Category: European Commission

Yahoo! Says its “Largest Publisher on the Web”

Part of our series on digital media marketing mergers, Microsoft-Yahoo! division. Via Yahoo!’s Sue Decker blog post:

“As the largest publisher on the Web that also leads in display advertising, and holds a strong number two in search, we maintain one of the world’s largest advertising networks and operate the Right Media Exchange. We’re truly in the best position to understand the evolving needs and demands of the entire ecosystem.” Ms. Decker explained that Yahoo!’s “cutting-edge” Apex platform “will enable all participants in the ecosystem to benefit:

  • Publishers will be able to better serve their advertisers’ needs by making it easy for publishers to sell, package, and distribute other publishers’ inventory alongside their own, giving advertisers extended reach to audiences across the Web through a centralized platform.
  • Advertisers will be able to spend more time on driving revenue and developing compelling creative for their audiences, rather than dealing with the complexities of ad generation, assembly, trafficking, and serving ads.
  • Advertising agencies will be able to streamline the buying process for multiple accounts across multiple publishers and allow for creative testing and campaign optimization, even as the campaign evolves.
  • And last but not least Advertising Networks will benefit from having a platform that connects publishers to the best advertisers for their site and audience, and advertisers to the best publishers with the most relevant audiences, thereby increasing both their reach in the process.”

Consider this a form of `let’s help Google try and be more honest about privacy and data collection’ public service.

Excerpt from PC World:
“Google’s YouTube will soon give marketers more data about viewership of its videos, so that they have a better understanding of clips’ reach and effectiveness at boosting brand awareness and sales.

The online video site plans to make more granular metrics available in this year’s second and third quarters, including data about the usage of YouTube videos that are embedded in external sites, said Brian Cusack, YouTube sales team manager.

“YouTube has enormous amounts of data, but not great reporting on that data yet,” Cusack said during a keynote speech at the eRetailer Summit….YouTube…is building models to distinguish content that is universally interesting from content that is locally interesting, in order to make that useful for its advertising customers, Cusack said.

YouTube to Improve Usage Metrics: New data about Google’s YouTube video viewership will be availabletp marketers. Juan Carlos Perez. IDG News. March 3, 2008

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Microsoft is set to acquire behavioral microtargeting and “marketing automation” specialist YaData. YaData’s software helps identify “behavioral micro-segments” [thats our behaviors, btw]. As YaData explains, “[M]icro-segments may overlap, reflecting the true multi-dimensional nature of customers and their changing habits. The continuous dynamic discovery and management of focused micro-segments allows marketers to understand and act upon changing market trends and gain rapid results for a real competitive differentiator. In order to act upon these changes, it is vital that marketers be able to routinely and autonomously launch the discovery process and manage the entire segment lifecycle…” [the managing, we presume, is of people’s behaviors and attitudes].

“YaData fully believes in the potential of behavioral targeting to enhance the value of online advertising for publishers, advertisers and users,” said Amir Peleg” in the press release announcing the sale. Microsoft officials claimed that as YaData’s technology became part of the company’s “advertising platform” they would “continue to adhere to its high standards for the protection of consumer privacy.” As Microsoft moves closer to acquiring Yahoo!, privacy advocates will need to analyze how the company’s recent acquisitions and developments related to online advertising require real safeguards–not just a reflexive we-care-about-privacy approach.

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Murdoch’s MySpace uses behavioral targeting to harvest data of its users, including when they are having a baby or going off to college

From the mouths of data collecting social network executives, via Online Media Daily:

“…Heidi Browning, the senior vice president of client solutions for Fox Interactive Media, cited some impressive results from behavioral targeting using data from MySpace–including a 733% lift in brand awareness, 800% lift in recall, 152% increase in brand favorability, and 179% increase in purchase intent.

She added that social networks like MySpace are ideal places to harvest data for behavioral targeting because consumers voluntarily provide detailed information about a host of behaviors and attitudes–including, for example, media consumption and brand preferences as well as simple demographic descriptors, age, education, and geographic location. From these, Fox assembled a number of enthusiast and lifestyle segments, broadly grouped in 10 super-segments, with at least 3 million and as many as 10 million members each.

According to Browning, MySpace data can tell marketers when a user “is moving, having a baby, going to college”–but also more subtle information including receptivity to ad messaging at different times of day. With other data sources, like DVR records, she said MySpace information will allow “hyper-targeting” of consumers, delivering the right kind of ad message via the right medium at the right time of day.”

source: “Behavioral Targeting: A Brave New World… Maybe.” Erik Sass. Online Media Daily. Feb. 26, 2008 [reg required]

Time Warner’s `Platform A’ Data Collection System: 3 billion online ads a day bolstered by $1 B in online ad company acquisitions

Time Warner has been buying up online ad properties to bolster its AOL and Advertising.com subsidiaries. AOL exec Randy Falco, as reported in Advertising Age [Feb. 26, 2008, sub. required likely] told interactive marketers that “[W]e have Platform A, the largest ad network in the world.” Falco said that 3 billion ad impressions were being delivered daily by the AOL networks. He also said that “[W]e spent with the help of Time Warner about a billion dollars to acquire [Quigo, Tacoda, Third Screen Media and AdTech] over the past year.”

IAB’s new “Privacy Principles”=A Failure to Protect Consumer Privacy

The IAB has embraced a `circle the data collection and micro-targeting digital wagon’s’ with its new privacy principles. Instead of embracing a policy that truly protects consumer privacy, IAB members are trying to hide behind the same failed approach they have led to governmental inquiries in the US and the EU. The IAB should have adopted rules so that no data can be collected without full disclosure and prior consent of the consumer, as well as other fair information collection principles. The IAB’s proposed new PR campaign to promote the role of interactive marketing will undoubtedly by slick–but won’t be honest. That’s why my CDD will keep telling the FTC, the EU and the public about what really goes on with data collection and digital marketing. These slightly refurbished fox-watching-the-data-hen-house-privacy principles won’t provide any substantive protections for consumers. The failure of the IAB to acknowledge key issues related to sensitive data–including children, teens, financial (think subprime mortgage-related) and health–is a glaring failure of the group’s ability to do what is required to protect consumer privacy.

The IAB is trying to help its members dodge the digital privacy data bullet. But privacy advocates and officials concerned about consumer welfare in the digital age will eventually force the needed changes. What’s sad is that instead of playing a leadership role in the privacy debate, the IAB is attempting to stick with the past. Don’t they realize that change is coming?

Microsoft/Yahoo! privacy & merger watch: Yahoo! is "largest behavioral targeting network" according to its Blue Lithium subsidiary

Yesterday, the behavioral targeting firm and Yahoo! subsidiary Blue Lithium gave a lunch time presentation at the OMMA Behavioral Targeting conference. The Yahoo!/Blue Lithium representatives discussed how “Yahoo! was the largest behavioral targeting network,” even prior to its acquisition of Blue Lithium. They talked about the “amount of knowledge we have about users,” including the “deep information” on its “hundreds of millions” of users. Yahoo!, they claimed, had a treasure trove of user data for its targeting “engine,” including search clicks, page views, ad views, and clicks. Yahoo!, they explained, “has spent time and money” to build an ad targeting system that can use all this data, with 400 distinct “categories and models.” Yahoo! has “scale” and “unprecedented reach.” They made a point of noting that [for now], Google doesn’t use behavioral targeting. The representatives also boosted about Blue Lithium’s retargeting capabilities, and that they can target with “specific messages,” and “identify the people that clicked.”  The retargeting is followed up with a “call to action” they noted.

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Microsoft/Yahoo! combination would create a "dominant player in display ads"

From the UK’s New Media Age online ad trade (excerpt). It underscorses for us the failure of regulators to address both the competition and privacy issues (let alone consequences for digital media content diversity): “A merger in the wake of Microsoft’s proposed $44.6bn (£22.7bn) takeover, could create a dominant display provider to match Google’s dominance of the search market…A combined Microsoft-Yahoo! could reach as much as 81.5% of the total worldwide audience…

“I think it would consolidate a position as the dominant leader in display advertising, in the same way that Google is the head-and-shoulders leader in search’ [said Caroline McGuckian, global head of media at LBi.]…Media agencies have largely welcomed the takeover as a boost to the display ad market, particularly behavioural targeting. It’s also seen as bringing welcome competition to Google’s dominance of online.”

source: “Microsoft-Yahoo! Would Be Display Ad Leader.” Danielle Long. NMA. 07.02.08 [sub. required]/

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Microsoft’s quest for Yahoo!—Follow (Your!) Data…or Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, it’s off to harvest your data we go

We will be covering the proposed takeover, from both the online advertising business and privacy side. Here’s a revealing tidbit from BusinessWeek on what Microsoft hopes to achieve from a deal: “What’s more, the company is hoping to bring together Yahoo’s research and development staff, who’ve done innovative work in online advertising auction theory and data-mining, with its own online lab.”

Yes, a key to analyzing this deal–if it happens–is what are the consequences when Microsoft’s adCenter merges with Yahoo!’s Panama and other data mining assets. That’s why it’s important to keep a spotlight on what Google and Microsoft, among others, plan to do. Here’s an example of where we are headed, courtesy of Microsoft’s adLab demonstration this week [via Clickz]: “Online advertising has been centered around keywords for too long,” said Tarek Najm, an engineer for Microsoft’s advertising and business intelligence systems, adding the “next wave of advertising is going to use new algorithms and technologies” that display ads based on consumer intent.”

Microsoft’s Digital Ad Vision: Part 2

From this week’s Microsoft’s “Strategic Update [Feb. 4, 2008]. Excerpt:

“Advertising is a key part of a number of the opportunities that I talked about, and the key probably right now for us to continue to grow our advertising footprint starts with what we’re doing with search and portal. We have made good progress in that business. It is growing. Since our start four years ago, we now have what I would call a very credible search product, a very credible advertising platform. We’ve got good trajectory. This was, in some senses, the best time for us to ask ourselves, what else can we do to make ourselves even more effective in this business?
And in a sense, the fact that we’re in a stronger position now than we were 12 months ago actually makes this an easier acquisition to consider, even though, as I said in my letter to Jerry Yang, we did have discussions a year ago with Yahoo! about combining the businesses. People say, what are you doing here? Well, what we’re trying to do is take some momentum that we have and ask, how do we really increase that momentum even further? What else can we do?
And the truth is, either on our own efforts or, hopefully, now that we’ve proposed this acquisition, on our efforts merged together with Yahoo!, there are really four things we get a chance to work on. First and foremost is to expand our R&D capacity. We’re going to have to innovate like crazy to get the position want to have in this market. We’re going to have to innovate in the ad platform. We’re going to have to innovate in core search. We’re going to have to invest in new, emerging user experiences —mobile, social media, video, entertainment experience. We need the R&D capability to really compete with the market leader.
We continue to hire people and transfer people. But in fact, bringing together Microsoft and Yahoo! will allow us, because of the fantastic engineering talent both at Yahoo! and at Microsoft, we get more capacity more quickly. We get a chance to not have to think so much about how do we not use the capacity we have, but how do we deploy this incredible team to make sure that we’re doing everything and more that the market leader might be doing?”