Get Ready for the Coming Land War in Online Display Ads
Online display advertising — an $8.7 billion market in 2010 — is undergoing change at a pace not seen since Google transformed search and invented PPC advertising. The change is welcome, as display catches up to the market for search advertising in terms of efficiency and targetability. But, the transformation will bring a sharp struggle for margin in the online ad delivery chain, leading to a new wave of digital M&A. Online display, primarily a brand advertising medium (as measured by revenue), has traditionally been sold on the basis of sites and specific media placements, or via ad networks that aggregate sites into vertical channels. Now, with the evolution of online ad targeting techniques and the rapid growth of a market for consumer targeting data, it is increasingly common to sell advertising on the basis of audience, reaching individual web users based on specific data about that user. The data — behavioral, demographic, geographic and contextual — is generally persistent and useable across ad campaigns via a tracking cookie.
Read More: AdAge
Yahoo’s Interest In Foursquare Is Real
Yahoo is most definitely looking to buy a location-based startup like Foursquare, a CEO at one of Foursquare‘s many rivals tells us. He knows, because Yahoo (YHOO) approached his startup for acquisition too. A source close to Yahoo confirms — kind of — telling us: “We talk to everybody.” Our startup source says Yahoo has made it clear that acquiring a company in this space was a top strategic priority. He says that he’s reached out to other executives in the space, and learned that Yahoo has been talking to everyone in the space for the past few months. If Yahoo can’t get Foursquare, he expects them to pay ~$25 million for a smaller player. But startups aren’t biting because Yahoo has a reputation for killing small companies it acquires. He says that startups in discussions with Yahoo learn that they’ll be slotted into Yahoo! Local, but still walk away confused about how their business would fit into the organization. In talks, he said “seven different people claimed” he would report to them.
Read More: BusinessInsider
An Open Invitation to Customize Ads
I’ll be the first to say that last week’s column painted a fairly rosy picture of the current state of online advertising: advertisers work hard to deliver relevant messaging and consumers respond positively, appreciative as they are for the more meaningful ads. Any digital marketer will tell you, however, that many consumers don’t feel advertisers are doing them any favors. If you can believe it, they’d just as soon not get advertising that’s relevant at all. If that sounds crazy, you may be forgetting how strongly many Internet users feel about their privacy, and how they’re increasingly aware that relevant advertising generally can’t be achieved without following their online behavior. Late last year, researchers released the results of a study on consumers’ opinions about behavioral targeting. An overwhelming 66 percent of respondents said that they “do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests.” That number climbs to between 73 and 86 percent when those surveyed are provided with further detail about how their data is collected for this purpose.
Read More: ClickZ
