• Cinemagram Raises $8.5 Million
    Startup Cinemagram, which makes a hybrid photo/video app and competes with the likes of Instagram, has raised $8.5 million in a venture capital round led by Menlo Ventures and including Atlas Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Real Ventures. According to the AllThingsD report, Cinemagram has been growing rapidly in the last two months, adding 100,000  or more users per day. Through its iPhone app, users create “Cines” by taking a short video, selecting a still image from the clip, and then defining a specific area of the image to animate. The content is saved as a GIF file that can …
  • Evernote Closes $85M Round
    Productivity app Evernote on Friday announced closing an $85 million round of financing led by London-based AGC Equity Partners/m8 Capital with participation from Valiant Capital Partners and prior investors. Evernote CEO Phil Libin said in a blog post the company has “no exit strategy,” but that the new investment nevertheless would help shepherd Evernote toward an eventual IPO. Three quarters of the latest round is a secondary investment—stock sold by existing investors—aimed at reducing the pressure to go public or sell itself, Libin noted. The company had previously raised $70 million last year, bringing the total to $251 million, …
  • Digitas: Tech Gadgets Most Buzzed About Items
    More holiday-related social metrics, courtesy of a new study by Digitas and social analytics provider Brandwatch. The companies sifted through more than 2.6 million social media conversations from Nov. 20 to Nov. 26 to see what people were talking about in relation to shopping and retail stores. Among the top findings: -The most buzzed about items are tech gadgets (34%), specifically smartphones and tablets. But culture-related items (which include things such as books, movies, and show tickets) come in second with 22%. -Consumers pointed to Walmart as their top in-store shopping destination (24%), followed by Target (21%), Best Buy (14%), …
  • Higher Click Rate On Facebook Holiday Ads
    Facebook has been touting holiday marketing efforts on the site this year, highlighting seasonal campaigns by marketers including The Gap, Fab.com, and 1-800-Flowers. New data from Facebook ad partner Nanigans shows those efforts may be paying off. The firm said click-though rates for e-commerce campaigns were up 30% from Black Friday to Cyber Monday compared to earlier in November. At the same time, holiday season CPCs are increasing at a similar rate as in prior years, twice as high on average as in 2010. In one case study, Nanigans looked at the Facebook campaign of large B2C company, comparing the …
  • China To Eclipse U.S. In iOS, Android Users In 2013
    China will supplant the U.S. as the country representing largest base of iOS and Android users worldwide by the first quarter of 2013, according to a new report by app advertising and analytics firm Flurry. As of October, the U.S. was home to 181 million iOS and Android devices, with China just behind at 167 million. But that lead won’t last long. The 55 million active iOS and Android devices added in the U.S. in the last year pales in comparison to the 125 million added in China. The latter is in fact the fastest-growing iOS and Android market, …
  • comScore: Cyber Monday Sales Up 17% To $1.5B
    Cyber Monday sales hit $1.46 billion, up 17% from last year, making it the biggest online spending day ever, according to new data from comScore. It’s also the second day this season to break more than $1 billion in sales after Black Friday. E-commerce sales for the holiday season to day (Nov. 1-Nov. 26) have reached $16.4 billion, up 16% from the same period last year and in line with comScore projections. The Web measurement firm estimates total online holiday spending will end up rising 16% this year to $43.4 billion. Among retail categories making the largest gains …
  • Jeff Zucker nearing top CNN position
    Jeff Zucker, former chief executive of NBCUniversal, could be nearing a deal to head CNN, according to a number of reports. CNN has had its ratings troubles over the last few years -- but rebounded somewhat during the Presidential election. Outgoing CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton cited the cable news network needed "new thinking" when he announced his departure in July of this year. Zucker has a strong resume of senior executive TV news positions, early on …
  • Facebook Referral Traffic Jumps On Cyber Monday
    Amid the deluge of data on early holiday sales, Facebook on Tuesday chimed in with its own retail-related figures on the social network. The company said referral traffic to retail sites from Facebook on Cyber Monday increased 240% compared to the average for the last several Mondays. Seeing especially big spikes in referral traffic were businesses including Harry & David’s, up 11,425%, 1-800-Flowers (5,477%) Finish Line, (1,213%) and Coldwater Creek (1,084%). Among U.S. retailers, Walmart, Toys “R” Us, Macy’s, Amazon and Converse were the five most talked about brands on Black Friday, according to Facebook’s People Talking About This metric. …
  • Tapjoy Taps Wadsworth As CEO, Shah Resigns
    Steve Wadsworth, former president of the Disney Interactive Media Group, has been named president-CEO mobile ad firm Tapjoy. Wadsworth, who had been a member of Tapjoy's board, replaces Mihir Shah, who resigned.
  • Jumptap Teams With BlueKai
    BlueKai in September extended its Data Activation System to the mobile realm, allowing marketers to tap into first- and third-party mobile data for ad retargeting. On Tuesday, the company and Jumptap announced a partnership under which the mobile ad network will add BlueKai as a third-party data provider to target advertising across segments including purchase intent, past purchases, geographic and demographic data, interests and lifestyle. “Through this partnership, we’re expanding our tool box significantly to enable advertisers to go beyond network-specific data to promote better ad relevancy and ROI,” said Adam Soroca, chief product officer and GM, at …
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