Breaking Digital Marketing News

TiVo: Super Bowl More Engaging than Ads; Doritos is Top Spot

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 9, 2010 - 10:30am.
Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) reports that the top five moments during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast that users of its digital video recorders rewound to watch again were all from the game itself, as opposed to the commercials.

MySpace Music Testing Audio Ads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 8, 2010 - 1:03pm.
Los Angeles - MySpace Music, the joint venture between the News Corp.-owned (NYSE: NWS) social network and the major record labels, is testing 30-second audio ads that users must listen to before they can access free song streams, the Associated Press reported. The ads "are timed so that a user can listen to up to 100 songs on a playlist or to a full album with just a single interruption after the first song," AP reports. The company is working with TargetSpot to sell the audio ads.

Facebook Dumps Microsoft for Display Ads; Expands Search Deal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 5, 2010 - 10:16am.
Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft announced on Friday that it will no longer sell display ads on Facebook, while it has expanded its search advertising partnership with the online social network.

Spotify: U.S. Launch Within 60 Days; Music Discovery Upgraded

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2010 - 10:47am.
London - Spotify, the ad-supported European streaming music service, is set to launch in the U.S. in one or two month's time, CEO Daniel Ek said at a music conference in Los Angeles, Billboard reported. Ek also said that the company is adding "a few thousand" paying subscribers a day in Europe to the premium, ad-free version of its service. The company said separately in a press release on Wednesday that it has updated its artist discovery feature, and now includes its own "cross-referencing data collected over millions of users listening hours to power recommendations." Spotify's recommendations were previously created using tagging data provided by AllMusic.

AOL Posts $1.4M Profit in First Earnings Report Since Spin-off

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2010 - 9:18am.
New York - In its first quarterly filing since splitting with former parent Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), AOL (NYSE: AOL) on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 million.

Online Video Ad Network BrightRoll Raises $10 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2010 - 7:11am.
San Francisco - BrightRoll, an online video advertising network, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $10 million in third round financing, led by Scale Venture Partners.

Reuters, News Distribution Network Offer Video News Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2010 - 12:12pm.
New York - Newsgathering agency Reuters announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with News Distribution Network on a video news platform for U.S. newspapers, magazines and radio stations. The service will deliver licensed news video from partners including CBS News and E! Entertainment to Reuters customers at no extra charge. Revenue from advertising will be shared between Reuters, NDN and the content providers.

Women-Focused Network Glam Media Raises $50 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2010 - 9:41am.
New York - Glam Media, a publisher of women-focused websites and operator of a corresponding ad network, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $50 million in a fifth round of funding, led by Aeris Capital.

Bravo TV Teams with Foursquare on Location-based Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 11:40am.
New York - NBC Universal's Bravo TV network has partnered with location-based social network and reviews service Foursquare, with Bravo to offer Foursquare users game "badges" for visiting locations seen on Bravo's programs. Bravo will promote the Foursquare service and the 500 Bravo-specific locations in on-air segments, and plans to offer a sweepstakes and other awards to entice users to play the game on Foursquare.

Brand Affinity Technologies Acquires Beelya

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 8:13am.
Irvine, Calif. - Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT), a service that offers to help athletes and celebrities gain endorsement marketing deals, has acquired Beelya, a creator of authentic virtual sports collectibles.

BlueKai Gets $21 Million for Online Ad Data Exchange

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 7:28am.
Seattle - BlueKai, a provider of data related to online advertising for marketers, ad networks and publishers, has raised $21 million in a third round of funding, led by GGV Capital.

Local Online Ad Firm Yodle Raises $10 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2010 - 7:21am.
New York - Yodle, a provider of local online advertising and lead generation services, announced on Monday that it has closed a $10 million, fourth round of financing, led by JAFCO Ventures.

Ad Network Martini Media Acquires Decision Maker Media

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 28, 2010 - 6:57am.
San Francisco - Martini Media, an online ad network targeting affluent consumers, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Decision Maker Media (DMM), a vertical media platform that courts business decision-makers.

ClearSaleing Raises $1.7 Million for Advertising Analytics

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 27, 2010 - 8:11am.
Columbus, Ohio - ClearSaleing, a provider of online advertising analytics services, has raised $1.7 million in its third round of funding from NCT Ventures Fund I.

Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement Adds Members

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2010 - 12:23pm.
New York - The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), a group aiming to develop new audience measurement techniques for TV and cross-platform video, announced that Gannett, PepsiCo, Belo, ConAgra, Hearst and Microsoft have joined the group. Among CIMM's first initiatives is set-top box measurement, and the group is embarking to establish a common "STB Lexicon" for analyzing and processing set-top box measurement. Existing CIMM members include AT&T, CBS, Carat, Discovery, GroupM, NBC Universal, News Corp., Omnicom, Publicis, Time Warner and Disney.

Google Cyber Attacks Sought Targets via Social Networks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2010 - 8:44am.
Beijing - Those who conducted the recent cyber attacks against Google (NASD: GOOG) in China first sourced employees on social networks to identify their friends, and then pose as those friends in a bid to get the employees to click on a malware link, the Financial Times reported.

IgnitAd Gets Seed Funding for Online Ad Optimization

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2010 - 7:29am.
Jerusalem, Israel - IgnitAd, a provider of online ad optimization services, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding, from DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures and Jerusalem Venture Partners' JVP Media Studio.

SoundCloud, Hype Machine Team to Serve Music to Bloggers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 12:25pm.
London - SoundCloud, the provider of a music distribution platform for labels and artists, on Monday announced a partnership with music blog aggregator The Hype Machine. The deal will allow artists and labels to serve tracks directly to bloggers through SoundCloud, via embeddable SoundCloud players on their sites. The Hype Machine will detect these players across blogs that it aggregates, and allow tracks to be streamed on its own site. Artists and labels will then also be able to access data on the music, including number of plays and which blogs picked up their tracks. Initial partners include Domino Records and artists including Massive Attack.

INgrooves Adds E-books, Printed Media to Distribution Platform

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 25, 2010 - 8:04am.
San Francisco - Looking to capitalize on the nascent e-book market, digital music and video distribution firm INgrooves announced on Monday the launch of a new e-book and printed media division.

Hello Music Gets $4 Million for Web A&R Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 22, 2010 - 7:32am.
Cannes, France - Hello Music, a new Web-based talent discovery service for musical artists, announced on Friday that it has raised $4 million in funding from KVG Partners.