advertising

Facebook: Clicks don't matter as much as advertisers think

Facebook, under pressure to show its power as an advertising medium, is urging advertisers to consider the bigger picture instead of measuring success with the number of clicks an ad gets.

The company says that a majority of sales come from people who see, but don't necessarily click on, online ads that promote campaigns, according to a study done in partnership with Datalogix, which compiles consumer purchasing data from retail stores.

Brad Smallwood, Facebook's head of measurement and insights, talked about the study -- which analyzed nearly 50 digital campaigns -- today at an advertising conference in New York. … Read more

Facebook explains ad moves to try to prevent privacy freakout

Facebook, responding to worries about some of its recent advertising changes, shared some details about how it safeguards user information and said it created its new features with "privacy in mind."

Joey Tyson, Facebook privacy engineer, said yesterday in a blog post that while Facebook has designed its site to show ads that "help people discover products that are interesting to them," it also realizes that users trust the company to protect their information.

"Maintaining that trust is a top priority as we continue to grow," he said.

Tyson took pains in his blog … Read more

Blame bots for $1.5B in wasted ad spend this year

Ten percent of all online traffic is generated by bots, according to a study, and that means potentially $1.5 billion in ad spending will be wasted on the fake clickers.

Solve Media, which makes an online advertising platform, noted in a new report that eMarketer predicts online display ad spend will reach $15.3 billion this year. But with a surge in bots, more and more of the clicks on ads are generated by software, not people.

Solve Media says that since 2011, it has witnessed a 400 percent rise in "aberrant traffic" across online registration, voting, … Read more

Canada's stimulus plan advertised on The Pirate Bay

The Canadian government wishes to inform its citizens that despite appearances, encouraging the downloading of pirated movies and music is not, actually, part of the country's Economic Action Plan.

The government's Department of Finance has temporarily pulled Web ads for the plan after the banners appeared on the notorious Pirate Bay site, the Ottawa Citizen reported this week.

It's not clear how the banners, bearing the tagline "Find out what's in it for you," wound up on The Pirate Bay alongside low-rent ads for gambling businesses, dating sites, "Find a Chinese bride" … Read more

Google's Motorola goes after Apple maps in new ad

How many fronts can a good war have?

An infinite number, if the bazooka fire around the iPhone 5 can be believed.

For Google's Motorola doesn't want to be left behind Samsung and Nokia, both of whom have already tried to mock Apple's new elongated marvel.

I am indebted to TechCrunch for coming upon a Motorola Google+ post (also on Motorola's Facebook page) that enjoys an ad with a mocking tone.

What reason could Motorola have to mock the iPhone 5? Why, it's the iOS 6 Maps app, of course. You know, the one that doesn't seem to quite get the locations right.… Read more

Apple's new iPhone 5 ads: Protesting too much?

The lovely thing about a new iPhone is that it brings people together.

Whether your Karl is Rove or Marx, whether your Justin is Bieber, Timberlake, or Theroux, somehow the iPhone has always brought so many together in wondrous adoration.

And yet the new iPhone 5 ads released yesterday seem to be creating an oddly conflictual atmosphere.

The ads, to my eyes and ears, seem to be a rather smooth journey back to the future. Some of Apple's recent ads have tended toward the dull. Can anyone remember even one exciting ad for the iPad?

At heart, they've … Read more

Court favors Facebook in $9.5 million Beacon settlement

A federal appeals court ruled today that $9.5 million is enough to settle a lawsuit that accused Facebook of violating privacy laws with its now defunct advertising program Beacon, Bloomberg reported.

The original class-action lawsuit, filed in 2008, targeted the social network's alleged failure to provide adequate information and privacy controls when it came to the Beacon. The program shared information about users' activity on other Web sites in Facebook news feeds.

Users were upset because Facebook launched the service to automatically include everyone, instead of as an opt-in. Eventually, the service was switched to opt-in.

The social … Read more

Samsung slams iPhone 5 linegoers in new attack ad

Samsung's gone on the offensive on early iPhone adopters once again with a new attack ad.

The commercial -- which to be sure is quite well done -- mocks those waiting for one of Apple's new iPhones in front of the company's retail stores:

The turnaround time is arguably impressive given that Apple debuted the iPhone 5 just a week ago today. Mentioned (and mocked) are things like the new dock connector, larger screen and LTE -- the latter of which are said to be old news by those with Samsung's Galaxy S3. Samsung also pokes … Read more

Facebook tries out its ads on other mobile apps

Facebook has started testing a new mobile ad network that can place advertisements outside of Facebook based on user data.

That means some users may start seeing ads -- ones that may link to the Facebook app store or a mobile Web site -- on mobile apps outside of Facebook. The roll-out includes a small group of ad exchanges that will place ads on iOS and Android.

"We are working on a small test in which we'll be showing mobile ads in apps off of Facebook," a Facebook spokesperson said today. "We've been showing web … Read more