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Video is moving to the Web in enormous leaps; the promise of online video seems to be at our doorstep. Millions are cutting the cord, beloved television shows are returning through the seemingly divine intervention of online distribution, and people are consuming Web and mobile video in increasingly staggering numbers.

But all that video consumption is saddled with a burden that's keeping it from reaching its full potential: the ads just haven't caught up.

You all know the problem I'm talking about, and yes, you've seen it on our own site -- on videos hosted by … Read more

U.S. online advertising revenue has hit an all-time high, the Interactive Advertising Bureau reported yesterday.

According to the IAB, which enlisted PricewaterhouseCoopers to help prepare the results, online ad spending hit $26 billion last year in the U.S., representing a 15 percent gain year over year.

In the fourth quarter alone, advertisers spent $7.45 billion on the Web, jumping 19 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2009.

Search advertising continued to be the most popular choice among advertisers, totaling $12 billion last year. Advertisers spent $9.9 billion on "display-related" ads, including banners, sponsorships, … Read more

The Obama administration wants better Internet privacy protection and is looking for new laws and a new government office to help in that effort, according to an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the situation, the Journal says the White House had asked the Commerce Department to create a report with recommendations on enacting new laws concerning Internet privacy. Currently in draft form, the final report is due to come out in a few weeks.

A special task force headed by Cameron Kerry, brother of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, has also been formed to help … Read more

The IAB is hoping its new set of guidelines will help online advertisers better understand the interactive-ad market and how to work with ad networks and exchanges.

The Interactive Ad Bureau, a trade association consisting of almost 500 media and technology companies that sell online advertising in the U.S., released the final version of its "Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines" (PDF) document on Thursday. The goal behind the new guidelines is to bring some clarify and transparency to the world of interactive advertising so that online advertisers can find a sometimes-confusing market more hospitable.

Sherrill Mane, … Read more

The Internet Advertising Bureau has come out against new guidelines proposed by the Federal Trade Commission that would require bloggers to disclose their affiliations with sponsors, marketers, and free giveaways. The reason? The IAB claims that the rules unfairly regulate online media more than offline.

"What concerns us the most in these revisions is that the Internet, the cheapest, most widely accessible communications medium ever invented, would have less freedom than other media," IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg wrote in an open letter to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz. "These revisions are punitive to the online world … Read more

Nobody's surprised: Internet-advertising revenues fell slightly in the first half of 2009, according to numbers released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The trade group found that online-ad revenues dropped 5.3 percent to $10.9 billion year over year, representing a total loss of $610 million. That's an understandable loss, given how much the media business has had the wind knocked out of it, thanks to the recession. But the slide in digital advertising isn't nearly as dire, when compared to the overall ad industry, which fell 15.4 percent.

The IAB also brought … Read more

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is already tired of cynicism about the company, but understands that the business world still looks at Yahoo with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Yahoo introduced a new $100 million global ad campaign Tuesday in New York at the IAB's MIXX conference, centered on the marketing-friendly ideas of personalization and empowerment. Expect to see a blitz of Yahoo ads starting Monday emphasizing that "It's You" when it comes to finding what you want on the Internet, and especially at Yahoo.

Most of Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele's presentation, before those in … Read more

Social-news site Digg has ended its advertising partnership with Microsoft more than a year before the deal was set to expire. Instead of relying on Microsoft as its exclusive ad partner, Digg will now primarily use the internal sales force it recently began building; Microsoft will handle remnant inventory.

"Starting July 1, Microsoft will sell network inventory for Digg through the Microsoft Media Network, which it has been doing successfully for the last year and a half," a statement from Microsoft read. "Digg has created its own internal sales executive team, and we respect their decision to … Read more