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Blog traffic and a question for online media

I was looking through the visitor traffic to The Open Road this afternoon, interested to see from which sources most of the traffic derives. It turns out that CNET is the first and second most important source of traffic for my blog.

This may not be a good thing.

On the one hand, it means that CNET is delivering additional content to its existing customers, keeping them with the brand. I don't have access to CNET's data but I'd hope it means that people stay on CNET's site longer and therefore end up "spending" more advertising clicks with CNET.

But on the other hand, could it also mean that rather than creating net new customers it's simply cycling its existing customer base, pushing readers around to different pages within its content network but not necessarily generating additional page views. If true, it's a phenomenon that must be common to all websites: keeping customers is easier than finding new ones.… Read more

Nvidia Nside?

Nvidia is reportedly planning to drop upwards of $40 million on advertising as it tries to make sure everybody knows its name.

Ad Age reported yesterday that Nvidia is searching for an ad agency to launch a major ad campaign targeting regular consumers, not just the hard-core PC gamers who bleed green and black. The company is supposedly thinking about an ad budget between $30 million to $40 million for its first attempt to reach a widespread audience. (Thanks, Valleywag.)

In the report, Nvidia denied it was in the middle of a formal search, but it's not hard to … Read more

The mobile world bands together on advertising

In a bit of a shocker, the U.K.'s five biggest mobile operators have formed a working group to collaborate on a common mobile advertising system. This endeavor could, of course, go absolutely nowhere, but the fact that it's even being considered is an exceptional move for an industry not known for collaboration.

Of course, the operators aren't holding hands for the sake of friendship. It's all about the money. From the Guardian:

Now the international operations of Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3 have formed a working group to define a common mobile advertising audience … Read more

Yahoo acquires Maven Networks

Yahoo announced Tuesday that it has snapped up online video platform provider Maven Networks, in a $160 million deal.

What makes the transaction particularly interesting is that it comes as Yahoo is butting heads with Microsoft, which not so very long ago launched a $44.6 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo. As the companies fight over Yahoo's proper valuation, add to the mix the Maven acquisition.

Yahoo and Maven were apparently in merger talks before the Microsoft bid surfaced, with the deal reportedly on the verge of getting inked on Jan. 31 or Feb. 1, according to reports. Microsoft … Read more

JumpTap scores 7-country search & ad deal

BARCELONA, Spain--Mobile Internet search and advertising start-up JumpTap said Monday that it will provide search and advertising services for seven TeliaSonera mobile carriers in Europe.

Under the terms of the deal, JumpTap will provide search and advertising technology for TeliaSonera's operators in Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, and Lithuania.

JumpTap is what is known as a "white label" technology provider. It develops the technology and mobile operators license that technology and use it to provide a service with their own brand on it.

Mobile search and advertising are relatively small markets today, but experts expect spending … Read more

Adblock Plus: The blissful, ad-free browsing experience

I must admit, I've completely forgotten what Internet advertising looks like. I installed Adblock Plus with Firefox a year or so ago and I haven't seen an ad since.

Not a single one.

If you have yet to declare your independence from ads, I'd encourage you to do so. It's strangely serene browsing the web without advertisements.

It's not immoral to browse ad-free, as some suggest. No, there are far better business models for the web than simply spraying ad graffiti over everything. Entrepreneurs might just have to think again - use a little creativity … Read more

Online marketing: Playing catch-up

According to an analysis from the Wharton School of Business, marketing chiefs seem to be behind consumer trends when it comes to TV versus online ad dollars. But why aren't companies investing more in online advertising? Is it because the Internet is highly fragmented and micro-specialized, making it complex to decide which sites to target? Or is it something else?

Read the full story at Knowledge@Wharton: "If online marketing is the future, why are some CMOs stuck in the past?"

So much for whitespace: AdCamo launches background ad network

Louis Dorman just launched AdCamo, a new advertising medium. AdCamo spots run on the backgrounds and surrounding space on Web pages and software applications. So instead of seeing all that lovely whitespace around your favorite blog content, you'll see your blog hovering over a giant, tiled ad.

It's brilliant. Also, it's terrible.

Why it's brilliant

Advertisers will love it. This kind of in-your-face branding is very powerful, and advertisers will pay for it. Compared with standard text ads, and even banner ads, these background advertisements simply cannot be ignored.

Until now, only big sites, like CNET, … Read more

Debunking The Tipping Point

A fascinating article in the February issue of Fast Company about Duncan Watts, a researcher at Yahoo, who questions some of the core concepts of Malcom Gladwell's book The Tipping Point [T]astemakers, Gladwell concluded, are the spark behind any successful trend. "What we are really saying," he writes, "is that in a given process or system, some people matter more than others." In modern marketing, this idea--that a tiny cadre of connected people triggers trends--is enormously seductive. It is the very premise of viral and word-of-mouth campaigns: Reach those rare, all-powerful folks, and you'… Read more