Craigslist says it is still concerned that South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster will attempt to prosecute company executives for aiding and abetting prostitution, although the site shuttered its adult listings at the beginning of the month. In a filing submitted this week to U.S. District Court Judge C Weston Houck in Charleston, Craigslist says that people might attempt to post prostitution ads in the "therapeutic listings" section of the site. The company argues that although it manually screens such ads, executives still face the threat of prosecution if McMaster's office decides that Craigslist knew of unlawful ads. "In an effort to prevent ads for sensual massage, web-cam services, phone chat services and other services that previously were intended to be posted under the now-closed Adult Services section from migrating into craigslist's Therapeutic Services category, craigslist continues to engage in manual review of third-party ads posted to this category on its web site," the company says in its court papers. But, Craigslist adds, McMaster "could take issue with a reviewer's judgment call as to whether a particular ad 'relates' to the solicitation of prostitution, and charge Craigslist with 'knowledge' on that basis." The filing is part of an effort by Craigslist to convince Houck to reinstate the listing site's lawsuit seeking an injunction barring McMaster from prosecuting executives for abetting prostitution. Houck recently dismissed the case on the grounds that the threat of prosecution is remote. Craigslist filed suit after McMaster said he would prosecute company officials unless the site blocked all adult ads from appearing in the state. The company argued that the federal Communications Decency Act immunizes it from crimes committed by users. Many legal experts agree with Craigslist that the company is not liable for unlawful ads posted by users. Last year, when Sheriff Thomas Dart of Chicago sued Craigslist for creating a public nuisance by allegedly running prostitution ads, a judge dismissed the case and ruled that Craigslist was immune from such lawsuits. Nonetheless, Craigslist executive William Clinton Powell recently told Congress that the site has permanently shuttered its U.S. adult ad listings. Craigslist isn't the only classified site to come in for criticism for allegedly running prostitution ads. Village Voice Media was sued recently by a teen sex trafficking victim who alleges that the company aided and abetted prostitution by failing to investigate ads on Backpage.com. In addition, a group of attorneys general have asked Backpage.com to stop displaying adult services ads.
To bolster continued M&A efforts, female-focused media and ad network Glam Media on Friday appointed Adam Roston to run its corporate development efforts. Most recently, Roston served as Director of Corporate Development at Microsoft, where he managed an M&A team covering businesses generating a reported $30 billion in annual revenue. "We're looking forward to having additional top M&A talent at the helm as we scale out our business and continue our search for complimentary companies that can accelerate our growth and add to our technical capabilities," said Samir Arora, chairman and CEO of Glam Media. In February, Glam raised about $50 million in a Series E round of funding. The funds were earmarked to build what Glam is calling a Digital Media Technology Center, along with global expansion and strategic acquisitions. Rumors of a forthcoming IPO were stoked when Glam hired Bruce Jaffe as CFO in May. Before leaving to run his own consultancy in 2008, Jaffe ran the corporate development group at Microsoft. Late last year, Glam said its flagship U.S. women's division had achieved profitability. By some estimates, however, Glam's star is falling fast. Indeed, the company lost $110 million in common stock value over the past year, according to Business Insider. As a result, Glam fell from #33 to #52 on Business Insider's Digital 100 list of most valuable Web startups. This summer, Glam acquired ad-technology startup AdPortal -- a spinoff of sports-focused ad network Sportgenic. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Aeris Capital led the $50 million financing round, announced in February, along with existing investors Hubert Burda Media's Burda Digital Holding and Mizuho Capital. Before Microsoft, Roston worked as an Associate in the Investment Banking M&A and Technology groups at Merrill Lynch in London and Palo Alto.
Corporate policy mandating that employees use BlackBerry phones for work may actually undermine brand loyalty to the smartphone line, suggests a new report from Crowd Science. The market research firm found that only 35% of people whose smartphones were selected by their companies said they were "very satisfied" with their phone compared to about 60% of users who had some input in the choice of devices. Research in Motion's BlackBerry, long dominant in the enterprise market, is the phone brand most often chosen by companies for their workforce. Furthermore, almost one-fifth of BlackBerry users (19%) surveyed in the latest smartphone brand loyalty study by Crowd Science had their devices chosen for them, compared to 4% of Android of iPhone users, respectively. Not surprisingly, one-third of BlackBerry owners use their phones only or mostly for work compared to only 20% for all smartphone users. Combine the low satisfaction levels among people with company-ordered smartphones with the fact that a high proportion of them are BlackBerry owners, and you've got a key factor in the low overall loyalty seen in BlackBerry users for the past year, reasons Sandra Marshall, vice president of research at Crowd Science. But since BlackBerry has long been dominant in the corporate market, it's difficult to say whether company policies requiring the device have turned users against the brand or whether simply the experience of using the phone itself has. Either way, the question is becoming academic as a growing proportion of companies are freeing employees to pick their own phone. A survey last month of 200 companies in the U.S. and the U.K. by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co found that 74% allow workers to use devices other than BlackBerrys. And a separate study this week from corporate research firm ChangeWave showed BlackBerry's share of the enterprise market slipping to 66% from 69% in the second quarter while Android surged from 10% to 16% and the iPhone went up a percentage point to 31%. Consistent with the results from prior smartphone studies, Crowd Science found that only 45% of all BlackBerry users said they were very satisfied with their phones compared to about 70% and Android users. Only 30% would buy another BlackBerry. Heaping more woe on the brand, 30% of people said their next phone would be an iPhone, 20% an Android device, and 20% a regular cell phone. Only 10% were eyeing a BlackBerry next. The study's findings were drawn from a random sample of 2,423 online users polled between August 25 and September 7. RIM earlier this still managed to post strong second-quarter results, beating expectations with earnings of $1.46 a share on revenue of $4.62 billion. The company shipped 12.1 million units in the quarter compared to Wall Street expectations of 11.8 million. But RIM fell short on net subscriber additions, adding 4.5 million instead of the forecast of about 5 million.
Efficient Frontier Monday plans to release a Facebook advertising service that allows marketers to optimize Facebook alongside search and display ads. The move aims to effectively allocate budgets, quickly build ads, and gain higher return on investments (ROI) through optimization and reporting. The integration lets marketers create thousands of ads in seconds and easily target them to new audiences using Facebook's segments: interest, likes, age, gender, and geography. Approaching marketing on Facebook similar to the manner one approches it in search and display moves Efficient Frontier deeper into supporting cross-channel marketing, according to Justin Merickel, the company's vice president of marketing. "As an online marketer you should understand the channel responsible for influencing the conversion," he says. "That's a challenge because it relies on analytics systems to find and rate the value per channel. It's difficult to take that information and turn it into buying behavior. It's about capturing the data and allocating it to the correct channel." Efficient Frontier's clients, such as online bookseller Chegg, have been working to integrate Facebook. Merickel says many have begun to realize that rather than relying on one medium, the real benefits reside in cross-channel marketing. He points to a client using search marketing to double the influence in conversions on Facebook, as an example. "That's kind of cross-channel influence from Facebook happens because you get the data, see it, and not just analyze it but automate how to attribute success to optimize the channel," he says. Merickel believes Facebook's revenue will "ramp" because tools like these will make it a successful channel. Market research firm eMarketer estimates worldwide ad spending on Facebook will reach $1.28 billion in 2010, which has some folks wondering if Twitter also can nuzzle in to support cross-channel marketing and advertising. Citing April 2010 data from ExactTarget, eMarketer suggets that Twitter followers are as good (or better) than Facebook Fans because Twitter followers are more than twice as likely to purchase from the brand after becoming a social media follower. When asked whether Twitter followers, email subscribers and Facebook Fans would recommend a brand based on a "like" or "follow," 33% of Twitter followers admitted they were more likely to make a recommendation now that they followed a brand, compared with 24% of email subscribers and 21% of Facebook fans, according to eMarketer. The research firm notes that those who "liked" a brand on Facebook were most likely to actively disagree with the statement. As the industry matures it becomes more about having the data to drive the strongest return across channels. The Efficient Frontier platform relies on predictive modeling and simulations that enable the company to optimize bids optimization across digital marketing channels.
Netflix and NBC Universal on Friday expanded their content-sharing agreement to include more media properties, including USA Network and Syfy. More than 75 episodes of Syfy's "Battlestar Galactica" as well as "Destination Truth" and "Eureka" will now be available on the service, in addition to the USA series "Psych," "In Plain Sight" and "Monk." Also renewed is the deal to distribute past seasons of "30 Rock," "The Office" and "Saturday Night Live." What's more, new SNL episodes will be available on Netflix the day after broadcast for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons, in addition to hundreds of episodes from the first 35 years of SNL. Frances Manfredi, EVP and general sales manager of cable and non-theatrical sales for NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution, is credited with forging the deal. "We are very pleased to continue our successful relationship with Netflix," Manfredi said on Friday. Earlier in the week, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said NBC was not likely to participate in Apple's 99 cent iTunes rental plan, telling investors at a Goldman Sachs conference that "it would devalue our content." The new agreement adds to the selection of movies and TV episodes that can be streamed from Netflix with memberships starting at $8.99 a month. Every episode from the last season of "30 Rock," "The Office" and "Law & Order: SVU," as well as earlier seasons of those shows are renewed for streaming from Netflix under the current deal. Additional content includes all prior seasons -- and eventually next year's final season -- of "Friday Night Lights;" all prior seasons of USA Network's "Psych;" "In Plain Sight;" and "Monk." NBCU and Netflix have worked together for a number of years. Back in 2007, NBCU's Digital Studios and Netflix began producing a series of online Webisodes promoting classic movies. NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution arranged the deal with Netflix's content acquisition group. In the wake of Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy, Netflix is thriving. The movie rental service just inked a five-year deal worth nearly $1 billion to stream movies from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM, and last year generated $115 million in net profit on $1.6 billion in revenue.
Conversion rates -- or the likelihood that someone clicking on a search ad either will buy or download something -- continue to rise, according to data that Marin Software plans to release Monday. The insights into the 2010 holiday season published in "The Search Marketer's Guide for the Holidays: 10 Tips for a Successful 2010" consider findings from online sales the search company managed during last year's holiday season. Since conversion rates between Thanksgiving and Christmas increase about 25% to 50% depending on the week, search marketers should anticipate the shift in consumer behavior and increase bids to advance the campaign, according to Matt Lawson, director of marketing at Marin, which manages about $1.3 billion in search ad budgets annually. "Be proactive, rather than reactive," he says. Reviewing 2009 data, Marin identified more searches, clicks and conversions last holiday season that marketers should consider incorporating into this year's campaign plans. For example, the company walks through creating a boost schedule to accommodate the increase in online purchases during the holidays. A boost schedule, or roadmap, helps determine when and how much to increase bids to take advantage of higher conversion rates during the holidays. It is based on the conversion rate for the simple reason that as your conversion rate increases, so does the value that you receive for each click, according to the white paper. Create a boost schedule based on a company's 2009 conversion rates and then fine-tune estimates by watching conversion rate changes on a daily basis. Remove boosts after cutting off ground shipping dates. Pay attention to negative keywords. With search volumes rising during the holiday season, it's important to filter out unwanted impressions to maximize CTRs. This reduces the number of unprofitable clicks, improves Quality Scores and reduces CPCs. Marin suggests making a list of negative keywords for each SKU in the product catalog, and periodically checks raw search queries to identify new negative keywords. Don't forget about coupons and special promotions. Citing Google, Marin points to the 38% uptick during the 2009 holiday season for average monthly searches on coupons. To reach budget shoppers, try to highlight discounts, coupons or low prices directly in ads or promotions. Conduct A/B testing to compare and fine-tune creative and try to create a sense of urgency by introducing time-sensitive offers for discounts and free shipping. Although actual conversion dates and values will vary from year to year, marketers will likely see a similar pattern during the 2010 holiday season as in 2009. Dates to consider include Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Sunday Effect, Peak Week (known as the first full week in December), Ground Shipping Cutoffs, and Last Minute Shoppers.