eXelate Bows Tool for Web Publishers

eXelate, which manages a large online targeting data exchange, is rolling out a new tool that will allow Web publishers to better manage the sale and use of their own user data.  The new product is called teXi:PM, which stands for “private marketplace.” According to eXelate executives, publishers can use teXi:PM to control how ad networks, agencies, demand-side platforms or other clients access their data. Publishers can also control how that information is sold. In addition, sites can employ teXi:PM to set price controls and initiate data transactions.  Publishers that elect to create their own data marketplaces using teXi:PM will not be precluded from also selling their data via eXelate’s exchange, which the company claims represents sites and networks that in aggregate reach 150 million unique users each month.  eXelate has signed on WhitePages as one of the first Web publishers to use teXi:PM to create a private data exchange.  “[This] partnership will allow us to extend the value of our users’ business search behaviors to marketers using a single technology platform, while still protecting consumer privacy,” said Ingrid Michelsen, WhitePages senior director, ad sales, strategy and development.

Read More: AdWeek

Former TiVo President to Lead Joint “Hulu for Magazines” Effort

The movement to create a “Hulu for magazines” hasn’t gotten much traction lately, but it has gotten a new CEO: Morgan Guenther, who is best known as the president of TiVo from 2001-2003.  Guenther will take the reigns of Next Issue Media, a joint venture of Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. to create a digital hub where consumers can access magazine articles the way they access TV clips on Hulu.  “Next Issue Media is well positioned to create and deliver incremental business opportunities to the magazine and newspaper publishing world,” said Guenther in a written statement. “The potential for value creation across the entire industry ecosystem… is massive. Our task now is to execute on that potential.”  The project, originally announced in December of 2009, has taken on an air of urgency since the successful launch of the iPad. One of Next Issue’s primary goals is to make magazines as accessible to e-readers like the iPad and Kindle as books and some newspapers are now. With more than 2 million iPads sold since launch of the device in April, the stakes are considerably higher for anyone looking to create a successful magazine app.

Read More: ClickZ

How Yahoo Bought Associated Content

Last month, Yahoo bought Associated Content, a Web publishing startup with thousands of semi-pro freelance writers, for around $100 million.  $100 million isn’t much for a company like Yahoo (YHOO), and a big content deal helped Yahoo define itself, so the acquisition seems like a smart move. Here’s the story of how it happened. (Click here for the picture-book version.)  Before there was Yahoo, there was AOL.  Back in August 2009, everybody assumed AOL (AOL) was going to buy Associated Content. And, for a while, everybody was right. AOL began looking at Associated Content almost as soon as Tim Armstrong became AOL CEO in March 2009. The acquisition fit into Tim’s plan to turn AOL into a lean, mean Time Inc. for the 21st Century.

Read More: BusinessInsider