Why Tumblr really sold to Yahoo

Was Yahoo’s big purchase of Tumblr another Broadcast.com ($5.7 billion) disaster or more like Google buying YouTube (generating billions in annual revenues)? Some industry watchers thought it was a steal and others thought it was a poor fit, but there are many reasons Yahoo’s $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr makes sense for both sides. Here’s one of the biggest: Tumblr just went from an ad sales force of 25 to more than 2,500. Essentially, Tumblr has all the (young) eyeballs Yahoo wants, and Yahoo has all the sales acumen to monetize those eyeballs. As Tumblr founder David Karp told AdAge’s…  Full article

Consortium’s video “viewability” tool

As online video advertising ramps up (April set a new record for video ads; see Research item below), so does the race to measure the effectiveness of those ads. So in an effort to bolster the overall market, a group of web video companies have formed a consortium to set a standard for “viewability” (which is one of the biggest buzzwords of the year). The group, which includes, as AdWeek put it, “frenemies” like TubeMogul, BrightRoll, Innovid, SpotXchange and LiveRail, is using what they’re calling “Open Video View,” which gives publishers the ability to show advertisers metrics for specific impressions.…  Full article

FTC focuses on Google’s display ads

Google just can’t seem to shake the antitrust scrutiny these days. It just got out of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case against it for search ads. And now the search giant is reportedly under scrutiny from the agency over display ads. A source tells Reuters that the FTC investigation is informal, but at least two companies have complained that Google is unfairly using DoubleClick for publishers (which it bought several years ago for $3.1 billion) to effectively strong arm advertisers into using Google’s other products. Sources tell Bloomberg’s Brian Womack and Sara Forden, however, that the probe is just…  Full article

Native ads gain cachet

Call it native advertising, call it sponsored stories, call it branded content. Call this wave of advertising – that which breaks out of the traditional ad mold to engage users in the editorial well - whatever you like, but native ads are certainly gaining ground.  Publishers are in a position to benefit in two ways: in placing native ads and in creating them.  In a new study from MailOnline, 70 percent of brands and 77 percent of agencies said they used what they call “content marketing” last year and 58 percent said the top place to go for creating that…  Full article

Programmatic buying builds

Exchange-based programmatic ad buying continues to grow, even as its problems and detractors mount. According to data compiled by Standard Media Index, programmatic buying grew in April by 35 percent over April of last year. That’s compared with only a 14 percent increase in total ad spending over the same period. Programmatic buying is still only a small part of the industry, however, making up just 1.3 percent of the market. But it’s second only to mobile in growth. Mobile advertising grew 109 percent in April, according to the data, which is compiled from actual media buys.

This is all…  Full article

Online video ads hit all-time high

Online video ads hit an all-time high in April, according to a new report from comScore.  The firm’s data shows that viewers watched 13.2 billion video ads in April for a total of 5.1 billion minutes. That’s a huge jump from the 9.9 billion video ads seen in February. And that’s while we watch less online video content. ComScore reports that April continued the slight decline in overall video watched – 38.8 billion videos, down from 39.3 billion in March. Again, Google led in the content views with 154.6 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 62.7 million, VEVO with…  Full article

Of Note

Facebook’s Sandberg Says Ad Network and Maps Would Be Nice, But Not A Priority (TechCrunch)
COO Sheryl Sandberg says “we have to prioritize ruthlessly” and at the top of the priority list is mobile. An ad network is a “a non-goal,” Sandberg said.

In Media, Big Data Is Booming but Big Results Are Lacking (AllThingsD)
Ben Elowitz the CEO of Wetpaint writes about why everyone wants big data, but no one wants to use it.

On Demand: Quick Ad Switch (Wall Street Journal)
Thanks to new technology, networks can now quickly replace commercials in video on demand.

The newsonomics of climbing the ad food chain (Nieman Lab)
Ken Doctor looks at how publishers can take advantage of the growth in digital advertising.

Best Free Newspaper Apps: Serving a Niche, Providing Utility (PBS MediaShift)
Newspapers are being more thoughtful about the types of journalistic content suited for mobile consumption and the extent to which clean presentations make this content sing.

NewFronts not just about TV money

Once again, the glitzy TV “upfronts” arrived with broadcasters showing off new TV shows and trying to lock in ad money. And again, the NewFronts showed up with digital publishers aiming to wrest some of that money away. But this time, there were a couple differences: 1) money is already flowing online so there’s no need to beg; and 2) digital presenters were not necessarily out for money, but to educate big agencies and buyers. At the NewFronts, usual suspects such as AOL, Google and Yahoo were joined by more traditional publishers such as WSJ.com and Conde Nast, who were…  Full article

Hearst hits 1 million tablet subs

While Hearst Magazines honcho David Carey predicted the company would reach 1 million tablet subscriptions by the end of 2012, the company eventually hit that goal by the end of March 2012. And Carey now predicts 3 million subscribers by 2016. Mashable’s Lauren Indvik talked to Hearst exec John Loughlin, who said subscription growth slowed to 5% to 7% last year, but then picked up to 10% this year. Why the increase? Loughlin pegged it to three factors: sampler issues in the Apple Newsstand; Next Issue Media expanding its offering to 80 titles and increasing marketing; and better targeted email…  Full article

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