This story has been updated.
Like a host of other brands, Yahoo has a millennial problem, and its acquisition of Tumblr could be a step toward fixing it. But will new ownership help Tumblr with one of its biggest problems -- drawing major advertisers?
All Things D on Sunday morning reported that the Yahoo board unanimously approved the deal to buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion.
]]>It was Larry Page's Willy Wonka moment: The Google CEO was handing out pairs of Google Glasses to anyone who could dream up a novel way to use the device. All they had to do was submit the idea via Twitter or Google Plus and pony up $1,500.
More than a few agency execs ended up with golden Glass tickets, and they're toying with how the technology could be used in marketing.
Ian Schafer, CEO at digital agency Deep Focus, was awarded a pair after posting on his G+ account: "#ifihadglass no matter how far away I was from home, my family would be close." MDC Partners-owned KBS+ created a website devoted to its employees' contest submissions, and Google greenlit eight of them. Dave Meeker of Aegis-owned Isobar got ahold of the eyewear after stating he wanted to build apps on it for clients. Dentsu's Jeff Hinson snagged a pair for tweeting he'd use Glass to develop an interactive marketing campaign for client New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. And two employees at digital agency Huge won the coveted Glasses.
]]>As much as we all talked about 2013 finally being the Year of Mobile, I'm convinced that it actually is going to be the Year of Video. Here's why:
Viewing is growing on video, with more time spent on more devices. Too much is made of falling network prime-time ratings. According to our estimates at GroupM, overall video consumption is up year on year by about 3.7%, assisted by viewing of streaming video on PCs, connected TVs and mobile devices. According to the latest comScore, on average, 183 million Americans view 215 videos each month online. Mobile's big boost is also being driven by video, with Cisco forecasting that by 2016, two-thirds of mobile traffic will be viewing video.
Dynamic content is growing audiences. The rules are being re-written on the back of strong original programming investment. Cable network AMC's "Walking Dead' was the second highest rated show on prime-time television, beating top network shows such as FOX's "American Idol" and ABC's "Modern Family" in straight 18-49 ratings. Netflix's "House of Cards" reportedly pulled in 2.7 million viewers in its first 12 days, which is about the same as what premium cable network Showtime's pilot of "Homeland" achieved in live and on-demand viewing when it launched in 2011.
]]>Advertising Age makes a cameo appearance in Reddit's new ad-sales pitch deck in the form of a quote grabbed from my recent column about the social-news site: "Reddit has become, simply put, mainstream media." (See slide 3.)
Reddit's new sales and strategy boss, Mike Cole, sent me the whole deck last night and I'm sharing it with you here because, well, it's pretty funny. It tries to make the case for Reddit's reach, cultural power and user engagement using the lingua franca of Reddit: goofy images.
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A new campaign against child abuse built around a sign that looks different to viewers of different heights has made its way onto the Viral Video Chart, entering at No. 2 and beating clips from usual viral powers such as Samsung. The sign, from Spanish non-profit The ANAR Foundation, shows only short viewers -- children -- a hotline number to call if they need help.
Another new entry on the chart was Audi's video starring the old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the new Spock (Zachary Quinto), introduced as "Star Trek: Into Darkness" approached its opening this weekend -- even though the movie officially has a tie-in with Mazda. The video came in at No. 4 with more than 5 million views this week.
Heineken's new "Road to the Final" campaign about the UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley Arena and Google's "Here's to the Moms" campaign, which debuted before Mother's Day, also appear on the chart.
]]>Does the future of media include breaking-news headlines materializing in front of your eyes as you walk down the street?
CNN and Elle magazine have become the second and third media brands with apps on Google Glass, following The New York Times, and all three are testing early adopters' appetite for a constant stream of content served to them on the go. In their current form, the apps seem to follow the vein of push notifications mobile phone users get increasingly frequently from The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Unlike the apps those push notifications bring users to, however, the media brands' Glass apps aren't allowed to carry ads.
The revenue opportunity is currently minuscule in any case. Google Glass is still only available to a small group of people -- mainly developers -- who plunked down $1,500 for the privilege of beta-testing the device.
]]>I am the CEO of a digital agency. I also chair the board of an association of digital agencies. My problem is I don't know how to tell people what I do.
It's not that I don't know what I do. I just don't know how to describe it in terms that people will understand. The problem is that the word "digital" has become obsolete. Every time I hear it or use it I cringe.
What isn't digital these days? TV is digital, you can't even get the old kind anymore, whatever that was. Photography is digital. The old days of film are so gone, but do you see Canon trumpeting their digital cameras? Digital vs. what? So here we are, professional marketers, and we are using a word to describe what we do that has no real meaning anymore.
]]>Glass Explorers -- Google's term for the world's select few Google Glass owners -- will soon be able to share their experiences through platforms other than Google's. Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter are all developing apps, or "Glassware," for the wearable device, the companies said Thursday. So get ready for all kinds of Glass explorations in your social feeds.
The companies' arrival on a nascent platform previously limited to apps for The New York Times and networking service Path mean Glass is getting increasingly social. But it still isn't obviously lucrative for anyone but Google.
That's because the company has been adamant about not allowing outside developers to serve ads in Glassware.
]]>Walmart reported first-quarter sales and earnings that missed forecasts, but it's forging ahead with more local price-comparison ads and e-commerce investments amid signs its executives see that both are working.
Earnings of $1.14 per share for the quarter ended April 30 fell a penny below analyst forecasts. Comparable-store sales for the nameplate U.S. stores fell 1.4%, compared to a forecast of "about flat," breaking a streak of six positive quarters.
But executives pointed to things they said are producing positive results, including aggressive pricing, particularly on groceries, backed by local market-basket price-comparison ads on TV and radio that U.S. CEO Bill Simon said will now expand to 70% of Walmart's markets, up from the current 60%.
]]>Machinima -- one of the largest channels on the world's largest video platform, YouTube -- is now available without a computer, by way of Xbox Live.
The video entertainment network is already available on iOS and Android apps, but the deal represents its first expansion to a big distribution network beyond YouTube itself. It's also the first time that Xbox Live has simultaneously introduced an app in all of its 41 global markets.
While Machinima is expanding -- the move actually began late last month -- its arrival on Xbox is also a bit of a return of the company's roots: Machinima started out by posting video content related to Xbox video game "Halo." It later grew to encompass all aspects of "geek" culture -- graphic novels, superhero movies and hit TV shows like "The Walking Dead."
]]>Mozilla's plan to prevent third-party cookies by default is on pause. The company this week decided to test blocking third-party cookies by requiring users to enable the feature -- rather than automatically opting them in.
"There are many conflicting claims about how this patch will affect the Internet," wrote Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla.org and CTO and senior VP of engineering at Mozilla, in a post on his personal blog today.
"Why debate in theory what we can measure in practice? We are going to find out more and adjust course as needed. This is the essence of the release test cycle."
]]>A team of Newsweek staffers and employees of the design firm Hugewere two months into the redesign of Newsweek.com -- which arrived this afternoon in beta -- when The New York Times published "Snow Fall", its ambitious multimedia story about a deadly avalanche.
"We just looked at each other," said Baba Shetty, CEO of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, which was formed by the merger of Newsweek and The Daily Beast in 2011 and is changing its name to NewsBeast. What The Times had done with "Snow Fall" was similar to the look and feel of the new Newsweek.com they had in mind. "The design was already locked when ["Snow Fall"] was published," Mr. Shetty said. "We were astounded that a path that we had been on had surfaced in the world."
Newsweek shut down its U.S. print edition at the end of the year and survived primarily as a tablet edition called Newsweek Global and a section of The Daily Beast website. Now it was working toward a new long-form, immersive and multi-media experience in the web browser. "Snow Fall" lent the strategy momentum. But Newsweek was planning to do something similar on a weekly basis.
]]>Agency holding companies established trading desks to leverage their collective size and buying power.
But that hasn't stopped some small agencies from launching their own digital trading operations. Case in point: Interpublic's Campbell-Mithun has decided to build its own trading desk rather than buy separately through IPG Mediabrands' Cadreon.
The objective? To streamline the planning and buying process and allow deeper integration of data from Campbell-Mithun's retail and CPG clients, which is becoming more important in the digital ad buying process than data purchased from third parties.
]]>ABC will begin measuring advertising in videos viewed with mobile and tablet apps during a trial run with Nielsen, the network said at its upfront presentation to ad buyers Tuesday afternoon.
It will be the first test expanding Nielsen's Online Campaign Ratings to mobile, allowing ABC to measure audience demographics and understand the reach and frequency of online campaigns within apps, according to executives. Nielsen's online ratings currently include video viewed on computer and tablet browsers.
The move comes as ABC introduces a Watch ABC app that will allow cable and satellite TV subscribers to stream ABC's live signal to mobile devices, in addition to the sort of on-demand video that has been the mainstay of network TV Everywhere apps until now.
]]>The hype around data ain't all it's cracked up to be, and believe it or not, that's something that can be heard often from people who work in data-related fields.
Stewart Pratt, director of data and analytics at SapientNitro is one. Steeped in philosophy and economics, Mr. Pratt has unique theories on the world and data's role in it, combining a dedication to humility with a practical recognition of what data can -- and cannot -- do.
"When I speak about the humility of the modern data scientist, I'm referring to receptivity to the limits and role of big data," he said. "Big data can help us identify correlations we may have otherwise missed, but it isn't well-suited for helping us to understand causality or meaning."
]]>We're pleased to announce that a new -- yet familiar -- face is coming to Ad Age. Former Adweek reporter Tim Peterson is joining Ad Age this month to cover digital media, ad tech and entertainment out of our San Francisco bureau in the lovely Hearst Building at the corner of Third and Market.
Tim joins bureau chief Cotton Delo, who will continue to cover social media, marketing, brands, agencies and startups. It's been a while since Ad Age has had more than one edit staffer in the Bay Area and we think now's a good time to crank up our coverage there. Tim will take the lead on some great stories, including Marissa Mayer's remake of Yahoo, Google's attempt to turn YouTube into an entertainment powerhouse and the burgeoning tech community that is reinventing the ad business.
Tim's slow, Spicoli-esque drawl is a giveaway of his southern California roots, where he grew up in the shadow of LAX. But he works fast: logging 421 bylines at Adweek since he joined 16 months ago. Some of his best stories included a look at Amazon's ad business, Twitter's talks with Hollywood and Yahoo's deliberations over the fate of Right Media.
]]>The dream of interactive TV has been around for almost two decades. We've imagined a TV that allows us to transition seamlessly from watching a Yankees game to pulling up a music video on demand to ordering an advertiser's product. But iTV as we conceived it remained elusive for the brightest of minds, even for the likes of Steve Jobs.
But today's TV is increasingly a laptop, mobile or tablet experience, unless it arrives on a "proper" TV screen through a broadband-enabled device like an Xbox or Roku. It's not coming through the cable operators that, at one time, were thought to hold the keys to iTV. In fact iTV is already here, all but ready to deliver everything we've been waiting for. We've just been waiting for it on the wrong screen.
Nielsen's March Cross Platform Report recently dove into the deep end of this trend, describing the five million homes in the United States that it classifies as "Zero TV" because they eschew traditional cable or satellite viewing -- often for streaming alternatives. Two-thirds of these "Zero TV" homes consume video content on other devices, and the distribution across age groups of "Zero TV" homes is not as concentrated as you might think. Almost two-thirds are age 44 and under, but a healthy chunk -- more than one-third -- fell into older demographics.
]]>In this season of upfront presentations, the major broadcast networks are facing their toughest challenges in memory. Will they survive? History tells us yes.
The 2012-13 broadcast season has been, with little question, the most disruptive to the broadcast television industry since the medium was in its infancy over 60 years ago. Cable networks, which have been siphoning off viewers and ad dollars for three decades chiefly with sports, news and children's programs, now are reaching parity with broadcast television for original scripted entertainment shows. And online video programming reached a defining moment, producing more quality original content.
Initially cable networks waited until the summer before scheduling such programs, despite lower viewing levels, because that was when broadcast networks offered minimal competition. In recent years original scripted series have aired on cable during the broadcast season with modest success compared to broadcast shows.
]]>1. Google CEO Larry Page will rethink default privacy settings for Google Glass after embarrassing Google Glass video footage of him pleasuring himself -- by Googling himself (Larry Page net worth, Larry Page private jet ...) -- leaks to Valleywag.
2. In the wake of President Obama's joke at the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner about the rise of BuzzFeed as a media phenomenon -- "I remember when BuzzFeed was just something I did in college around 2 a.m." -- congressional Republicans will launch a formal investigation into exactly what post-toke munchies Obama consumed at Columbia and Harvard (chips? candy bars? day-old pizza?) in an attempt to get him in trouble with first lady Michelle Obama, who is famously an advocate for a healthful diet.
]]>Hearst Magazines named Troy Young to the new post of president at Hearst Magazines Digital Media this week, citing two decades of experience in the digital world. He is the former president of Say Media, a website publisher with properties including xoJane and ReadWrite, as well as the former chief experience officer of the Omnicom digital agency Organic.
But before those digital jobs, Mr. Young worked in old media, at a now-defunct weekly called the Montreal Mirror. During his tenure at the paper, Mr. Young created a system for the paper's content that let readers to log in and, using a shared desktop, create discussions on stories. This was 1992. "It was our own little hipster AOL," he said.
"It was my discovery of digital," he added, "and it changed my life."
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