Yahoo on Monday reported financial results for the third quarter that topped analyst estimates in the first reporting period since CEO Marissa Mayer joined the company. Yahoo reported net revenue of $1.09 billion for the third quarter, up 2% from $1.07 billion in the year-earlier period. Profit rose 66% from a year ago to 35 cents a share. Wall Street analysts were expecting net revenue of $1.08 billion and net income of 25 cents per share. Including a one-time gain from the sale of its stake in China-based Alibaba, Yahoo’s earnings per share was $2.64. Gross revenue slipped 1% to …

New data from eMarketer indicates time spent on mobile devices is up even as the growth in time spent on the desktop Web slows. The research firm estimates the amount of time on mobile devices—excluding talk time—will grow 51.9% to an average 82 minutes per day, up from 54 minutes in 2011, and 34 minutes in 2010. At the same time, time spent online on desktop and laptop computers, Internet-connected TV and other non-mobile devices will increase just 3.6% to an average of 173 minutes per day (almost 3 hours), compared to 7.7% growth in 2011 to 167 minutes. …

Tremor Video has named Lauren Wiener president-global sales and marketing, a new position. She joins from Meredith Corporation, where she was senior vice president of Meredith Digital.

The 30-second spot for Microsoft’s forthcoming Surface tablet is the most effective tablet-only ad to air this year, according to TV and video analytics service Ace Metrix. The Surface ad, which debuted during “Dancing with the Stars” this week and features its own dance sequence, had a score of 674, edging out a pair of ads for the Samsung Galaxy Note that launched in September. "iPhoria is wearing off in the tablet market, and the introduction of the Surface has given Microsoft quite a few 'cool' points among consumers," said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix.  "The new Surface ads …

Former Interpublic and Mediabrand digital wunderkind (he's the guy who brought the original Facebook startup investment to IPG), today launched the public beta of his own startup, Qnary, a "personal identity management platform that helps users shape how they're seen online." The goal, says Qnary's press representative, is to give users the ability to "see, shape and improve your online identity."

Vicki Lins has been named executive vice president and CMO for Clear Channel Outdoor Americas. She most recently was senior vice president-CMO of now defunct cable industry initiative Canoe Ventures.

The vast majority of Facebook’s traffic has long come from outside the U.S. With that in mind, Facebook on Wednesday announced a new service to more easily localize brand pages for different countries. Through the new Global Pages offering, “Facebook users will now be directed to the best version of a Page based on the country those users reside in with localized features such as cover photos, Page apps, milestones, and news feed stories from Pages within the global brand community,” the company said. Each brand’s global page will include local pages for specific markets and a default page …

Facebook in August announced it was testing new ads in the mobile news feed aimed at driving app installs. Now Facebook is opening up availability of those ads to iOS and Android developers widely. In early results, the company said beta partners like Kabam, Fab, TinyCo and Big Fish were able to reach a more relevant audience and increase installs more efficiently. Game maker TinyCo, for instance, had a 50% higher click-through rate and much higher conversion rates compared to their current mobile channels, as well as a significant increase in player engagement, according to a Facebook blog …

Navigation services provider TeleNav on Tuesday announced acquiring mobile advertising firm Local Merchant Services, d.b.a. ThinkNear, for $22.5 million, including $18.5 million in cash. TeleNav said it would combine ThinkNear’s targeting technology with its existing Drive-To-Advertising platform to create a new solution called Scout Advertising. TeleNav says its Drive-to-Advertising system reaches 34 million customers and offers advertisers with the only platform that captures the "drive-to" rat--the number of users who viewed an ad and then clicked on it to drive to the advertiser's business location. The addition of the ThinkNear technology will help businesses better reach the right customers to …

Beleaguered social games maker Zynga has struggled to monetize the shift of its user base from the desktop to mobile devices. To that end, the company today announced what it calls its first reward-based mobile campaign promoting the 2013 Honda Accord. The effort allows people playing “Words With Friends” and “Scramble With Friends” to earn in-game currency and tips by playing Honda-related words including “new,” “tech,” and “you.” Honda’s "It Starts With You" campaign kicked off Oct. 6 on Zynga with the "Word of the Day" promotion in Words With Friends. The related “Scramble With Friends” advertising featuring sponsored words “Accord,” …