
Mozilla's Tristan Nitot made the statements at London's Internet World conference on Tuesday, ZDNet reports.
With upcoming revision...
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Half of DVR owners had watched shows online, but just four percent do so on a weekly basis, according to Performics.
Google's DoubleClick Performics unit examined the commercial watching behavior of 500 viewers.
35 percent of DVR owners said they pay attention...
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Federal tax rebates will give retail sales a significant and much-needed boost in the next two quarters, predicts TNS Retail Forward, saying retails sales growth will improve by as much as three percentage points in the third quarter and half...
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Following the withdrawal of its Yahoo bid, Bill Gates says Microsoft will focus on growing its online ad and search businesses.
The Associated Press reports Gates express confidence about Microsoft's ability to compete against Google, which, he admits, has a "strong...
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The vast majority of Boomers say it is important that their physician have specialized training in dealing with older patients, but a majority say they cannot find such a doctor, according to the first annual Senior Health Index from American...
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Reuters reports that MySpace users will now be able to share information on sites like Twitter, Yahoo and eBay.
MySpace users may control what information — such as profile pictures and contact information — gets shared.
The move is tied...
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A growing number of global mobile phone users are accessing social networks over the mobile internet, according to research from Nielsen Mobile - via MarketingCharts.
In the US, over 4 million do so each month, Nielsen said. That's 1.6 percent...
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A quote from a photo retoucher for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty has generated questions about how "real" any of the beauties actually were.
In the May 12 issue of the New Yorker, Pascal Dangin — photo retoucher for Annie Leibovitz,...
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Best Buy has purchased a 50 percent stake in The Carphone Warehouse, a European mobile phone vendor, for $2.1 billion.
The deal includes The Carphone Warehouse's 2400 stores, which span nine European countries, as well as its online and direct businesses,...
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With the growth of broadband subscriptions, and an increasing number of online viewing options, online video use has expanded in the past year, according to consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG), MarketingCharts reports.
31 percent of adults online at home...
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RealNetworks plans to spin its casual gaming division off as an independent entity.
The division will better position the casual games unit more competitively against the market, said RealNetworks. The entity would also be able to make its own acquisitions...
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Google is expected to launch a set of APIs bundled as "Friend Connect." The tools enable users to port profile information from one social network to another. It also empowers websites to add social networking functions to their pages.
And Facebook...
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American economic enthusiasm rallied slightly this month, increasing nearly 10 points and reversing six straight months of declining confidence, according to the most recent results of the RBC CASH (Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household) Index, writes MarketingCharts.
The survey,...
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Clear Channel Radio has introduced a host of features to its station websites, tailored for both listeners and advertisers.
The first of the offerings, Erockstar, debuted two weeks ago and allows people to create playlists or upload music in a social...
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Consumers are increasingly disenchanted with TV but are nonetheless loyal to favorite programs, demonstrating a marked preference for content over delivery method, according to Accenture's inaugural Global Broadcast Consumer Survey, MarketingCharts writes.
Although television remains the predominant mass communications device...
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Despite Phorm's self-styled aggressive stance on user privacy, UK customers remain adamantly distrustful of the service, reports ISPreview.
A survey of 1090 ISPreview readers found 57 percent would leave their ISP if it partnered with Phorm to serve targeted advertising.
Phorm works...
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Users claim the iPhone lives up to the hype, in some cases even displacing laptops for on-the-go 'net browsing.
Even so, many iPhone owners still carry a second phone, according to a Rubicon Consulting study, writes MarketingCharts.
Rubicon conducted a survey...
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Concert promoter Live Nation has made its own contribution to the DIY online ad network market.
The promoting crew-cum-management company — which signed Jay-Z in a 10-year contract last month — will tap a roster of local concert marketers and invite...
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At Nokia's shareholders meeting last week, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told investors the company would like to act "more like an internet company" than a "traditional manufacturer."
"Companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft are not our traditional competitors, but they are...
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Gift cards (35.6 percent) and cash (56.8 percent) will remain the most popular graduation gifts, according to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Graduation Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, MarketingCharts reports.
Traditional favorites like apparel (10.8 percent) and electronics...
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Fox, a global ad network in its own right, has selected AOL's AdTech to deliver ad inventory across multiple media.
According to MediaPost, AdTech must implement its Helios IQ platform across 20 countries in the next six weeks, resulting in the...
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More than 4 in 10 UK mobile phone subscribers (44%) belong to an online social network. And 25% of those social networkers use their mobile phone for social-networking activities, according to (pdf) Nielsen Mobile, writes MarketingCharts.
Around 812,000 Britons each month,...
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Google is getting a glimpse of what objections a deal with Yahoo might raise, reports the BBC.
16 American civil liberties groups have banded to scuttle any likelihood of a liaison between the two companies. Groups include the National Black Leadership...
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DVR owners say they generally ignore commercials on TV and the web, but tend to watch more TV than viewers on average.
American mothers may be the biggest ad-skippers, according to a couple of new surveys, MarketingCharts writes (via Adweek).
About...
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Broadcasting company Radio One has struck a deal to sell ads on hip-hop news site AllHipHop.com.
The agreement spans five years and gives Interactive One, Radio One's digital division, exclusive access to AllHipHop's ad inventory. AllHipHop boasts five million monthly users.
Advertisers...
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In March, Google Sites were again ranked top US video property, with more than 4.3 billion videos viewed (38 percent share of all videos), gaining 2.6 share points form the previous month, according to comScore's Video Metrix service, MarketingCharts reports....
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Ad Networks and Analytics:
Real estate search site Trulia has built its own ad network, which may be valuable for advertisers pursuing local ad opportunities.
ABC has introduced the "advertising value index," which tracks how well commercials perform on a given platform.
Agencies...
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While online audiences grow for its shows, ad revenue has not kept pace, said Jeff Zucker in an interview with the Financial Times.
Changes in ad sales and delivery are crucial to monetizing online streaming, Zucker said, and grow more necessary...
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NBC’s unusual upfront garnered mixed reviews from the media crowd, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.
Some blamed the network for using the new format to distract from a weak programming slate, while others liked the innovative format.
Yesterday's event drew advertisers through a number of...
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PubMatic released a report that suggests online ad spend is impacted by the US economic woes, reports BizJournals.
Based on data from 3,000 affiliate ad publishers, PubMatic's second annual AdPrice Index shows online ad spend is down 23 percent on average.
The...
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Online publisher CondeNet has launched MySpace applications for Style, Epicurious and Wired, as well as Flip.com, a scrapbook app aimed at female teens.
Each app extends the lifestyle experience for magazine devotees. The Epicurious app brings a Recipe of the Day...
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The top 3 technology vendors among software, hardware, and service providers are Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, reports the Aberdeen Group's Annual State of the Market Report, which for the first time includes a list of Top 100 firms, writes MarketingCharts....
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued four new rules pertaining to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
In the wake of the new rules, DirectMag.com says the FTC decided not to shorten the time marketers must honor opt-out requests from 10...
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15 percent of respondents to a comScore survey say they purchased their current auto insurance policy online — a gain of three percent from last year, comScore said (via MarketingCharts).
Traditional agents recorded a corresponding decline in market share,...
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A federal judge has awarded MySpace $230 million in a case against a notorious spammer, reports The Associated Press.
The complaint was filed against "Spam King" Sanford Wallace and partner Walter Rines, which hijacked MySpace profiles by obtaining passwords through...
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