Archive for July, 2009
What the Microsoft-Yahoo deal means to users
By Suzanne Choney
Consumers would see improved Web search efforts by all major players as a result of a proposed search partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo, experts said Tuesday.
“It’s a negative in that we’re going from having three major search competitors to two, but it may be better to have two strong competitors rather than one strong competitor and two weak ones,” said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, a site that monitors the search engine industry.
Google, which dominates search with 65 percent of the market, according to online measurement firm comScore Inc., “may be driven to improve their (consumer) offerings somewhat” as a result of the partnership, said David Smith, a Gartner analyst who covers the Web.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Marketing, SEM on July 29th, 2009
Search agency head Alan Rimm-Kaufman dies
Alan Rimm-Kaufman, co-founder and CEO of search marketing agency The Rimm-Kaufman Group, died Saturday after a battle with leukemia. He had undergone 16 months of chemotherapy and had received a bone marrow transplant.
Rimm-Kaufman’s co-founder George Michie had been acting CEO and took over that position permanently on July 1.
Rimm-Kaufman co-founded The Rimm-Kaufman Group in 2003 after leaving a position as vice president of marketing at electronics retailer Crutchfield Corp. He built the company into a leading consultancy and then into a search marketing agency in a short period.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Marketing, Obituaries on July 20th, 2009
The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment)
By James Altucher
I can live all day inside the Internet. I can talk to my friends, listen to music, watch TV, trade stocks, play games, do work – all on the Internet. From 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day I can spend on the Internet and it would be a day well spent.
But run for the hills when it comes to advising clients to invest in the Internet.
The days of infinite margins, 1,000% productivity gains, and growth of market throughout the universe are long over. Internet companies now should be treated, at best, like utility companies that get bought at about 10 times earnings and sold at 13 times earnings. Even then, I’m not sure I would give the Internet sector the same respect as the monopoly-protected utility sector.
Don’t just ask me. Ask the best. Nobody can figure out a business model.
Posted by Tom Polanski in The Economy on July 20th, 2009
Reports that Microsoft and Yahoo! are very near an ad deal
NEW YORK – Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc are close to a long-discussed search and online advertising deal, which could be announced in the next week, according to the AllThingsDigital blog.
The two companies have talked about cooperating for months, after Microsoft’s bid to buy Yahoo was rebuffed last year and Yahoo’s attempt to seal a search advertising deal with Google Inc fell apart under regulatory scrutiny.
The latest discussions involve Microsoft paying Yahoo “several billion dollars upfront to take over its search advertising business and guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo,” according to AllThingsDigital’s Kara Swisher. Yahoo is likely to take the lead on selling display advertising for the companies, she wrote.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Twitter on July 17th, 2009
eBrand Media Research Brief: Traditional marketing budgets lose to interactive
According to Forrester Research, reported by Richard H. Levey at Directmag.com, 60% of marketers surveyed will increase their interactive marketing budgets by shifting funds from traditional media. Direct mail was cited by 40% of marketers as being one being cut, outranking newspapers (35%), magazines (28%) and television (12%).
Among the interactive channels, the study finds social media and mobile marketing spending expanding between 2009 and 2014, with social media jumping by 34% on a compounded annual basis and mobile marketing increasing by 27%. Social media starts at $716 million in 2009, increasing to $3.11 billion by 2014. Mobile marketing expenditures stand at 319 million this year, and goes to $1.27 billion by 2014.
Online display advertising, which currently stands at $7.83 billion, will rise by 17% annually, ending up at $16.9 billion in 2014. Search marketing, which currently accounts for $15.39 billion in spending, will jump by 15%, to $31.59 billion, and e-mail, now at $1.25 billion, will increase 11%, to 2.08 billion.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Marketing, Twitter on July 16th, 2009