• Ross Fadner, Sep 20, 2007, 11:03 AM
  • AOL Underlines Web Portal Woes Forbes.com AOL, like its Big Web competitors, has made a few significant moves into the advertising network business--moves that will likely increase the company's aggregated revenue and advertising effectiveness. But acquisitions like the behavioral targeting firm Tacoda are band-aids for a much bigger problem: AOL's core business, the Web portal business, ain't really growin'-- enough. Time Warner recently admitted that gains at its Web unit won't match that of the greater U.S. online advertising market--bad news for a company that just started getting serious about advertising two years ago.

    The greater problem is the portal business model. AOL's woes are reflected by rivals Yahoo, which has struggled with lackluster financial results, and Microsoft's MSN, which continues to operate at a loss--most recently $732 million for the second quarter.

    In spite of these troubles, AOL, Yahoo and MSN still collectively represent 30% of the online ad market, according to eMarketer, down from 32.5% in 2006. Google, meanwhile, accounts for more than one-quarter of Web advertising, precisely because it's a search technology company and not a portal. That's why AOL et. al. have made a string of ad network acquisitions recently: to better compete on the more lucrative ad services front. Read the whole story...
  • CBS Gets Digital Makeover Los Angeles Times On the same day that NBC announced free ad-supported downloads of its TV shows, the L.A. Times had a story about the ambitious Web strategy of NBC rival CBS Corp. Reporter Dawn Chmielewski calls CBS' approach to Web distribution "promiscuous," in that the company seeks as many open, nonexclusive partnerships it can get.

    In many ways, CBS' strategy comes from the "Web know-how" its executives accrued from a meeting with 16 next-generation Internet companies in Silicon Valley last year. Among other things, they discussed social media and Web 2.0 distribution. "The key lesson from Silicon Valley is respect for the audience," said Jonathan Barzilay, senior vice president and GM of entertainment at CBS Interactive.

    The executives' learning is reflected in the media giant's revamped homepage, which is no longer merely "regurgitated television," as a CBS executive once described it. The report says the new site, launched in conjunction with the network's fall season, has less clutter and added social networking touches to attract public discourse. Read the whole story...
  • Zillow.com Raises $30 Million The Wall Street Journal It seems the credit crunch affecting hedge funds and financial services companies has yet to put a damper on Silicon Valley optimism, as venture capitalists continue to pour money into promising tech companies. A few days after Facebook investors signed off on a $10 million giveaway fund for application developers, real estate site Zillow.com has raised three times as much from its investors.

    The investment round comes on top of the $57 million Zillow raised since its launch 18 months ago. As recently as last year, investors valued the company at $250 million, but the new round of funding, the company's third, brings its value to $350 million. Zillow CEO Rich Barton, who founded the online travel site Expedia.com, wouldn't comment on the valuation, but said the cash would be used to improve the company's Web site, "augment its advertising sales force" and launch a new localized advertising program.

    The Seattle-based company currently has 155 employees and 20 national sales reps. Among other things, Zillow offers estimated home values, called "Zestimates," home seller postings and regional real estate search, and services connecting home buyers to brokers. Read the whole story...
  • MTV Launches Activist Social Network Reuters In the wake of "Flux", MTV on Thursday announced another social networking initiative, Think.MTV, aimed at young people interested in social activism. Whereas Flux is more of a distributed set of social media tools, Think is a destination site that aims to connect Web users on sociopolitical issues, like discrimination, the environment and sexual health.

    Like other social networks, users will create pages and upload photos and videos; some may be aired on MTV's Web site or cable network. Think.MTV profiles can also be used on other sites that fall under the MTV Networks umbrella. The site is backed by nonprofit and activist organizations like AOL founder Steve Case's Case Foundation, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Foundation.

    Think's launch comes a few weeks after MTV stuck a deal with News Corp.'s MySpace to stream a series of discussions between U.S. presidential candidates and Internet viewers on the social network. Those discussions will now also appear on Think.MTV. Read the whole story...