Warner Music Group, one of the few remaining major labels, has apparently struck a deal with YouTube that will bring back music videos from popular artists like Green Day and U2 that were removed in December.
In an article on TechCrunch Shelby Bonnie, the CEO of Whiskey Media and co-founder of CNET, lays out an argument that publishers and buyers reliance on CPMs is stifling creativity. The language gets pretty inflammatory at times but isn’t entirely unconvincing.
“OK, Advertising Week just ended… does anyone else feel like the online advertising industry is the orchestra, playing on while the Titanic is sinking?
We have a problem, folks. And I, for one, think we should start to fix it by killing off the CPM, once and for all.”
Twitter recently had another round of funding that turned the revenue-free lunch-pic sharing service into a billion dollar company.
According to TechCrunch the $50 million round was lead by Insight Venture Partners, an early investor in Photobucket.
Google has unveiled its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a long anticipated effort to bring its display advertising offer up to speed with its industry-leading search advertising platform. The platform is meant to compete against Right Media, which Yahoo acquired in 2005.
DoubleClick Ad Exchange allows ad networks and media buyers to bid in real-time on advertising inventory, a feature Yahoo’s Right Media lacks. Its unclear now how exactly the exchange affect ad networks which are at once its competition and constituent.
MDC Partners, the same holding company that owns Crispin Porter & Bogusky, has invested in social media agency Attention. On the company’s blog, founder Curtis Hougland said they chose to partner with MDC over other potential investors because the company “gets it.”
As vague and cliche as that sounds, there’s some truth in the statement. In Hougland’s words,
“we are at an inflection point in social media, the shift from early adopter to early majority, a horizontal skill set requiring more and more vertical market expertise”
True that, Curt. More and more entrepreneurs will be starting these types companies and investors will be hungry to snap them up. It won’t be that long until kids who grew up with social media their entire lives are helming social media marketing agencies.
Publicis has announced that it will buy Microsoft-owned digital advertising agency Razorfish from Microsoft for $530 million. The purchase price will be paid via 6.5 million shares worth around $230 million and cash.
Microsoft acquired the company in 2007 as part of its purchase of aQuantive.
Microsoft and Yahoo have come to an agreement on a plan to attack industry leader Google. Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will now power Yahoo’s search and Yahoo’s sales team will manage both companies’ premium inventory.
Is Kid Rock saving our economy? GM isn’t the only “badass” from Michigan getting bailed out.
Starbucks is testing a new coffeehouse concept that won’t carry the mega coffee chain name. 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea is an attempt to create an authentic neighborhood coffee chain complete with wine, beer and poetry readings. Predictably, some people are upset.
YouGov, the UK-based international internet research firm, recently published their BrandIndex report which polls thousands of consumers to find out which brands are hot and which are not. Unsurprisingly, advertisers that spend loads of money, especially if they are spending on innovative advertising, captured the largest portion consumers attention in the first half of this year.
Microsoft, Best Buy and KFC have been able to create brand buzz in spite of the critiques levied by scores of industry people. Ford emerged a real winner in the report, generating buzz by denying government bailout money while competitive brands, GM and Chrysler, who took the money suffered.
Agency Layoffs