Take That, Microsoft: Europe Approves Google’s Bid for DoubleClick
European regulators approved Googles’ $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, deeming the purchase unharmful to competition in the online ad market.
»
European regulators approved Googles’ $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, deeming the purchase unharmful to competition in the online ad market.
Expect paid search to get more expensive while natural searches gain importance in the media mix.
Yahoo has sought to gain the upper hand in its fight against a takeover by Microsoft by extending its March deadline for nominating new directors to its board.
Google accounted for 66.44 percent of all U.S. searches in the four weeks ended February 23, while Ask.com increased its share of searches 18 percent year over year - from 3.52 percent of searches in Feb. ‘07 to 4.16 percent in Feb. ‘08, according to Hitwise, writes MarketingCharts.
Whether the news is good or ill in the direct marketing sector depends on your predilection for a glass-half-full or a glass-half empty perspective.
email this
permanent link
AOL will be launching at least 12 new sites this year, mostly in an attempt to offer more ad inventory.
Google Sites inched ahead of Microsoft Sites to become the most-visited web property in Canada in January - by a mere 16,000 or so unique visitors - according to data from comScore’s Media Metrix service, MarketingCharts reports.
email this
permanent link
The click-through rate on Google’s ad offerings is declining, leading investors to worry the company is more exposed to economic woes than previously thought, reports The Seattle Times (via MarketingVox).
Americans conducted more than 10 billion core searches last month - a significant 9 percent jump in searches from Dec. 2007, according to the monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the search marketplace in January (via MarketingCharts):
email this
permanent link
Behavioral targeting, search engine optimization (SEO), and direct email using house lists are the best-performing tactics in online marketing, according to MarketingSherpa’s annual survey of ad:tech attendees, writes MarketingCharts.
Yahoo Sites again edged out Google Sites among U.S. web properties with 138 million visitors vs. nearly 135 million, as traffic to the tax, politics, career, real estate and travel category sites also increased, according to a monthly analysis by comScore’s Media Metrix service, reports MarketingCharts.
Yahoo is wooing News Corp. in the hopes that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire can save it from a hostile takeover by Microsoft, or at least convince Microsoft to sweeten its bid.
Yahoo’s formal rejection of Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid left the door open to give Yahoo management a chance to propose a plan to boost the stock above Microsoft’s bid, to solicit rival offers, and to attempt to raise the offering price from Microsoft, analysts say.
U.S. internet users watched more than 10 billion videos online in December 2007, according to comScore’s Video Metrix, which reported that the month was the heaviest in viewing since it began tracking online video consumption, writes MarketingCharts.
Having spent a week mulling Microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid, Yahoo has formally declined the offer.
Fast Company has added a user-generated content publishing platform to FastCompany.com. Readers may write blogs, answer Fast Talk questions from the editors, participate in forums and contribute articles.
email this
permanent link
Yahoo has scheduled a special board meeting of directors for today to decide whether to accept Microsoft’s $44.6 billion bid.
Yahoo’s chief Jerry Yang is scrambling to find alternatives to Microsoft’s hostile $44.6 billion takeover offer, and has stepped up talks with Google about a possible search advertising pact.
Yahoo’s chief and co-founder Jerry Yang has thrown another bone to employees, telling them in an email that their “hard work and strong commitment are more important now than ever before.”
Should Microsoft purchase Yahoo, the deal might allow the company to exert “the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the internet” that it did with personal computers, Google has said in a statement.
