Search and media company Marchex adds more than a billion Web pages to its content network today as it officially launches more than 100,000 vertical and local Web sites--taking aim at the top spot of the lucrative, but highly fragmented local search market. Pages with titles such as newyorkdining.com and seattleinsurance.com include business and service listings complete with maps, user-generated ratings and expert reviews--content aggregated by Marchex's Open List publishing technology. In addition to crossing some 20,000 Yellow Pages categories, the launch also includes ZIP code Web sites like 90210.com, covering every state in the U.S. Though the sites include sidebar space for sponsored text and display ads, the local information is "organic and constantly updated," said Matthew Berk, lead search architect, Marchex. "Open List content doesn't come from advertisers, and it can change based on how users configure it." The company is also launching a new rating system on the sites called, "I Like It," that allows users to rate and sort business listings with one click. According to local search analysts, the difference between Marchex's local content network and traditional "direct navigation sites" is the quality and depth of available information. Users can drill down local searches based on relevant criteria such as price or cuisine for restaurants, and vehicle type or neighborhood for auto repair. "With so much deep content, their network has both user retention and SEO benefits," said Mike Boland, senior analyst, The Kelsey Group. "Users come back because they find good information and search engines have more data to crawl." "There's an industry-wide realization that a vast majority of consumer transactions are beginning with online research and ending with off-line purchases," Boland added, so advertisers are shifting toward finding local channels that will lead those off-line conversions. While research firms like The Kelsey Group have predicted the local search market to boom to $2.6 billion in four years, no clear local search leader has emerged. The search giants have tweaked their algorithms to include more local search listings, but can't afford to sacrifice the scope of their crawls for the level of detail that vertical and local search provide. Internet Yellow Pages providers and niche-specific local listings may lead particular categories, but analysts say that overall, the market fragmentation is a boon to consumers and advertisers alike. "The competition encourages innovation from companies like Marchex," said Boland. "New features get rolled out, content providers experiment with functionality, and it all serves to benefit the user experience and the ad sales model as a whole."
PointRoll, the Gannett subsidiary that has served over 100 billion rich media ads since its launch in 2000, will transfer all 1,500 (or so) of its clients this weekend to AdPortal--a new system that combines previously separate design, publishing and tracking capabilities into one platform. As an added bonus, PointRoll will formally offer agencies and marketers the ability to serve all other online ads--i.e., Flash and GIF--along with rich media. This new one-stop shop for advertisers uses Web 2.0 technology to create a "user-intuitive interface," said Jason Tafler, PointRoll's senior vice president of global business operations and strategy, explaining that "clients wanted more access to these tools in one place." "Now that these tools and processes have been combined into a single platform and user interface," said PointRoll CEO Chris Saridakis in a statement, "marketers will be able to effectively build and deliver even better rich media campaigns, specifically targeted and with measurable ROI." But, even for those still locked into separate creative and media functions, AdPortal promises to deliver significant improvements over the old system. For creative agencies, Tafler told OnlineMediaDaily, new design tools will make it easy to create complex rich media ads. For media agencies, Tafler continued, "it's easy to work with us to traffic all ads across thousands of publications." And the analytics function will allow for tracking and reporting on more than 100 different metrics. As for those non-rich media ads, Tafler pointed out that just a few years ago, PointRoll's clients were using the company for the 10-20% of their online ads that used rich media. Now, with "a lot of these clients shifting 60 to 80% of their budgets" into rich media, Tafler said they were asking PointRoll, "Why do we have to use another system" for that remaining percentage? PointRoll certainly had the ability to do other kinds of ad serving--and indeed, has been doing that "behind the scenes" for a while, Tafler said. He added that "several big clients" now do all their ad serving with PointRoll, although he said he couldn't disclose any names at this point. AdPortal has been in development over the past year, according to Tafler, and clients will have a "slight migration period of several weeks," during which PointRoll will provide basic training for the new platform.
AOL News has relaunched as an ultra-clean blog that's big on interactive features like polls and user-submitted and shared material. With the new site, AOL joins the ranks of media companies that have relinquished editorial and design control to consumers whose attention increasingly rests on their ability to affect the content they consume. "News habits have changed, and AOL News is the first site designed from the ground up to appeal to today's online news consumer," said Lewis D'Vorkin, senior vice president, AOL News and Sports. "We believe that AOL News will set the standard for other major online news sites." Some major news sites, however, had previously caught on. Publishers that have already embraced interactivity and social features include The New York Times and USA Today, which has recorded a near 400% jump in online registrations since relaunching earlier this year. New to AOL's site, the center column of the main news page features regularly updated top news stories, selected by AOL's editorial news staff and delivered blog-style. This column also features embedded video, photos and polls. The left side of the new page features stories that are generating the most user interest, including most popular and most-commented-on stories, along with user-submitted news. The site also includes in-depth features, called Topics Pages, on a wide range of stories, such as elections, health and science.
If only for lack of choice in the matter, media buyers have been expressing confidence in Yahoo's new head of sales, David Karnstedt, and the company's latest restructuring. "For proactive agency units, David is not a new guy," said Curt Hecht, chief digital officer at GM Planworks, Starcom MediaVest Group's dedicated media unit for General Motors and a longtime Yahoo partner. "At SMG we know him well, and believe he can lead Yahoo to integrate search and display the way we have been [doing] for clients in our communication plans the past few years." "His level of immersion on our clients has been at least equal to Wenda," Hecht added, referring to Wenda Harris Millard--the six-year Yahoo veteran who, despite departing for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, appears to have solidified the company's ties with Madison Ave. Still, entrenched media buyers appear to be more interested in the promise of Yahoo's new sales structure than in any one individual. "The big story is consolidation," said Steve Ustaris, group media director for Carat Fusion. "If Yahoo does this right, and offers integrated programs across the board, it could allow us to get better deals for our clients." Said Hecht: "We see consolidation (display/search) as smart, since we present consolidated communication plans to clients that typically have consolidated marketing operations." Properly integrating the search and display sides of Yahoo's business is expected to take several months, Gregory Coleman, Yahoo's executive vice president of global sales, told OnlineMediaDaily earlier this week. Karnstedt, who earned his chops with such Internet pioneers as Lycos and Alta Vista, will continue to report to Coleman as head of North American sales. He joined Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) in September 2001.
The Internet has passed radio to become Americans' second "most essential" medium and swapped places with TV as the "most cool and exciting medium" since the subjects were last studied five years ago, reported Edison Media Research. Edison's "Internet and Multimedia 2007" study, conducted this past winter with Arbitron, reported that 36% of consumers age 12 and over chose TV as the "most essential" medium in their lives, followed by 33% choosing the Internet, 17% radio, and 10% newspapers. In 2002, TV was also ranked "most essential" by 39% of respondents, followed by 26% for radio and 20% for the Internet. Interestingly, the Internet also placed second when this year's respondents were asked to name the "least essential" medium, this time placing behind newspapers. Here, 35% found newspapers "least essential," followed by 24% for the Internet, and 18% for both TV and radio. In 2002, the Internet had topped the "least essential" list, at 33%. Finally, the Internet and TV swapped places in the category of "most cool and exciting medium," with the Internet getting this designation from 38% of respondents in 2007 versus 25% in 2002, and TV from 35%, down from 48% just five years ago.
Roo Group, which provides video solutions to online content providers and advertisers, made several key hires this week, including Bert Solivan as executive vice president and general manager. Solivan comes from Fox News, where he served as senior vice president. In addition, Paula Balzer--former chief marketing officer at Clear Channel Entertainment--was appointed chief marketing officer, while Rick Gell, co-founder of Corbis Corporation, was named chief content officer. Still in its infancy, Roo recently reported first-quarter revenues up 68% compared to $3 million. But with clients including News Corp., Verizon and The Street.com, Roo has established itself as a company to watch in the nascent broadband industry. Earlier this year, News Corp. agreed to purchase a 5% stake in the company, and will potentially take another 5% in the near term. Roo has powered video distribution and syndication across News Corp.'s properties, including The Times of London and The Australian. Roo also has content syndication partnerships with Fox News Channel and Sky News.
Today at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS Radio will launch a series of half-hour online video specials, "Live From the Web Carpet," starting with coverage of the Los Angeles premiere of the summer movie "Transformers." The live stream will be available through more than 100 CBS Radio affiliate Web sites, with the individual stations handling ad inventory, which includes pre-rolls, post-rolls, banner ads, streaming spots, on-site display and product placements. In addition, the network plans to incorporate a title sponsor at a later date. Today's debut episode will be hosted by Leo Quinones, of iFilm.com and Southern California's "Film Freak" radio show, and is expected to include interviews with "Transformers" cast members and other celebrities attending the premiere, highlights from the movie, and commentary from executive producers Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg and behind-the-scenes footage. Additional dates and movie titles were not announced.
SEMPO Institute, the training arm of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, announced the launch of an advanced search advertising class--the third in a suite of online courses geared toward providing both SEM professionals and the industry at large with a standard base of best practices. With research predicting North American SEM spending to hit $18.6 billion in 2011, the need for search-educated media professionals--not just dedicated search personnel--also continues to grow. Companies such as AOL's Advertising.com and Avid Technology have used the Institute's classes to train their employees on the fundamentals of search marketing and advanced SEO. The new course will teach students how to maximize the ROI of paid search, covering topics such as PPC models, click fraud and feed advertising, and comes six months after the Institute rolled out its first distance-learning classes in January. "[It] gives marketers the ability to get more return on their ad buys, providing a deeper level of strategy as well as hands-on tactics they can implement," said SEMPO President Jeffrey Pruitt. With input from SEMPO members--which include individual search marketers, companies like Digitas and CoreMetrics, and even the search engines themselves--the course aims to deliver a breadth of knowledge while building the foundation for industry-wide education standards. "The class is the most comprehensive one available, and it comes at a time when online ad budgets are being scrutinized closely, so providing more ROI is essential," added Pruitt.
Hitwise reports the volume of U.S. searches for the term 'iphone' increased 583% in the past four weeks. In fact, the term 'iphone' was the 131st most searched-for term domestically. Most Popular U.S. Search Terms Containing 'iPhone' 4 weeks ending 6/23/07 Ranked By Share iphone (51.4 share) apple iphone (6.13) iphone price (4.23) iphone news (1.7) iphone release date (1.56) apple iphone price (0.89) iphone review (0.79) iphone cost (0.69) cingular iphone (0.67) at&t iphone (0.57) Data based on % of all U.S. searches from Hitwise sample of 10 million users. Source: Hitwise