In a long overdue move to map the search engine marketing landscape, PPC Associates released an infographic looking at holding companies and their SEM agencies, along with companies supporting small-and-medium size businesses, keyword and bidding , retargeting, campaign management, ad optimization, landing-page optimization and more.

Cross-channel attribution company Adometry said it secure $8 million in venture capital funding it will use to accelerate its product development, recruit talent and expand into new territories. The funding, led by Shasta Ventures, includes Austin Ventures and Sierra Ventures. Shasta Venture's Jason Pressman will join Adometry's board of directors.

OWN's "Oprah's Next Chapter" pulled a healthy Nielsen 3.2 million total viewers for the first part of her big interview with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong -- but no overall record results. OWN’s best viewed telecast so far in its short history came in interviewing Whitney Houston’s family on March 11 2012, which grabbed 3.5 million viewers. OWN did say the show, which aired at 9 p.m. on Thursday, billed as "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive”, pulled the best demographics for any weekday telecast. The telecast also ranked number one across all male viewers -- …

Pushing back against reports of a steep drop in its user base, Instagram on Thursday said it now has 90 million monthly active users and is seeing growth rather than decline. Reporting monthly usage for the first time,  the company told AllThingsD that total is up 10% in January from December. The disclosure is the latest twist in a metrics squabble that kicked off when the New York Post reported last month that Instagram had lost a quarter of its active daily users following its Terms of Service debacle. That prompted a blogosphere backlash, pointing out the Post …

National Geographic is known for its striking images from around the world. But now anyone can see their photos framed in its iconic yellow as part of the magazine’s 125th anniversary celebration. San Francisco startup Chute is powering a digital campaign that lets people takes pictures of “what matters most to them” and upload them to Instagram or Twitter at the hash-tag #framewhatmatters. The effort combines low- and high-tech, requiring participants to first cut print out and cut out the yellow border from the Twitter page to frame whatever photo they want to upload. Through the initiative, which National Geographic …

Pandora’s costs are set to rise after agreeing to a 25% royalty increase with music publisher Sony/ATV, according to a New York Post story, citing industry insiders. The online radio service has been locked in a running battle with the music industry over royalty rates. The company has been among those supporting legislation introduced in Congress in September—the Internet Radio Fairness Act, that would lower royalties services like Pandora pay to record companies. In November, Pandora opened another front by suing the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) to reduce its royalties to music publishers and songwriters. …

Havas is retiring its MPG and Media Contacts monikers as client-facing brands, the firm said Thursday. Those operations will be rebranded and folded into the newly created Havas Media Group. The move follows by less than a week the departure of MPG global CEO Maria Luisa Francoli Plaza from the company. At the time, no reason was given for her leaving but the fact that the agency brand she oversaw has been eliminated was likely a major factor. The company cited a need to simplify its integration strategy as the reason for the restructuring. Alfonso Rods, Havas Media Group's CEO …

Former Possible Worldwide CEO Trevor Kaufman has joined Tinypass as president and CEO, the startup paywall operator confirmed today. Tinypass helps bloggers and other content providers manage subscriptions and other fees that they charge consumers for access to their material. The company made a splash a few weeks ago when well-known blogger Andrew Sullivan said he was leaving the Daily Beast to set up his own independent blog and had teamed with Tinypass for paywall services. The company said Sullivan's blog has now sold over $500,000 worth of subscriptions. Sullivan said he was charging $20 a year. Kaufman was CEO …

eBay on Wednesday reported mobile transaction volume on its platform more than doubled in 2012 to $13 billion, while mobile payments handled by its PayPal unit tripled to $14 billion. The mobile gains helped the e-commerce giant increase revenue 18% in the fourth quarter to $4 billion. It posted earnings of $927 million, or 70 cents a share, beating analysts’ expectations by a penny. eBay has been one of the biggest players in mobile commerce in recent years as more and more of its users complete transactions through its mobile properties. "Mobile continues to rewrite the commerce playbook, and …

Tina Daniels has joined social media advertising platform Syncapse as Chief Revenue Officer. Daniels previously was director of global agencies in Microsoft's global advertising sales group until the end of 2011, where she was primarily responsible for managing Interpublic. Prior to Microsoft, she spent eight years at aQuantive's venue A|Razorfish division, rising to the position of vice president, global client development.