Good news for Gasta.com search Network and other big search companies with earnings season just ahead. Search engine marketing firm Efficient Frontier has upped its estimates for search ad spending this year. The company now expects spending to increase between 15 and 20 percent, up from its earlier estimates of 10 to 15 percent growth, in part due to the economic recovery. By contrast, Efficient Frontier says search ad spending increased six percent in 2009.
Already, there are additional signs that the search ad market is on the way up. During the fourth quarter, Efficent Frontier says that search advertisers “shifted from cautious optimism to guarded enthusiasm and took a more aggressive position in search,” according to a report due to be released tomorrow. Quarter-to-quarter and year-over-year growth were both up six percent. Year-over-year growth had been down five percent during the third quarter.
—Retail shines: Unsurprisingly, considering the holidays, much of the comeback was driven by spending by retailers, which was up 17 percent compared to a year ago. Travel spending, meanwhile, dropped 20 percent, while finance and auto were up just two percent each. Efficient Frontier expects retail spending to stay strong and says “growing consumer interest” in finance should boost finance spending ahead. Travel spending, however, is expected to remain weak.
—Google: Despite competition from Microsoft’s Bing, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) solidified its lead in its share of advertisers’ dollars (and of paid clicks). That was a shift from previous reports, which had indicated that Google was losing ground to Bing. Efficient Frontier says Google’s share of overall search ad spending increased to 74.5 percent from 73.9 percent during the previous quarter. Bing’s share, meanwhile, shrunk to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent. The firm says that Bing’s drop, however, is likely temporary, since Google has a particularly big advantage over its competitor in retail.
We should get more details on the state of the search-ad market starting Thursday when Google reports its earnings. Expect full coverage here.
Showing posts with label Bing Gasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bing Gasta. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Yahoo Reportedly Shutting Down MyBlogLog
Yahoo Reportedly Shutting Down MyBlogLog Very Soon
By Chris Crum
Yahoo will reportedly shut down MyBlogLog in January. Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb claims to have heard from "sources close to the project" that this is the case.
"Yahoo! has let the service atrophy for years and will now put it to rest," writes Kirkpatrick. "To think that this service offered publishers and developers access to personal, demographic, taste and activity data of a website's readers - and yet that offering has in the end gone no where - that's downright crazy."
MyBlogLog was originally developed by Cloudspace out of Florida, but was acquired by Yahoo in January 2007. The company paid over 10 million dollars for it. According to Wikipedia, there were over 45,000 blogs subscribed to it at the time, and it currently has 275,000 registered users.
It's no secret that Yahoo is cutting costs wherever it can. For example, earlier this year, they shut down the once popular Geocities.
By Chris Crum
Yahoo will reportedly shut down MyBlogLog in January. Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb claims to have heard from "sources close to the project" that this is the case.
"Yahoo! has let the service atrophy for years and will now put it to rest," writes Kirkpatrick. "To think that this service offered publishers and developers access to personal, demographic, taste and activity data of a website's readers - and yet that offering has in the end gone no where - that's downright crazy."
MyBlogLog was originally developed by Cloudspace out of Florida, but was acquired by Yahoo in January 2007. The company paid over 10 million dollars for it. According to Wikipedia, there were over 45,000 blogs subscribed to it at the time, and it currently has 275,000 registered users.
It's no secret that Yahoo is cutting costs wherever it can. For example, earlier this year, they shut down the once popular Geocities.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Gasta White Label search solution
Leveraging Your Most Valued
Resource: Information
How does your organization make decisions today? Whether you are deciding ways to expedite your supply chain, improve customer service or select the right product strategy, information sits at the core of that decision. Before anyone in your organization makes a decision they turn to both internal and external information to justify their decision criteria. But what happens when they can’t access the information they need to make that decision? Gasta search engines can make it happen for your company brand,
Brian Babineau, Senior Consulting Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group shares his insights about transforming your information into an asset in his paper, "Expanding Information Access Initiatives with Embedded Enterprise Search." He writes:
With data growth and proliferation unending, organizations have two choices: maintain the status quo and hope employees can find relevant data when they need to or learn from what the Internet has taught us and leverage search technology to connect knowledge workers with information. It appears that many organizations (in both the public and private sectors) are opting for the latter as nearly one-third of organizations surveyed by ESG said they are going to maintain or increase their spending on enterprise search over the next twelve months.
When comparing enterprise search with Internet search, there is a veritable litany of differences including: security models, ability to support multiple content types, and refined relevancy weightings. Within the report, Brian explains how many organizations are not only developing their own information access strategies but are also demanding improved data retrieval from their independent software vendors (ISVs).
Resource: Information
How does your organization make decisions today? Whether you are deciding ways to expedite your supply chain, improve customer service or select the right product strategy, information sits at the core of that decision. Before anyone in your organization makes a decision they turn to both internal and external information to justify their decision criteria. But what happens when they can’t access the information they need to make that decision? Gasta search engines can make it happen for your company brand,
Brian Babineau, Senior Consulting Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group shares his insights about transforming your information into an asset in his paper, "Expanding Information Access Initiatives with Embedded Enterprise Search." He writes:
With data growth and proliferation unending, organizations have two choices: maintain the status quo and hope employees can find relevant data when they need to or learn from what the Internet has taught us and leverage search technology to connect knowledge workers with information. It appears that many organizations (in both the public and private sectors) are opting for the latter as nearly one-third of organizations surveyed by ESG said they are going to maintain or increase their spending on enterprise search over the next twelve months.
When comparing enterprise search with Internet search, there is a veritable litany of differences including: security models, ability to support multiple content types, and refined relevancy weightings. Within the report, Brian explains how many organizations are not only developing their own information access strategies but are also demanding improved data retrieval from their independent software vendors (ISVs).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Hitwise on Gasta.com
HitWise on Gasta.com
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa still over 200 days away from its opening match, UK Internet traffic to www.fifa.com has already hit a three year high. For the week ending 12/09/09, the FIFA homepage jumped 3,643 places, ranking #484 among all websites.
A significant contribution to the spike in traffic occurred after the home match between England vs Croatia on 09/09/09, where England won 5-1 securing their spot in the World Cup. On the same day, the FIFA homepage soared to number 1 in the Sports - Football Category, picking up 1 in every 28 visits. The BBC was the biggest recipient of downstream traffic, with BBC Sports, BBC homepage and BBC News collectively picking up 6.33% of all traffic from www.fifa.com.
News In Brief
Searches for climate change and energy efficiency
With environmental concerns becoming increasingly important, it comes as no surprise that climate change was chosen as the topic for Blog Action Day '09. To look at climate change related searches online in the UK, two Hitwise search term portfolios were consulted: Environmental Concerns (searches for information about climate change e.g.'global warming' and 'carbon footprint') and Energy Saving/Efficiencies (searches relating to the practical steps people are actually making to combat climate change by consuming less energy e.g. 'loft insulation' and 'solar panels').
Based on volume of searches for these portfolios over the last two years, there are currently four times as many UK Internet searches for the Energy Saving/Efficiency portfolio as there are for Environmental Concerns. This gap has widened over time and reflects the gradual shift in attitudes towards climate change over the last few years; from people looking for information in order to understand the issues to more practical searches related to changing behaviours.
Increases in searches for the Environmental Concerns portfolio tend to occur as a result of climate change or global warming being in the news. The most recent increase was driven by two events: the Climate Camp protests and the upcoming intergovernmental climate change conference in Copenhagen. During these peaks, much of the search traffic goes to News and Media websites, but in general the largest recipient of traffic goes to information sites such as Wikipedia and the government's Act on CO2 campaign.
Searches for the Energy Savings/Efficiencies portfolio are less driven by news than seasonality. The most popular terms in the portfolio relate to heating homes or making them more efficient, with 'underfloor heating', 'cavity wall insulation', 'double glazing', 'heating oil prices', 'electricity prices' and 'winter fuel allowance' making up some of the top 10.
Read the full article.
How do people search for travel in the UK?
In the UK, Travel websites rely on search engines for two-fifths of their traffic. During August 09, the top 1,000 search terms sending traffic to websites within the Travel Category were categorized based on the type of things people were searching for, including Agencies/Holidays, Airports, Attractions, Car Hire, Cruises, Ferries, Flights, Hotels/Accommodation, Maps/Directions, Places, Train/Coach, Travel Material and Travel Review.
Looking at the UK data, it is a fairly evenly distribution across the categories, with Agencies/ Holidays the most searched for category. There are a large number of generic searches in this category ('holiday deals", 'travel agents', 'spa breaks') as consumers start their holiday research from a general base. Of all the markets, the UK also had the largest proportion of travel review sites (3%) - primarily branded searches for Tripadvisor when compared with the USA, Canada and Australia.
Methods of transport were heavily searched for in the UK, with Flights and Train/Coach searches each accounting for 16% (however flights were less searched for when compared to the other regions). A quarter of searches for trains and coaches were generic, relating to train times and tickets. The UK also has the largest number of ferry searches, mostly for French destinations.
People in the UK make the highest number of airport searches when compared with the other markets, with the regional airports featuring prominently. 'manchester airport' was the most searched for airport term (followed by Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow and Birmingham airports). One key variation on airport searches is for airport parking, particularly for the big airports such as Gatwick and Heathrow.
This analysis was taken from a recent Global Travel Update Webinar and blog post, which in addition provides equivalent analysis for the US, Australia and Canada, looking at flight searches to and from the UK, most popular destinations in each country, top airlines and travel brands, plus the impact of social networking.
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa still over 200 days away from its opening match, UK Internet traffic to www.fifa.com has already hit a three year high. For the week ending 12/09/09, the FIFA homepage jumped 3,643 places, ranking #484 among all websites.
A significant contribution to the spike in traffic occurred after the home match between England vs Croatia on 09/09/09, where England won 5-1 securing their spot in the World Cup. On the same day, the FIFA homepage soared to number 1 in the Sports - Football Category, picking up 1 in every 28 visits. The BBC was the biggest recipient of downstream traffic, with BBC Sports, BBC homepage and BBC News collectively picking up 6.33% of all traffic from www.fifa.com.
News In Brief
Searches for climate change and energy efficiency
With environmental concerns becoming increasingly important, it comes as no surprise that climate change was chosen as the topic for Blog Action Day '09. To look at climate change related searches online in the UK, two Hitwise search term portfolios were consulted: Environmental Concerns (searches for information about climate change e.g.'global warming' and 'carbon footprint') and Energy Saving/Efficiencies (searches relating to the practical steps people are actually making to combat climate change by consuming less energy e.g. 'loft insulation' and 'solar panels').
Based on volume of searches for these portfolios over the last two years, there are currently four times as many UK Internet searches for the Energy Saving/Efficiency portfolio as there are for Environmental Concerns. This gap has widened over time and reflects the gradual shift in attitudes towards climate change over the last few years; from people looking for information in order to understand the issues to more practical searches related to changing behaviours.
Increases in searches for the Environmental Concerns portfolio tend to occur as a result of climate change or global warming being in the news. The most recent increase was driven by two events: the Climate Camp protests and the upcoming intergovernmental climate change conference in Copenhagen. During these peaks, much of the search traffic goes to News and Media websites, but in general the largest recipient of traffic goes to information sites such as Wikipedia and the government's Act on CO2 campaign.
Searches for the Energy Savings/Efficiencies portfolio are less driven by news than seasonality. The most popular terms in the portfolio relate to heating homes or making them more efficient, with 'underfloor heating', 'cavity wall insulation', 'double glazing', 'heating oil prices', 'electricity prices' and 'winter fuel allowance' making up some of the top 10.
Read the full article.
How do people search for travel in the UK?
In the UK, Travel websites rely on search engines for two-fifths of their traffic. During August 09, the top 1,000 search terms sending traffic to websites within the Travel Category were categorized based on the type of things people were searching for, including Agencies/Holidays, Airports, Attractions, Car Hire, Cruises, Ferries, Flights, Hotels/Accommodation, Maps/Directions, Places, Train/Coach, Travel Material and Travel Review.
Looking at the UK data, it is a fairly evenly distribution across the categories, with Agencies/ Holidays the most searched for category. There are a large number of generic searches in this category ('holiday deals", 'travel agents', 'spa breaks') as consumers start their holiday research from a general base. Of all the markets, the UK also had the largest proportion of travel review sites (3%) - primarily branded searches for Tripadvisor when compared with the USA, Canada and Australia.
Methods of transport were heavily searched for in the UK, with Flights and Train/Coach searches each accounting for 16% (however flights were less searched for when compared to the other regions). A quarter of searches for trains and coaches were generic, relating to train times and tickets. The UK also has the largest number of ferry searches, mostly for French destinations.
People in the UK make the highest number of airport searches when compared with the other markets, with the regional airports featuring prominently. 'manchester airport' was the most searched for airport term (followed by Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow and Birmingham airports). One key variation on airport searches is for airport parking, particularly for the big airports such as Gatwick and Heathrow.
This analysis was taken from a recent Global Travel Update Webinar and blog post, which in addition provides equivalent analysis for the US, Australia and Canada, looking at flight searches to and from the UK, most popular destinations in each country, top airlines and travel brands, plus the impact of social networking.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Gasta Tech News:Online display advertising picks up again
David Kaplan
twitter @davidaKaplan
The tentative comeback in online display ad spending appears to be by-passing newspapers. Signs of the recovery started well enough this summer, as the NYT notes that big marketers like Mercedes began showering hundreds of thousands of dollars on dynamic, 3D display ads in newspapers.
But it was short-lived, as ad networks began getting the bulk of Mercedes’ online budget, thanks to the promise of lower costs and the promise of greater targeting. The NYT’s Stephanie Clifford finds marketers use of online newspaper ads and display networks akin to wearing expensive shoes: for a big debut, marketers will splurge on premium newspaper ads; but it when it comes to everyday business, ad networks make more sense.
The latest earnings reports bear that out. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), two of the biggest online ad bellwethers, saw display revenues tick up slightly. But when it came to online ad revenues at the NYTCo (NYSE: NYT), its web ads fell 18.5 percent. Gannett’s operating digital revenues were also about 20 percent lower. Meanwhile, McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) posted just a 3 percent gain for web ads.
Last spring, there was a lot of hope that the Online Publishers Association’s new display ad formats might help draw more dollars from marketers. But ad nets quickly adopted the larger formats for those who wanted them, while other advertisers have complained about the complexity attached to these buys.
So far, the only things major publishers can do to pry advertisers’ dollars is put a greater emphasis on selling the non-premium ads—which Denise Warren, SVP for advertising/chief advertising officer for the NYT Media Group, insists the company is doing to positive effect—and stress the brand building capabilities that come with being attached to a popular web destination.
twitter @davidaKaplan
The tentative comeback in online display ad spending appears to be by-passing newspapers. Signs of the recovery started well enough this summer, as the NYT notes that big marketers like Mercedes began showering hundreds of thousands of dollars on dynamic, 3D display ads in newspapers.
But it was short-lived, as ad networks began getting the bulk of Mercedes’ online budget, thanks to the promise of lower costs and the promise of greater targeting. The NYT’s Stephanie Clifford finds marketers use of online newspaper ads and display networks akin to wearing expensive shoes: for a big debut, marketers will splurge on premium newspaper ads; but it when it comes to everyday business, ad networks make more sense.
The latest earnings reports bear that out. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), two of the biggest online ad bellwethers, saw display revenues tick up slightly. But when it came to online ad revenues at the NYTCo (NYSE: NYT), its web ads fell 18.5 percent. Gannett’s operating digital revenues were also about 20 percent lower. Meanwhile, McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) posted just a 3 percent gain for web ads.
Last spring, there was a lot of hope that the Online Publishers Association’s new display ad formats might help draw more dollars from marketers. But ad nets quickly adopted the larger formats for those who wanted them, while other advertisers have complained about the complexity attached to these buys.
So far, the only things major publishers can do to pry advertisers’ dollars is put a greater emphasis on selling the non-premium ads—which Denise Warren, SVP for advertising/chief advertising officer for the NYT Media Group, insists the company is doing to positive effect—and stress the brand building capabilities that come with being attached to a popular web destination.
Gasta Tech News: Balmer on Bing Innovations
Ballmer sees Bing reinventing search
By Rich Cherecwich
Bing increased its share of the U.S. search market again in September, growing from 8.7 percent to 8.8 percent, The New York Times reports. That's a small move, but Bing's search volume increased by more than 8 percent during the same month, while nearly every other search engine saw its volume decline, according to data from Compete.
Bing has increased its market share every month since launching, and parent company Microsoft is taking steps to ensure that growth continues. The company reached a deal with Twitter earlier this week that will let Bing incorporate tweets into searches.
But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer knows Bing has a much longer road to get ahead of market leader Google, and he plans on getting there by "radically reinventing the category." Ballmer didn't lay out any specific details, but in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he hinted that Bing has some search innovations in the pipeline. "We're going to do things that surprise [Google], and they're going to hustle to catch back up and copy us," he said.
By Rich Cherecwich
Bing increased its share of the U.S. search market again in September, growing from 8.7 percent to 8.8 percent, The New York Times reports. That's a small move, but Bing's search volume increased by more than 8 percent during the same month, while nearly every other search engine saw its volume decline, according to data from Compete.
Bing has increased its market share every month since launching, and parent company Microsoft is taking steps to ensure that growth continues. The company reached a deal with Twitter earlier this week that will let Bing incorporate tweets into searches.
But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer knows Bing has a much longer road to get ahead of market leader Google, and he plans on getting there by "radically reinventing the category." Ballmer didn't lay out any specific details, but in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he hinted that Bing has some search innovations in the pipeline. "We're going to do things that surprise [Google], and they're going to hustle to catch back up and copy us," he said.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Arnon Mishkin on why Steve jobs approach is Important to media companies.
Gasta Tech News:
Arnon Mishkin is a partner with Mitchell Madison Group, where he consults for media companies on improving legacy businesses as well as making the internet profitable. Prior to MMG, he was a partner at the Boston Consulting Group.
One of the most effective television ads for a media company was one that WINS, an all-news radio station in New York, ran several decades ago. It asked viewers if they knew how to set the [preset] “buttons” on their car radio, and then explained, “You pull out the middle button…tune to 1010 WINS…and then push the button all the way in.” In those days, all car radios had the same mechanical preset system. And since hardly anyone had ever read that part of the auto manual, a large number followed the advice in the ad. They wound up driving with the middle button set to WINS – and WINS won the ratings war.
I remembered that piece of ancient media history when I read the latest rumors about the mythic Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) tablet. The tablet has been rumored for long enough to make it the technological equivalent of The Flying Dutchman, but it seems like the device may finally be arriving in port in early 2010. According to Gizmodo, the way Apple is thinking of partnering with content companies suggests it may, in fact, turn out to be worth the wait.
On the web, all content gets posted and made available ubiquitously – through search engines, aggregators and the like. While some call this a wonderful ecosystem, the record shows that almost all the value that has been created on the web has gone to organizations that curate and navigate the masses of available content. They are the companies that have created the essential starting points (first Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), now Google,and in the future, maybe, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) via Bing) or folks who create real or de facto “walled gardens” (at first AOL (NYSE: TWX), now apparently Facebook, and arguably Hulu).
Why is it so hard for content makers to create value on the web? Because the web has evolved to minimize content makers’ ability to retain users. Thanks to the power of search, users can bounce from one site to another so effortlessly that it’s tremendously difficult for any one site to monetize their visits.
The iPhone and, apparently, the Apple tablet rely on a very different approach to providing content to users: individual apps, of course. When someone downloads an app, that person immediately becomes a true user of it; the physical size of the device, coupled with a user’s desire to minimize the number of pages of apps, create limits to where that user gets information. While users may choose to drop an app or add others, there is a very clear cost (to the user) of switching from one content provider to another.
In other words, apps allow media companies to compete for that “middle button” that 1010 WINS won. And it’s not just the apps and the iPhone that can help media companies achieve that feat. Any successful e-reader and its downloads could have the same impact. Echoing this point, the author of a previous Leading Voices piece on paidContent argued that the unsung virtue of the Kindle was the way it allows readers to “unitask.”
Unlike the web, the system of apps and downloads (e.g. an e-magazine subscription) provide tools that enable a content developer to build and keep a loyal audience, and you can imagine a variety of workable business models. A business could sell advertising against the customer base or potentially sell things directly to the customer, particularly with the new feature of “in-app purchasing.”
With Apple, the key is that it allows each app developer to “bundle” content – in a sense, just the opposite of what it did with iTunes, where it broke apart the music combo of records and CDs. As companies develop their approaches to apps, they need to figure out:
1. What types of bundles make the most sense – the generic bundles that were the norm in the broadcast television and newspaper industries, or more vertical, branded-identity bundles that were the norm for cable networks
2. How to ensure that they secure as much as possible of the best real estate on users’ iPhones, tablets or other devices
3. How to promote an app, taking advantage of the tools of the web
4. How to move users from their inherently low-margin web sites to different types of e-readers, apps and the like
5. How to make sure they don’t lose the inherent stickiness of apps
As they tackle these questions, content companies can take what they learn in the app and download world and try to make the web more profitable for themselves.
Arnon Mishkin is a partner with Mitchell Madison Group, where he consults for media companies on improving legacy businesses as well as making the internet profitable. Prior to MMG, he was a partner at the Boston Consulting Group.
One of the most effective television ads for a media company was one that WINS, an all-news radio station in New York, ran several decades ago. It asked viewers if they knew how to set the [preset] “buttons” on their car radio, and then explained, “You pull out the middle button…tune to 1010 WINS…and then push the button all the way in.” In those days, all car radios had the same mechanical preset system. And since hardly anyone had ever read that part of the auto manual, a large number followed the advice in the ad. They wound up driving with the middle button set to WINS – and WINS won the ratings war.
I remembered that piece of ancient media history when I read the latest rumors about the mythic Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) tablet. The tablet has been rumored for long enough to make it the technological equivalent of The Flying Dutchman, but it seems like the device may finally be arriving in port in early 2010. According to Gizmodo, the way Apple is thinking of partnering with content companies suggests it may, in fact, turn out to be worth the wait.
On the web, all content gets posted and made available ubiquitously – through search engines, aggregators and the like. While some call this a wonderful ecosystem, the record shows that almost all the value that has been created on the web has gone to organizations that curate and navigate the masses of available content. They are the companies that have created the essential starting points (first Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), now Google,and in the future, maybe, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) via Bing) or folks who create real or de facto “walled gardens” (at first AOL (NYSE: TWX), now apparently Facebook, and arguably Hulu).
Why is it so hard for content makers to create value on the web? Because the web has evolved to minimize content makers’ ability to retain users. Thanks to the power of search, users can bounce from one site to another so effortlessly that it’s tremendously difficult for any one site to monetize their visits.
The iPhone and, apparently, the Apple tablet rely on a very different approach to providing content to users: individual apps, of course. When someone downloads an app, that person immediately becomes a true user of it; the physical size of the device, coupled with a user’s desire to minimize the number of pages of apps, create limits to where that user gets information. While users may choose to drop an app or add others, there is a very clear cost (to the user) of switching from one content provider to another.
In other words, apps allow media companies to compete for that “middle button” that 1010 WINS won. And it’s not just the apps and the iPhone that can help media companies achieve that feat. Any successful e-reader and its downloads could have the same impact. Echoing this point, the author of a previous Leading Voices piece on paidContent argued that the unsung virtue of the Kindle was the way it allows readers to “unitask.”
Unlike the web, the system of apps and downloads (e.g. an e-magazine subscription) provide tools that enable a content developer to build and keep a loyal audience, and you can imagine a variety of workable business models. A business could sell advertising against the customer base or potentially sell things directly to the customer, particularly with the new feature of “in-app purchasing.”
With Apple, the key is that it allows each app developer to “bundle” content – in a sense, just the opposite of what it did with iTunes, where it broke apart the music combo of records and CDs. As companies develop their approaches to apps, they need to figure out:
1. What types of bundles make the most sense – the generic bundles that were the norm in the broadcast television and newspaper industries, or more vertical, branded-identity bundles that were the norm for cable networks
2. How to ensure that they secure as much as possible of the best real estate on users’ iPhones, tablets or other devices
3. How to promote an app, taking advantage of the tools of the web
4. How to move users from their inherently low-margin web sites to different types of e-readers, apps and the like
5. How to make sure they don’t lose the inherent stickiness of apps
As they tackle these questions, content companies can take what they learn in the app and download world and try to make the web more profitable for themselves.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Web2.0 in daily business
Web 2.0 gains momentum in Europe, with companies looking for new ways to stay productive
LONDON – 26 May, 2009 – The year 2008 and economic downturn have changed the way companies are going about their daily business. In response to the current recession in Europe, businesses are seeking new ways to stay productive while significantly cutting costs with the help of Web 2.0 solutions. From lower-cost versions of enterprise applications, to utilising cloud computing, ‘crowd sourcing’ business owners are taking advantage of what Web 2.0 has to offer.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.conferencing.frost.com), Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses, finds that Web 2.0 will supplement both Web and Audio-web markets that were valued at $190 million in Europe in 2008 and are likely to grow to $860 million by the end of 2014.
“Web 2.0 solutions may be part of the cure for the recessionary headache that many European businesses are now experiencing; social networking sites, wikis, and blogs are just some of the more well-known examples of Web 2.0 technologies that can play an important role here,” observes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Iwona Petruczynik. “These solutions are becoming more prevalent in the European small and medium businesses (SMBs) arena, especially at a time like this, when workers are being forced to do more with less.”
There has been an increase in the usage of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 solutions like Blogger and WordPress. Until recently, they were primarily associated with consumer applications; however, currently, they are finding usage in more professional areas.
“As an interesting side note, social networking sites are gaining popularity in unexpected places, for instance, the world’s most popular online virtual reality, Second Life, was used by Sweden to open their ‘embassy’ in the virtual world to promote Sweden’s culture and image,” remarks Petruczynik. “In addition, Second Life is used in the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration, where the Ministry has a room, which a person can visit to find out what the Ministry is doing and even ask the Minister questions.”
However, experts are unable to agree on one definition of Web 2.0 and this becomes a challenge in defining its market size. Yet, it is unlikely that Web 2.0 will become a stand-alone market, as it is a set of technologies and ideas driving the development of existing products and services. The full potential influence of Web 2.0 is only now playing out, as the concepts and technologies are finding their use in manufacturing, customer service, product development and sales.
Innovative modes of interaction among workers, enabled by Web 2.0, contribute to company cohesion and employee retention. Telecommuting staff too can collaborate with each other speedily and effortlessly, outside of the formal e-mail stream.
Despite the evident advantages, some businesses are apprehensive about fully embracing Web 2.0 tools. The popularity of companies’ in-house intranet and concerns about security and confidential information leaks are just a few examples of the restraints faced by the European Web 2.0 market. Moreover, a culture of ‘busyness’ retards the adoption of Web 2.0. If employees are not seen working all the time, they are assumed to be inefficient and unprofessional, when, in fact, they could be conducting their business through utilising solutions such as blogs or social networking sites, like Twitter or LinkedIn. In addition, Europe tends to be more conservative in accepting new solutions. Therefore, the adoption rate of Web 2.0 in Europe is lower than that in the United States.
“In Europe, there is a common misconception that a true deliverable is measured in how many kilograms of paper one produces and hands over to a client,” explains Petruczynik. “This belief is hindering the adoption of Web 2.0 solutions, as more end products are being delivered in the form of a wiki or a blog.”
Moreover, the security concerns that many chief information officers (CIOs) face are equally important. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), a programming technique used by Web 2.0 programmers, poses security risks that in the worst-case scenario include uploading malicious codes onto someone’s computer or hijacking an account.
According to the European Commission, small and medium businesses (SMBs) constitute 99.0 per cent of all enterprises in Europe and provide almost 75.0 million jobs. With such significant market potential, Web 2.0 vendors should not have problems with deploying their solutions in the SMB sector.
“The best practice for those employing Web 2.0 solutions include creating and implementing clear and easy policies, describing how to use social media to avoid security risks, and leaks of confidential information, adapting their corporate culture to promote openness and collaboration, and educating employees on how to use Web 2.0 tools to become more productive and efficient,” concludes Petruczynik. “On the other hand, Web 2.0 vendors should help in creating supportive policies, providing seamless integration with existing advanced corporate communication tools, and offering a variety of ‘a la carte’ Web 2.0 technologies.”
If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides a brief synopsis of the research and a table of contents, then send an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, a brochure will be sent to you by e-mail.
Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses is part of the Conferencing & Collaboration Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: web conferencing, audio conferencing, video conferencing, telepresence, unified communications and collaboration market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.
Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses
Joanna Lewandowska
frost.com
LONDON – 26 May, 2009 – The year 2008 and economic downturn have changed the way companies are going about their daily business. In response to the current recession in Europe, businesses are seeking new ways to stay productive while significantly cutting costs with the help of Web 2.0 solutions. From lower-cost versions of enterprise applications, to utilising cloud computing, ‘crowd sourcing’ business owners are taking advantage of what Web 2.0 has to offer.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.conferencing.frost.com), Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses, finds that Web 2.0 will supplement both Web and Audio-web markets that were valued at $190 million in Europe in 2008 and are likely to grow to $860 million by the end of 2014.
“Web 2.0 solutions may be part of the cure for the recessionary headache that many European businesses are now experiencing; social networking sites, wikis, and blogs are just some of the more well-known examples of Web 2.0 technologies that can play an important role here,” observes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Iwona Petruczynik. “These solutions are becoming more prevalent in the European small and medium businesses (SMBs) arena, especially at a time like this, when workers are being forced to do more with less.”
There has been an increase in the usage of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 solutions like Blogger and WordPress. Until recently, they were primarily associated with consumer applications; however, currently, they are finding usage in more professional areas.
“As an interesting side note, social networking sites are gaining popularity in unexpected places, for instance, the world’s most popular online virtual reality, Second Life, was used by Sweden to open their ‘embassy’ in the virtual world to promote Sweden’s culture and image,” remarks Petruczynik. “In addition, Second Life is used in the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration, where the Ministry has a room, which a person can visit to find out what the Ministry is doing and even ask the Minister questions.”
However, experts are unable to agree on one definition of Web 2.0 and this becomes a challenge in defining its market size. Yet, it is unlikely that Web 2.0 will become a stand-alone market, as it is a set of technologies and ideas driving the development of existing products and services. The full potential influence of Web 2.0 is only now playing out, as the concepts and technologies are finding their use in manufacturing, customer service, product development and sales.
Innovative modes of interaction among workers, enabled by Web 2.0, contribute to company cohesion and employee retention. Telecommuting staff too can collaborate with each other speedily and effortlessly, outside of the formal e-mail stream.
Despite the evident advantages, some businesses are apprehensive about fully embracing Web 2.0 tools. The popularity of companies’ in-house intranet and concerns about security and confidential information leaks are just a few examples of the restraints faced by the European Web 2.0 market. Moreover, a culture of ‘busyness’ retards the adoption of Web 2.0. If employees are not seen working all the time, they are assumed to be inefficient and unprofessional, when, in fact, they could be conducting their business through utilising solutions such as blogs or social networking sites, like Twitter or LinkedIn. In addition, Europe tends to be more conservative in accepting new solutions. Therefore, the adoption rate of Web 2.0 in Europe is lower than that in the United States.
“In Europe, there is a common misconception that a true deliverable is measured in how many kilograms of paper one produces and hands over to a client,” explains Petruczynik. “This belief is hindering the adoption of Web 2.0 solutions, as more end products are being delivered in the form of a wiki or a blog.”
Moreover, the security concerns that many chief information officers (CIOs) face are equally important. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), a programming technique used by Web 2.0 programmers, poses security risks that in the worst-case scenario include uploading malicious codes onto someone’s computer or hijacking an account.
According to the European Commission, small and medium businesses (SMBs) constitute 99.0 per cent of all enterprises in Europe and provide almost 75.0 million jobs. With such significant market potential, Web 2.0 vendors should not have problems with deploying their solutions in the SMB sector.
“The best practice for those employing Web 2.0 solutions include creating and implementing clear and easy policies, describing how to use social media to avoid security risks, and leaks of confidential information, adapting their corporate culture to promote openness and collaboration, and educating employees on how to use Web 2.0 tools to become more productive and efficient,” concludes Petruczynik. “On the other hand, Web 2.0 vendors should help in creating supportive policies, providing seamless integration with existing advanced corporate communication tools, and offering a variety of ‘a la carte’ Web 2.0 technologies.”
If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides a brief synopsis of the research and a table of contents, then send an e-mail to Joanna Lewandowska, Corporate Communications, at joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, a brochure will be sent to you by e-mail.
Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses is part of the Conferencing & Collaboration Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: web conferencing, audio conferencing, video conferencing, telepresence, unified communications and collaboration market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.
Web 2.0 Technologies in the Recession-hit Europe as a Solution for Small and Medium Businesses
Joanna Lewandowska
frost.com
Monday, May 25, 2009
Gasta Tech News: Bing News
Microsoft Aims Big Guns at Google, Asks Consumers to Rethink Search
Here's Why an $80M Ad Effort for a Search Engine, Bing, Makes Some Sense
Microsoft has used attack ads to go after Apple, and now it has Google in its sights.
The software giant is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.
JWT has been tapped for the push, which will include online, TV, print and radio. Another sign of the campaign's size: At a time when most agencies are laying people off, JWT added creatives on the Microsoft business last week.
People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.
"If you grab the average user off the street and ask them, 'Does search suck?' I think they'd say no. They don't know what else can be done," said Shashi Seth, a former Google executive who is now chief revenue officer at Cooliris. "They think search does a pretty good job, and if you could prove otherwise with a product that's differentiated, people will sit up and take notice."
Case for refinement
Indeed, data show that about 65% of people are satisfied or very satisfied with online search. But Microsoft sees an opening on its own proprietary search data: 42% of searches require refinement, and 25% of clicks are the back button.
That's why Mr. Seth likens the Bing marketing challenge to that of the Apple iPhone before it was introduced. Most people, pre-iPhone, didn't know they were missing a multi-touch screen, or an application that would enable them to detect what song was playing wherever they were. But Apple, through its ads, showed how markedly different the experience was and created a new de facto standard for phones.
Many will argue that no amount of advertising Microsoft throws at the product will make a difference -- the quality of search results is the only thing that matters. And that may have once been true; after all, Google built its brand on the back of a great user experience, results that were markedly better and zero ad support.
But that's not necessarily true anymore, as the quality of search engines has approached parity. Sure, there are no switching costs, and it's easy to simply type in a new web address should a better engine come along, but the psychological pull of the leading brand in the space overrides those factors for many consumers.
Consider that Google has conducted internal tests, according to people familiar with them, in which the company put its logo and treatment on another engine's search results. Users still prefer the results with the Google logo, even if they're not Google results. Or consider that a revamped Ask.com made its debut in 2007 to a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who said it "holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches." Two years later? Ask's share of search is down 28%.
'Better mousetrap'
"I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, New York. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front -- there's no other way to skin this but go head on against the Google brand."
Obviously Microsoft has not shied away from "going head on" in its Windows campaign. Its chief attack on Apple -- that it's too expensive and not worth the high price -- is showing some signs of working. Apple's value perception among 18- to 34-year-olds has dropped significantly since the campaign launched in late March, which might be a testament to the right message at the right time.
Still, advertising isn't a panacea, as even the most self-absorbed ad man knows, especially when it's not the right advertising. Ask.com famously spent $57 million in 2007 to market its engine, and another $22 million last year, according to TNS. The 2007 campaign was an oddball execution from Crispin Porter & Bogusky that touted "the algorithm" -- a concept unlikely to grab anyone not already entrenched in the world of digital marketing. What Microsoft needs to do is go after people who don't know and probably don't care what an algorithm is.
And all the advertising in the world only works if the product backs it up. People who've seen the Microsoft product suggest it's useful and has some nifty filtering tools, even though it's not a markedly different-looking interface, at least for text search (some of the multimedia search results, however, do look quite different from how Google currently displays them).
"It doesn't take a lot to switch people from one type to another and usually it's a unique feature that gets people excited," said David Karnstedt, CEO of Efficient Frontier and former head of sales for Yahoo. He reflected on his days at AltaVista, which Google supplanted. "Google got people excited because it got people and places right early on. That got people to really start to switch, and once developed the habit of using Google, it was hard to get them to switch back."
Here's Why an $80M Ad Effort for a Search Engine, Bing, Makes Some Sense
Microsoft has used attack ads to go after Apple, and now it has Google in its sights.
The software giant is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That's a big campaign -- big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.
JWT has been tapped for the push, which will include online, TV, print and radio. Another sign of the campaign's size: At a time when most agencies are laying people off, JWT added creatives on the Microsoft business last week.
People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.
"If you grab the average user off the street and ask them, 'Does search suck?' I think they'd say no. They don't know what else can be done," said Shashi Seth, a former Google executive who is now chief revenue officer at Cooliris. "They think search does a pretty good job, and if you could prove otherwise with a product that's differentiated, people will sit up and take notice."
Case for refinement
Indeed, data show that about 65% of people are satisfied or very satisfied with online search. But Microsoft sees an opening on its own proprietary search data: 42% of searches require refinement, and 25% of clicks are the back button.
That's why Mr. Seth likens the Bing marketing challenge to that of the Apple iPhone before it was introduced. Most people, pre-iPhone, didn't know they were missing a multi-touch screen, or an application that would enable them to detect what song was playing wherever they were. But Apple, through its ads, showed how markedly different the experience was and created a new de facto standard for phones.
Many will argue that no amount of advertising Microsoft throws at the product will make a difference -- the quality of search results is the only thing that matters. And that may have once been true; after all, Google built its brand on the back of a great user experience, results that were markedly better and zero ad support.
But that's not necessarily true anymore, as the quality of search engines has approached parity. Sure, there are no switching costs, and it's easy to simply type in a new web address should a better engine come along, but the psychological pull of the leading brand in the space overrides those factors for many consumers.
Consider that Google has conducted internal tests, according to people familiar with them, in which the company put its logo and treatment on another engine's search results. Users still prefer the results with the Google logo, even if they're not Google results. Or consider that a revamped Ask.com made its debut in 2007 to a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who said it "holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches." Two years later? Ask's share of search is down 28%.
'Better mousetrap'
"I don't think they can win this game with a better mousetrap," said Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor Associates, New York. "They have to compete with Google on a brand front -- there's no other way to skin this but go head on against the Google brand."
Obviously Microsoft has not shied away from "going head on" in its Windows campaign. Its chief attack on Apple -- that it's too expensive and not worth the high price -- is showing some signs of working. Apple's value perception among 18- to 34-year-olds has dropped significantly since the campaign launched in late March, which might be a testament to the right message at the right time.
Still, advertising isn't a panacea, as even the most self-absorbed ad man knows, especially when it's not the right advertising. Ask.com famously spent $57 million in 2007 to market its engine, and another $22 million last year, according to TNS. The 2007 campaign was an oddball execution from Crispin Porter & Bogusky that touted "the algorithm" -- a concept unlikely to grab anyone not already entrenched in the world of digital marketing. What Microsoft needs to do is go after people who don't know and probably don't care what an algorithm is.
And all the advertising in the world only works if the product backs it up. People who've seen the Microsoft product suggest it's useful and has some nifty filtering tools, even though it's not a markedly different-looking interface, at least for text search (some of the multimedia search results, however, do look quite different from how Google currently displays them).
"It doesn't take a lot to switch people from one type to another and usually it's a unique feature that gets people excited," said David Karnstedt, CEO of Efficient Frontier and former head of sales for Yahoo. He reflected on his days at AltaVista, which Google supplanted. "Google got people excited because it got people and places right early on. That got people to really start to switch, and once developed the habit of using Google, it was hard to get them to switch back."
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