Wanted: Search Engine Marketers

Agencies are desperate for interactive media buyers and planners, online publishers are desperate for sales staff, but there’s no interactive marketing segment as desperate for strong staffers than the search engines, writes ClickZ.

Recent search engine marketing hires at the search engines include employees poached from major online retailers - in other words, the same companies they hope to score as advertisers. Search engine marketers can practically name their price, according to the article, and relocation assistance is usually provided, a perk that hasn’t been too prevalent in recent years.

BBC Radio Still 10% Ahead of Commercial Counterparts

BBC radio posted a total of 32.8 million listeners in the second quarter of this year, up from 32.5 million in the previous quarter and a full 10 percent ahead of its advertising-funded rivals, writes Media Guardian. The news was not bright across all BBC stations: its classical music station posted its lowest-ever audience figure, averaging 1.9 million listeners a week, down 108,000 listeners over the past year. Its commercial counterpart, GCap Media’s Classic FM, increased listenership by 330,000.

75% of Search Users Look for Maps

According Harris Interactive, getting directions or finding maps was the second most popular online activity for U.S. adult Internet users visiting search engines, eMarketer reports. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported engaging in this activity. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 85 percent of Internet users in the U.S. have searched for maps or driving directions online.

Yahoo Betas Music Search

Yahoo has joined Lycos, Singingfish from AOL and AltaVista by introducing a beta version of a new service that it says can search through 50 million music, voice and other audio files, The New York Times reports. The current version has no ads but ads might be added later.

Bollore Acquires 6% of Aegis

Bollore Group has acquired about 6 percent of Aegis Group, which owns media buying and planning company Carat, AdAge reports. Aegis Group, based in London, is the world’s seventh-largest marketing services organization, with worldwide revenues of $1.4 billion, according to Ad Age figures.

Liquor Council Heads Off Ad Complaints

The Distilled Spirits Council’s latest advertising code report complains about excessive alcohol use and using sex to sell liquor in advertisements, Adweek reports. The council is an industry trade group and part of its voluntary efforts to regulate itself.

A SKYY Vodka print ad took heat for featuring a female model wearing see-through clothing. SKYY agreed to revise the ad. While the council said it achieves a “100 percent” compliance rate among member companies, non-member companies don’t seem so eager to please. Two Svedka vodka ads violated the code by using sex to sell the brand - Svedka has not responded to the complaint.

‘Soft’ Advertising at PC Mag Brings Ziff Davis Down

Ziff Davis Holdings, parent company of Ziff Davis Media, is attributing its $29.5 million second quarter loss to a softness in print advertising, particularly at PC Magazine. Revenue for the company’s enterprise group, which includes eWeek magazine, came to $19.7 million for Q2, two percent higher than in the same period last year. That increase is credited to higher revenues for online advertising, e-seminars, and virtual trade shows, B to B reports.

Keyword Prices Lowest Since February

The average cost per click on keywords across all categories sank in July to $1.65, the lowest since February’s $1.60, according to search engine marketing firm Fathom Online (via MediaPost). While that marks a decrease of four percent from June, it’s still an average of 20 percent higher than in September.

Of the categories tracked, telecom/broadband saw the steepest decline, down 13 percent. Finance/investing dropped by nine percent, and telecom/wireless fell by four percent. Consumer services remained flat.

Upfront Holds Expected to Hold Steady

Just weeks before the fall TV season is set to begin, advertisers have been expanding the amount of ad time they committed to in June’s upfront ad market, reports MediaPost. A “good bit” of dollars are creeping in, Mel Berning, executive VP-advertising sales for A&E Networks, told MediaPost. And, while the amount is not massive, it’s a positive adjustment, whereas last year it was negative.

Typically, about one to two percent of upfront holds are dropped before they become firm orders, mainly because some advertisers over-promise what they plan to buy. But this year, with national advertisers expanding their upfront ad buys, buyers expect drops in upfront hold to be slim, if any.

Reality Shows Drag Down Ratings

The Big Four networks are down a collective eight percent among adults 18-49 this summer compared with last summer, from a 9.3 average rating (since late May) to an 8.6, thanks mostly to the discriminating nature of reality show viewers, Media Life reports. The networks dropped even more among the 18-34 demo, from an 8.0 to a 7.0. Last year, eight reality shows made the weekly top ten, down to four this year, perhaps due to the glut of these shows.