Local boom coming for social, digital advertising

Local advertising has long been both overhyped and underdeveloped online, but marketers are finally starting to see some movement in the space—especially when you throw social media into the mix. BIA/Kelsey came out with a report showing that local advertising in social media will grow to $2.3 billion by 2015 from $400 million in 2010. Social media ad sales will hit $3.7 billion this year, $700 million of which will be local ad dollars. Display is the social ad of choice, BIA/Kelsey found, with total spending expected to rise to $7.7 billion in 2015 from $2.1 billion in 2010. Non-display,…  Full article

NPD: Low prices drive smartphone sales for the masses

It’s not all gloom and doom for hardware manufacturers. Smartphone makers are seeing a considerable rise in sales, as the average cost of the devices goes down. The NPD Group found that 59 percent of all U.S. handset sales in the third quarter of 2011 were smartphones. That number was bolstered by declining smartphone prices for four consecutive quarters, down to a current average price of $135. That’s good news for those who had held off on buying an iPhone because of the cost. “Although the iPhone dominated smartphone sales last quarter—with the iPhone 4 and 3GS taking the number…  Full article

Battle of the newsstands: Kindle vs. Nook

It seems that everyone is trying to get a piece of the tablet market. After much ballyhooing about its Kindle Fire last month, Amazon has just started shipping its $199 tablet to consumers. The Fire is a shot across the bow against Apple, which has a tight hold on the tablet space. But considering the Kindle Fire is half the price of the cheapest iPad, it should prove to be a tough competitor. Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble recently started shipping its Nook Tablet, which aims to take on Amazon. So which one will win over consumers? Early reviews are mixed.…  Full article

Google+ opens up to businesses

When Google rolled out its Google+ social network in June, many publications, including ABC News, Wired and Mashable, were eager to hop onboard and made a mad rush to create brand pages. But then Google told brands it wasn’t ready for them yet, so they should hold off … or else. Businesses brushed off Google’s threat to terminate their pages with various workarounds. TechCrunch even snarkily created an account for Techathew Cruncherin. But Google held its ground—only just recently opening up Google+ Pages for brands. But does the move come too late? InfoWorld’s Ted Samson thinks so. “Organizations should have…  Full article

John Paton pushes his ‘digital first’ mantra

John Paton, well-known in newspaper circles for his “digital first” mantra, stepped his strategy up a notch two months ago when he became CEO of Digital First Media, a new entity that manages both the Journal Register Co. and MediaNews chain. But now that he’s at the helm, is his digital-first campaign working? According to the New York Times’ David Carr, it is: “What began as a tidy little experiment has become perhaps the single biggest bet in the whole newspaper business,” he wrote, noting that the Journal Register and MediaNews now encompass more than 800 print and digital products…  Full article

Publishers: Goodbye, mobile Flash. Hello, HTML5

Adobe’s announcement that it’s abandoning its mobile Flash Player came as little surprise to industry watchers. After all, it’s essentially been doomed ever since the late Steve Jobs railed against it and banned it from use on all iOS devices. Jobs’ obstinacy meant that publishers had to either “abandon iOS (unlikely given Apple gadgets’ popularity with consumers) or create two parallel versions of mobile content,” wrote The Economist. “Apple contended that Flash was too slow, and that HTML5 was the future. Many developers agreed,” explained the New York Times’ Nick Bilton. But Adobe’s move puts mobile content and video delivery…  Full article

Of Note

A Groupon for Newspapers? (Adweek)
Eight media companies launch Find n Save consortium to offer shopping deals among 200-plus newspapers

Romenesko’s Posts Now Toast (NY Times)
To those of us who read and followed popular media blogger Jim Romenesko, his resignation seems like an ill-advised way to end a run that was remarkable in all aspects.

The New York Times runs a cross-platform interactive ad campaign in HTML5 (Nieman Journalism Lab)
With Coke’s "Arctic Home" campaign, the paper finds a new way to reach an increasingly distributed audience.

Google’s Lab of Wildest Dreams (NY Times)
In a top-secret lab in an undisclosed Bay Area location where robots run free, the future is being imagined.

Microsoft Research’s Socl Social Network Gets A Little More Real (TechCrunch)
Microsoft's Socl project, which combines search with discovery and a social network, is underway and may be headed toward a private beta test.

Feds Can Get Twitter Users’ Data Without Warrant, Judge Says (WSJ)
Should the government be able to collect information related to your Internet use without a warrant? According to a U.S. District Court opinion in the case of three WikiLeaks associates, it should.

StumbleUpon Stumbles On With Paid Discovery (MediaPost)
The content discovery engine says its Paid Discovery ad program has helped attract more brand advertisers, increase the size of campaigns and boost overall revenue.

Groupon’s IPO is big, but is it too big?

In the months leading up to its initial public offering,  Groupon transitioned from the Internet’s next best thing to a company whose accounting methods and business model came under fire as top executives jumped ship. Still, despite questions about its profitability and repeated missteps,  all eyes were on the company when it made its public debut last Friday—and some of the concerns were temporarily shelved. The company’s stock opened at $28 a share, up 40 percent from its opening price of $20. The IPO, which raised $700 million, is the second-largest initial public offering for an Internet company in history,…  Full article

Yahoo tries resurgence with Livestand, Interclick buy

Since Yahoo’s recent ouster of CEO Carol Bartz, rumors have been swirling that the company is up for sale, with several notable bidders—Microsoft,  Google and Silver Lake—possibly tossing their hats into the ring. But despite all the debate about its future prospects, it’s business as usual for the Internet giant. Just recently, Yahoo debuted its long-awaited Livestand app, a virtual newsstand for tablets and smartphones. The HTML5 app grabs content from Yahoo’s network and third-party publishers, serving up personalized content, along with interactive ads. And the ads are the real kicker for some. "The app looks cool, but the most…  Full article

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