tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34585336908093232552024-11-01T00:11:22.428-07:00Exposing the underbelly of interactive advertisingLawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-74021203033203750192009-12-11T06:04:00.000-08:002009-12-11T08:08:44.219-08:00

I read the sad news today in Media Post that Editor & Publisher is shutting its doors at the end of the year. The magazine is special to me on a number of levels, I started my career subletting office space from Editor & Publisher for Real Media focused on building value for local news digital sites. I read E&P religiously to stay apprised of what was happening among the print publishers. As

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-30336507124845460072009-12-11T05:03:00.000-08:002009-12-11T06:52:03.658-08:00

I was talking (emailing actually) about yesterday's post with a friend of mine who happens to be a finance wiz. My post on Friction reminded her of the changes that have occurred in stock trading over the last decade. When she started trading stocks they were still quoted in fractions. Then, they went to nickels at some point and by the time she left trading they were in pennies. One of the

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-15789775544191379302009-12-10T05:51:00.000-08:002009-12-10T06:07:52.229-08:00

I had a long meeting with a very senior executive at WPP yesterday and we were talking about the challenges that face brand advertising across the interactive landscape. The single largest thing impeding progress (eg. moving traditional brand spend to the Web) was the friction that has been forced upon the media buying and selling process. We defined friction as anything that is making hard for

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-32491127493273548982009-12-07T05:36:00.000-08:002009-12-07T05:38:00.879-08:00

32% of people say that they would be willing to allow their online information to be used anonymously according to a new study from market research firm Synovate. However, 35% said they were not interested in technology to that collected information about them nor did they want advertising modified to match their behavior. 41% of the respondents said they had modified their own behavior and

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-62561459400151637462009-12-04T05:30:00.000-08:002009-12-04T06:23:44.882-08:00

George Simpson writes a column once a week for Media Post in an attempt to take a lighthearted look at media and advertising. This weeks column titled Now I'm The Grandest Tiger In The Jungle.was regarding Tiger Woods of course and maybe George's funniest yet. His witty article highlights how there was not a single media outlet that could keep their hands off the story. Although, there wasn't

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-33987563369789629012009-12-01T04:32:00.000-08:002009-12-03T05:20:44.873-08:00

Thursday we expect to see the official announcement of the NBC Universal acquisition by Comcast. There are many that don't understand the acquisition and speculate why Comcast is the lone company bidding on NBC at a time when most other media holding companies are selling assets or splitting them into pieces. I believe there is a huge opportunity that Comcast is taking advantage of. NBC is a

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-2544098097504521262009-11-24T16:52:00.001-08:002009-11-26T04:35:58.227-08:00

I found yesterday's Silicon Alley Chart very interesting. They have compiled some Forrester data that highlights the y/y growth of online retail and this year looks pretty bad. I postulate that this is caused as much as a result of the maturation of online audiences as the poor economy. The continued fragmentation of media and web sites in general caused by search and social media is keeping

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-83113244456668781112009-11-24T04:46:00.000-08:002009-11-24T05:24:29.036-08:00

Over the last few years a number of production companies have sprouted up creating video content specifically for the web. Initially, they started creating short-form video that they planned to monetize with pre-roll and overlay ads quickly finding that the CPMs they could generate on entertainment content was not enough to cover their costs of bandwidth and production. Unlike TV, the content

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-23876000481226425762009-11-23T05:48:00.000-08:002009-11-24T04:46:24.640-08:00

As part of AOL's spin off from Time Warner it is launching a new image in an effort to paint a dynamic picture of its future with hopes of capturing the attention of consumers and advertisers alike. The last few years have been very challenging for AOL with multiple management shake ups, poorly executed strategy and a constant decline of their cash-cow subscribers. (Full disclosure, I was an

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-83351304245691337892009-11-18T15:16:00.000-08:002009-11-18T15:19:46.865-08:00

My good friend Caleb Hill just released an interesting article on the state of Pre-roll and makes some good points worth considering. It is worth a read. Let me know what you think.

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-46073673109964723642009-11-18T06:57:00.000-08:002009-11-18T07:07:44.957-08:00

I must be getting old because I remember the first time we had a local web war. Citysearch, AOL City Guides, Real Cities, Real Media and NewCenturyNetwork were all fighting over the local ad market. Citysearch is the only company still in local but they dramatically pulled back focusing mostly on the major metros. Today according to Sports Business Journal Comcast launched an initiative to

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-19879896772003254342009-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:002009-11-18T07:28:02.110-08:00

Something that has been on my mind lately is how insecure advertiser and consumer data really is on the Web. Trust doesn't seem to exist in the online world and for good reason. Data is completely portable for those that know how to get it. It is too bad that most agencies and publishers have no idea how the technology works or are too busy to pay attention to what information is being

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-20931763060083714842009-11-16T06:45:00.000-08:002009-11-16T06:51:00.162-08:00

Everyone has heard the scuttlebutt about third-party cookies. Most folks in our industry are in favor of cookies since virtually all the monetization strategies publishers and advertisers leverage rely on them to make the connection with the consumer. If you have been to a conference in the last few years you have heard panels on topics from privacy to behavioral targeting, consumer

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-91641357922800691652009-11-13T04:40:00.000-08:002009-11-13T04:53:51.405-08:00

This Christmas season will prove to be very interesting for the Web Video market. I'm not talking about the excitement around the retail ad market bonanza or the new toys little Billy will get for Christmas. I am talking about the new Web enabled TVs that are hitting the market along with the upgrades to XBox and Playstation. These IP enabled video devices are hitting the stores just in time

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-90673830666770735262009-11-11T06:59:00.000-08:002009-11-11T07:07:48.398-08:00

I have been fortunate to attend a number of conferences recently covering the trends and technologies that are dramatically impacting everyone in the ecosystem. The biggest topics have been about demand-side networks, ad exchanges and the changing role of the ad network and publisher. What I have found interesting is that in virtually every session the consumer came up during the conversation.

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-65865930724596398122009-11-10T06:04:00.000-08:002009-11-10T06:14:12.076-08:00

I never intended this to be a Google blog but it seems like everyday they are doing something noteworthy. Yesterday B&C reported that Google would buy the mobile ad network start up AdMob to its stay of advertising and marketing services products. In typical Google fashion they have massively overpaid for AdMob, which I estimate is likely generating $20 - $25 million in revenue. This tactic

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-36292855328693854642009-11-07T16:59:00.000-08:002009-11-09T06:00:27.583-08:00

Amazing how in less than ten years the competitive threat to virtually every business can shift from Microsoft to Google. Most people I speak with in the media community wish Microsoft could figure out how to apply all their capabilities and resources to fix the problems of the internet from billing to ad serving, optimization to rich media. Unfortunately, the reality is that Microsoft is too

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-49685067611446222892009-11-06T03:59:00.000-08:002009-11-06T04:20:31.231-08:00

We have an ongoing problem in the interactive industry. We are in love with ourselves! Our sales people fall into the same trap year after year talking about the latest buzz words to look smart constantly talking right over the buyer. The engineers continue to make the decisions about how the media buying process should work without actually listening to the customers. We are not connecting

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-10390492548158078172009-11-05T04:47:00.000-08:002009-11-05T05:04:03.713-08:00

Fall is here and the ad conferences are happening weekly. Ad:Tech is probably the largest event for our industry bringing together folks from all walks of life and more interactive advertising than most of us even knew existed. It was exciting to see so many people in attendance, I walked into the show late in the afternoon yesterday and was immediately greeted by a half dozen friends and

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-83861339202993208572009-11-04T04:41:00.001-08:002009-11-04T04:49:55.756-08:00

The interactive industry, as many other things, has a natural ebb and flow to it causing shifts in power. Over the last few years we have seen the shift in power away from the publisher (seller) towards the agency and marketer (buyer). There have been many new businesses that have benefited from this shift, ad networks, rich media providers, and most recently ad exchanges and media buying

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-39117552859246984692009-11-03T05:37:00.000-08:002009-11-03T05:45:18.332-08:00

Today's announcement by EyeWonder launching their new visibility metric in their rich media platform sends a real message to the market that brand marketers are demanding actual views of their ads. For far too long online media has taken advantage of the blind nature of how display advertising is delivered and measured. Small publishers and individuals have created media properties and loaded

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458533690809323255.post-4067034171866096482009-10-30T17:57:00.000-07:002009-10-30T18:01:40.877-07:00

I have been talking to a number of folks in our industry lately and everyone agrees that it is very hard to keep track of all the changes happening. So I thought I would set out to help people deal with the rapid change and fragmentation by organizing and prioritizing the most important and interesting news of our industry. I can't promise that it will always be comprehensive or as timely as

Lawrence Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01882120898106490237noreply@blogger.com0