Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
CPCs Going Up
The CPC doctor is “in” as Efficient Frontier’s Dr. Siddarth Shah says that CPCs are on the rise everywhere! He writes on EF’s blog: “CPCs in all sectors rose in October both on a year-over-year (YoY) basis as well as on a Month-over-Month (MoM) basis. The rise is especially significant in the financial sector which saw a 7% CPC in increase MoM. In the same period last year, the sector saw a 10% MoM CPC drop.” See the chart.
AdSense Interfacing With Data
Rahul Bafna, who if I recall correctly was a product maven on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, takes a turn in front of the camera in presenting the new AdSense interface on the Google AdSense blog. Bafna is now an AdSense product manager along with Allan Livingston who write on their favorite product’s blog: “You’ve told us that data that helps you better understand your performance is critical to growing your revenue, so we’ve made sure that the new interface gives you more insights.” Read more. And, view the video.
The Reverse Display Auction
In what could be Wenda Millard’s “End of Days” scenario, Bid4Spots is providing a new service for online display advertisers where publishers can bid on display ad campaigns. MediaPost’s Mark Walsh explains, “Bid4Spots’ reverse auction system works for Internet ads essentially the same as for buying and selling radio spots: Ad Buyers set their campaign parameters, such as target market, audience and category, and the maximum price they’re willing to pay per CPM. Participating publishers — the sellers — then compete by bidding down the price of their unsold inventory to win an advertiser’s spot.” Read more.
The New York Times reports that the online privacy regulation battle in the U.S. is coming down to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Commerce Department. The FTC currently favors self-regulation while the Commerce Department favors the do-not-track list. Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells the NYT “that the explosion in online consumer monitoring was increasing friction about how strict the privacy limits should be. And, he added, ‘it’s going to get a lot worse.'” Read more. And around and around we go… Privacy Choice’s Jim Brock offers three ways he sees do-not-track being technically implemented here.
Yahoo! Power-ing Sales
On Ad Age, it was announced Yahoo! has hired Wayne Powers from Time Inc. to replace Joanne Bradford’s long vacated, head of sales post. Former News Corp. exec Ross Levinsohn who joins Yahoo! in a leadership role on Monday – and to whom Powers will report – said in a release, “Wayne is a proven leader and innovator who will bring a wealth of operating expertise and advertiser relationships to Yahoo.” Read about it.
Expandable Data
Just in time for the holidays: Expandable ads outperform non-expandable rich media ads. Yes, you may have known that already but did you have the data to back it up? OK… you have the data. Well, here’s some more. Expandable media provider PointRoll in partnership with Kantar Media-owned Compete have discovered “that expandable ads outperformed non-expandables in driving brand searches by an average of 39 percent and by as much as 155 percent. For driving key purchase indicators, expandables outperformed non-expandables by an average of 43 percent and by as much as 115 percent.” Read the release.
Facebook Display
XA.net and Efficient Frontier are featured by the All Facebook blog as the two companies provide buying tools across digital channels including Facebook. All Facebook’s Jackie Cohen writes, “Both companies’ product descriptions sound a lot more complicated than the software really is. I wonder about the extent to which this might affect adoption rates.” Read more.
Mobilizing The Web
A new Chitika study says of the top 1,000 websites, only 3% have a dedicated mobile website. On the Chitika blog, research Daniel Ruby writes, “It has been widely speculated that 2011 will be the year of mobile Internet, but when even the largest web sites are unlikely to have a dedicated mobile experience, it becomes clear that publishers have a ways to go before they can take true advantage of the Internet-on-your-phone revolution.” Mobile is going to be big someday.
But Wait… Smartphones Gain
According to a new Gartner study looking at Q3 2010, Smartphone sales were up 96% year-over-year. What’s that mean for mobile display ads? Well, for example, if you’re creating media for the Apple iAd platform (Gartner identfies Apple iOS as clearly in front), you’re looking at increasing scale and opportunity. Gartner VP Carolina Milanesi reveals a data point, “Apple claims it is activating around 275,000 iOS devices per day on average — that’s a compelling market for any developer. And developers’ applications in turn attract users.” Read more. And speaking of iAds, Apple announced its bringing the iAd mobile advertising platform to Japan with Japanese ad agency holding company Dentsu taking on the creative responsibilities. Read more.
Ask Jeeves Is Dead, All Hail Ask Jeeves
Google has spanked another search competitor as IAC has raised the white flag and will cut 130 engineering jobs as it gives up on the search engine part of Ask Jeeves. Read more on CNET. Ask Jeeves will now become a Q&A site as Doug Leeds writes on the Ask.com blog, “We know that receiving answers to questions is why Ask.com users come to the site, and we are now serving them in everything we do. ” Read the blog.
Mpire’s AdXpose Adds Adconion
In a press release, Mpire’s AdXpose announced that online advertising network Adconion will use AdXpose’s ad verification technology. Also, AdXpose announced new tools for ad networks and exchanges including: “Sub-account logins, which allow networks to share a controlled data set with agencies and marketers at the campaign level; Alternate ad tags, which allow networks to swap advertisers within an impression ‘on the fly’ based on appropriate content parameters.” And, there’s more.
Everyone’s An Angel Investor
IA Ventures’ Roger Ehrenberg takes a look at what he calls “Social Proof” investing where people invest because certain other people are investing. He’s not a fan and writes, “It is fascinating that when I see these crowded deals with big name people, many of whom I like a lot, my first reaction is ‘Aw, damn, why didn’t I invest in that?’ And then that moment passes in roughly a nanosecond and is replaced by ‘I am so thankful for my tight thematic focus and discipline that if I miss a few good ones, I’ll do plenty more of my own in my comfort zone that will yield even better results.’ Read more.
