ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payments, announced the number of countries has increased where the Western Union® cash payment option is available for Google AdSense publishers. The number of countries with access to this service has grown to more than 60 in approximately a year. The reliable Western Union payment option is now available in countries including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Mexico and Argentina.

“With our full range of consumer-to-business, and business-to-consumer payment solutions, Western Union Payments has agreements with multiple businesses and billers to provide convenient, payment options,” said Sanjay Gupta, Senior Vice President, Banking and Corporations, Western Union. “Our scope of services makes it possible for our clients to broaden their consumer base by meeting a wide range of financial and lifestyle needs in multiple countries around the globe. Our continued expansion of our global cash payment option directly supports leading clients like Google, whose own global needs are broad and diverse.”

AdSense is a program for online publishers to earn revenue by displaying relevant ads on a wide variety of content including website content, site search results, feeds and mobile websites.

The Western Union payment option delivers cash payments quickly and conveniently to site owners and publishers who use AdSense. Check collection and clearing processes can be lengthy, especially when funds are sent internationally. Western Union delivers AdSense revenue in cash on the next business day ¹ following the payment, eliminating the lengthy check clearing process. AdSense publishers can receive their revenue payouts either in the participating country’s local currency or, at select Western Union Agent locations, in U.S. dollars.

How it Works

With the publisher’s consent, Google communicates the name of the publisher, the amount to pay and country information to Western Union. Western Union processes a money transfer, and generates a money transfer confirmation number (MTCN) and makes the funds available at a participating Western Union Agent location in the destination country. The payment information is communicated to the publisher via the Google AdSense web system. The publisher goes to the location, presents their identification and picks up the funds.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approximately 455,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2010, The Western Union Company completed 214 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $76 billion of principal between consumers, and 405 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

OMMA Metrics 2011
NEW YORK – At the OMMA Metrics conference, Adometry (formerly Click Forensics, Inc.), the leading provider of ad analytics, announced that it is the first ad verification and attribution vendor certified by Google to provide campaign verification and effectiveness measurement across the Google Display Network (GDN) for ad inventory bought through Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Google had not previously allowed third-party verification across GDN inventory, only recently approving the use of DoubleVerify, a point solution for monitoring brand safety. Now, by including the Adometry tag on their ad campaigns, advertisers buying GDN inventory through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange have a more robust solution for audience verification, attribution, and campaign effectiveness measurement.

Adometry Validate provides more than simple brand safety capabilities, including:

- Moves beyond monitoring of inappropriate content to provide verification of entire campaigns, including effectiveness, reach & frequency, and demographic targeting
- Reports are delivered in real-time via a browser-based interface, rather than through weekly spreadsheets
- Unlike other offerings that only verify samples of a campaign, Adometry verifies 100% of ad impressions

Adometry Validate is the core module of the Adometry Ad Analytics suite, which has processed billions of clicks and impressions for dozens of the world’s largest advertisers and ad networks. Adometry Ad Analytics combines ad verification, dynamic attribution and campaign optimization in a tightly integrated platform, giving advertisers a comprehensive way to measure and manage campaigns across the entire online advertising ecosystem.

“Verifying brand safety alone is not enough,” said Steve O’Brien, vice president of Marketing at Adometry. “Transparency in the online ad exchange world is about more than just verifying the content of sites where ads are served. Advertisers need to know which campaign attributes are working and why, in order to make adjustments to maximize ROI.”

Since 2006, Adometry has delivered cross-platform ad campaign measurement and optimization solutions for top online advertisers, publishers and ad networks in the display and cost-per-click advertising markets. Each month, the company processes billions of ad impressions, which it uses to refine and develop sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that track and enhance ad campaign performance and effectiveness. The company’s SaaS offerings are ideally suited to meet the scalability and performance demands of real-time online advertising campaign management.

For more information on Adometry, visit www.adometry.com or follow us on Twitter @Adometry.

About Adometry

Adometry, formerly Click Forensics, Inc., provides scoring, auditing, verification, and attribution metrics to optimize results for online advertisers, agencies, publishers, and ad networks. Tracking billions of impressions in real-time, reporting on where they appeared, for how long, and to what effect; the Adometry mission is to bring greater levels of transparency and accountability to the online advertising industry. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Adometry is privately held and backed by Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. For more information visit www.adometry.com.

New York – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification and compliance, announced that it has secured approval from Google to provide verification across Google Display Network (GDN) inventory bought through Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Up to now, Google has not allowed third party verification across GDN inventory bought through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Verification was previously allowed on GDN inventory purchased directly from Google, but not on GDN inventory bought through Google’s ad exchange, until today. Now, advertisers buying GDN inventory through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange may include a DoubleVerify verification tag on campaigns.

This move signals the continued acceptance and adoption of DoubleVerify’s ad verification technologies and the importance of verification in driving the popularity and growth of advertising exchanges and automated buying. Google acceptance of verification in exchange inventory will help increase adoption and usage of ad exchanges even further, as brand safety improves for advertisers. A study with agencies conducted by DoubleVerify last year showed that more than 72 percent of ad buyers chose brand safety over scale when planning media campaigns. The study also found that more than 98 percent of media buyers indicated that third-party verification of their campaign was important. Additionally, more than 89 percent of buyers indicated they will be more willing to spend or shift budget to ad networks that offered third-party verification.

“Transparency and accountability are increasingly important in online advertising as more and more campaigns are being are being purchased and delivered via automated systems like ad exchanges, trading desks and DSPs,” said Oren Netzer, Co-Founder and CEO of DoubleVerify. “Advertisers can buy more when they know their campaigns are safe and accountable. We’re thrilled to have Google as a partner and look forward to providing our services to clients buying at scale on the DoubleClick Ad Exchange.”

DoubleVerify’s AdAssure and BrandAssure products will be immediately approved for use on the Google Display Network bought directly from GDN and through the DoubleClick Ad Exchange. The services will provide clients with timely and extensive reporting around the placement of their ads.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies over 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with sales offices in London and engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

NEW YORK – Responding to marketers’ call for better brand safety and enhanced transparency online, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced that 16 member companies are the first to commit to comprehensive self-certification against the IAB “Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines.” Released in June of this year, the guidelines are part of a far-reaching industry initiative lead by the IAB to increase buyer control over the placement and context of advertising on ad networks and exchanges. The announcement was made at ClickZ Connected Marketing Week in San Francisco, where the IAB Networks & Exchanges Committee programmed a one-day forum on ad networks and exchanges.

The first 16 IAB member companies that will self-certify in early 2011 are:

24/7 Real Media

Fox Audience Network

Adify

Google

AOL/Advertising.com

ScanScout

AudienceScience

Specific Media

Burst Media

Traffic Marketplace

Casale Media

Tremor Media

ContextWeb, Inc. / ADSDAQ Exchange

Yahoo!

CPX Interactive

ValueClick Media

“We applaud the efforts of these ad networks and exchanges to be the first to commit to the standards and practices covered by ‘Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines,’” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “It is no small task to undergo the self-certification process and, once compliant, these organizations will provide marketers the highest level of brand safety. Every agency and marketer should consider compliance with these guidelines as a buying standard and we invite additional ad networks and exchanges to join the program.”

“The IAB Quality Assurance Guidelines demonstrate to marketers and agencies that we put brand safety first,” said Jay Sears, General Manager of ContextWeb, Inc.’s ADSDAQ Exchange, and Co-Chair of the IAB Networks & Exchanges Committee. “These 16 companies that have raised their hand must now engage in a full-scale implementation that will require extensive training and investment—it shows a true commitment to control, transparency and simplifying the buying of digital media.”

“The certification program we designed is a way to provide marketers and agencies a standardized approach that will make buying advertising easier and give increased control over where ads are placed,” said David Jacobs, Senior Vice President, Advertising.com, and Co-Chair of the IAB N&E Ad Certification Working Group. “We anticipate broad adoption of these guidelines by parties participating in the self certification process.”

The rigorous self-certification process requires the participating companies to:

Attend IAB training sessions developed to guide compliance officers through the proper implementations of the guidelines
Conduct quarterly internal audits to test compliance with the guidelines
Submit forms to the IAB from both the compliance officer and business unit leader attesting to adherence to the guidelines
“Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines” can be found on the IAB website at: http://www.iab.net/ne_guidelines.

About the IAB’s Networks & Exchanges Committee:

The IAB Networks and Exchanges Committee is comprised of senior leaders of ad networks and ad exchanges that are general member companies. The committee is dedicated to furthering the interests of ad networks and ad exchanges in today’s complex ad marketplace. Committee objectives are to foster the highest standards of professionalism and accountability in relationships with publishers, advertisers and the agency community, to develop programs that enable revenue growth, and to create best practices that protect consumers and the industry. A full list of Committee member companies can be found at: http://www.iab.net/networks_and_exchanges_committee.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) announced the expanded availability of the Western Union cash payment option for Google AdSense. First introduced in a limited number of countries in November 2007, the reliable and flexible Western Union payment option is now available in 30 countries including China, Morocco, Jamaica, Philippines and Ecuador. The companies have recently added six new payout countries including the UAE, Lebanon, Croatia, Moldova, Slovenia and Tunisia and expect to add additional countries later this year.

AdSense is a program for online publishers who want to make money from their online content–social networks, mobile applications, media and news sites, blogs, e-commerce sites, and Web portals–by placing ads against that content without requiring direct advertiser relationships through their own sales force.

The Western Union payment option delivers cash payments quickly and conveniently to site owners and publishers who use AdSense. Check collection and clearing processes can be lengthy, especially when funds are sent internationally. Western Union delivers AdSense revenue in cash on the next business day following the payment, eliminating the lengthy check clearing process.

“Western Union Global Business Payments provides a full range of consumer-to-business, and business-to-business payment options,” says Sanjay Gupta, senior vice president, Business Development and Strategy. “We continue to broaden the scope of our services to address the growing and changing needs of our clients and the consumers they serve. Our relationship with Google applies our proven payment technology to new and innovative applications, empowering business owners to expand global revenue opportunities.”

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Custom House branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of more than 410,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

SEATTLE – BrandVerity (www.brandverity.com) announced that PoachMark, BrandVerity’s pay-per-click (PPC) ad monitoring service, now monitors PPC ads run on the AdSense network.

PoachMark’s monitoring agents now monitor a number of high-traffic websites that display AdSense ads. Advertisements that meet criteria specified by PoachMark customers are flagged, filtered and alerted on. While AdSense monitoring has been available to select PoachMark subscribers for several months, it is now available to new accounts.

“As our clients have driven unauthorized affiliates out of the major search engines, we have seen the same affiliates resurface purchasing AdSense ads instead,” said David Naffziger, BrandVerity CEO. “This addition to PoachMark greatly enhances brand owners’ ability to monitor and manage unauthorized affiliate activity.”

AdSense monitoring is included with paid PoachMark subscriptions at no additional cost. For more information about BrandVerity and a free trial of the PoachMark service, go to www.brandverity.com.

BrandVerity provides technology solutions to brand owners to combat trademark abuse and advertising fraud. The company’s first product, PoachMark, provides unparalled insight into the search activity of affiliate marketers, giving brand owners a tool to ensure compliance with their search policies and recover fraudulent commissions. BrandVerity was founded in 2008 and is based in Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit www.brandverity.com.

“Google had a strong fourth quarter, with 17% year over year revenue growth,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year. Our performance in 2009 underscored the strength of our management team, the resilience of our business model and the pace of innovation within our product and engineering teams, which continued unabated throughout the downturn. As we enter 2010, we remain hugely optimistic about the internet and are continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not only of our users and customers, but also the wider web.”

Q4 Financial Summary

Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the fourth quarter of 2009, TAC totaled $1.72 billion, or 27% of advertising revenues.

Google reports operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.

GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.48 billion, or 37% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.86 billion, or 33% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.76 billion, or 41% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $2.15 billion, or 38% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2008.
GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.97 billion, compared to $382 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.19 billion, compared to $1.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.13 on 322 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $1.21 in the fourth quarter of 2008 on 317 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.79, compared to $5.10 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin exclude the expenses related to stock-based compensation (SBC). Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS exclude the expenses related to SBC and, in the fourth quarter of 2008, the non-cash impairment charges primarily related to our investments in AOL and Clearwire, and the related tax benefits. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the charge related to SBC was $276 million, compared to $286 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. The tax benefit related to SBC was $62 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 and $65 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. In the fourth quarter of 2008, we recognized $1.09 billion in asset impairment charges related primarily to our investments in AOL and Clearwire. The tax benefit related to the impairment charges was $82 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP operating income, operating margin, net income, and EPS are included at the end of this release.

Q4 Financial Highlights

Revenues – Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a 17% increase over fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $5.70 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.42 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2009. This represents a 16% increase over fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $3.81 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.04 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2009. This represents a 21% increase from fourth quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.69 billion.

International Revenues – Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.52 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to 53% in the third quarter of 2009 and 50% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2009, our revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 would have been $112 million lower. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the fourth quarter of 2009, our revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 would have been $196 million lower.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $772 million, representing 12% of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to 12% in the fourth quarter of 2008.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, we recognized a benefit of $8 million to revenues through our foreign exchange risk management program, compared to $129 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 13% over the fourth quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 9% over the third quarter of 2009.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 5% over the fourth quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 2% over the third quarter of 2009.

TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $1.72 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to TAC of $1.48 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 27% in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to 27% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.47 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $250 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Other Cost of Revenues – Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, amortization of intangible assets, content acquisition costs as well as credit card processing charges, decreased to $688 million, or 10% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to $707 million, or 12% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Operating Expenses – Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.78 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, or 27% of revenues, compared to $1.65 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, or 29% of revenues.

Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) – In the fourth quarter of 2009, the total charge related to SBC was $276 million, compared to $286 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

We currently estimate SBC charges for grants to employees prior to January 1, 2010 to be approximately $1.2 billion for 2010. This estimate does not include expenses to be recognized related to employee stock awards that are granted after December 31, 2009 or non-employee stock awards that have been or may be granted.

Operating Income – GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.48 billion, or 37% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.86 billion, or 33% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $2.76 billion, or 41% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $2.15 billion, or 38% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Interest Income and Other, Net – Interest income and other, net increased to $88 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to $70 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 23% for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Net Income – GAAP net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.97 billion, compared to $382 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $2.19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to $1.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.13 on 322 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $1.21 in the fourth quarter of 2008 on 317 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $6.79, compared to $5.10 in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures – Net cash provided by operating activities in the fourth quarter of 2009 totaled $2.73 billion, compared to $2.12 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. In the fourth quarter of 2009, capital expenditures were $221 million, the majority of which was related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the fourth quarter of 2009, free cash flow was $2.51 billion.

We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the GAAP measure of liquidity, is included at the end of this release.

Cash – As of December 31, 2009, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $24.5 billion.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 19,835 full-time employees as of December 31, 2009, up from 19,665 full-time employees as of September 30, 2009.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

A live audio webcast of Google’s fourth quarter 2009 earnings release call will be available at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html. The call begins today at 1:30 PM (PT) / 4:30 PM (ET). This press release, the financial tables, as well as other supplemental information including the reconciliations of certain non-GAAP measures to their nearest comparable GAAP measures, are also available on that site.

Following the earnings conference call, Google will host an additional question-and-answer session to provide an opportunity for financial analysts to ask more detailed product and financial questions. This follow-up call will begin today at 3:00 PM (PT) / 6:00 PM (ET) and will also be webcast and available at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html.

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world reported the top 15 ad networks based on their reach among U.S. Internet users in December 2009. The ranking showed that AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million U.S. Internet users, or 91 percent of the total audience, followed by Yahoo! Network (180.9 million) and Google Ad Network (178.1 million). The fastest growing ad network by audience reach among the top 15 was Microsoft Media Network U.S., which grew 31 percent versus year ago, followed by Collective Network (up 22 percent) and Audience Science (up 16 percent).

Top 15 Ad Networks

December 2009 vs. December 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Dec-2008    Dec-2009    % Change

Total Internet : Total Audience  190,650     205,709         8

AOL Advertising                                173,804     187,023         8

Yahoo! Network                                 165,879     180,909         9

Google Ad Network                              157,131     178,134        13

ValueClick Networks                            159,420     170,774         7

Microsoft Media Network US                     126,158     165,470        31

Specific Media                                 153,079     165,230         8

FOX Audience Network                               N/A     156,981       N/A

24/7 Real Media                                142,448     155,856         9

Collective Network                             126,294     153,905        22

interCLICK                                     137,076     148,989         9

Tribal Fusion                                  139,778     147,169         5

AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science)     126,261     146,428        16

Traffic Marketplace                            147,024     144,115         -2

Adconion Media Group                           142,133     141,235         -1

Turn, Inc                                      123,150     138,297        12

“Ad networks continue to be a powerful mechanism for delivering a large audience online, with eight different networks reaching at least 75 percent of the entire U.S. online population,” said comScore senior vice president Jeff Hackett. “Increasingly, however, ad networks are improving their capability for reaching more targeted audiences as well, which delivers enhanced value to advertisers and helps sustain higher CPMs for the channel. 2010 should bring us continued innovation and performance from this growing online sector.”

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

“Google had a strong quarter — we saw 7% year-over-year revenue growth despite the tough economic conditions,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future.”

Q3 Financial Summary

Google reported revenues of $5.94 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, an increase of 7% compared to the third quarter of 2008. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the third quarter of 2009, TAC totaled $1.56 billion, or 27% of advertising revenues.

Google reports operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.

• GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was $2.07 billion, or 35% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.65 billion, or 30% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was $2.39 billion, or 40% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $2.02 billion, or 37% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008.
• GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2009 was $1.64 billion, compared to $1.29 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2009 was $1.88 billion, compared to $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2008.
• GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2009 was $5.13 on 320 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $4.06 in the third quarter of 2008 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2009 was $5.89, compared to $4.92 in the third quarter of 2008.
• Non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin exclude the expenses related to stock-based compensation (SBC) and, in the third quarter of 2008, the settlement agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS exclude the expenses related to SBC and, in the third quarter of 2008, the settlement agreement with the Authors Guild and the AAP, and the related tax benefits. In the third quarter of 2009, the charge related to SBC was $318 million, compared to $280 million in the third quarter of 2008. The tax benefit related to SBC was $73 million in the third quarter of 2009 and $63 million in the third quarter of 2008. In the third quarter of 2008, we recognized $95 million of expense related to the settlement agreement with the Authors Guild and the AAP. The tax benefit related to the settlement agreement was $39 million in the third quarter of 2008. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP operating income, operating margin, net income, and EPS are included at the end of this release.

Q3 Financial Highlights

Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.94 billion in the third quarter of 2009, representing a 7% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues of $5.54 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.96 billion, or 67% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2009. This represents an 8% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues of $3.67 billion.

Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.80 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2009. This represents a 7% increase from third quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.68 billion.

International Revenues – Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $3.14 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 53% in the second quarter of 2009 and 51% in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2009 through the third quarter of 2009, our revenues in the third quarter of 2009 would have been $166 million lower. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2009, our revenues in the third quarter of 2009 would have been $297 million higher.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $765 million, representing 13% of revenues in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 14% in the third quarter of 2008.

In the third quarter of 2009, we recognized a benefit of $39 million to revenues through our foreign exchange risk management program.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 14% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 4% over the second quarter of 2009.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, decreased approximately 6% over the third quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the second quarter of 2009.

TAC – Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2009, compared to TAC of $1.50 billion in the third quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 27% in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 28% in the third quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.33 billion in the third quarter of 2009. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $229 million in the third quarter of 2009.

Other Cost of Revenues – Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, amortization of intangible assets, content acquisition costs as well as credit card processing charges, decreased to $667 million, or 11% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2009, compared to $678 million, or 12% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008.

Operating Expenses – Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.64 billion in the third quarter of 2009, or 28% of revenues, compared to $1.72 billion in the third quarter of 2008, or 31% of revenues.

Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) – In the third quarter of 2009, the total charge related to SBC was $318 million, compared to $280 million in the third quarter of 2008.

We currently estimate SBC charges for grants to employees prior to October 1, 2009 to be approximately $1.2 billion for 2009. This estimate does not include expenses to be recognized related to employee stock awards that are granted after September 30, 2009 or non-employee stock awards that have been or may be granted.

Operating Income – GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was $2.07 billion, or 35% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.65 billion, or 30% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was $2.39 billion, or 40% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $2.02 billion, or 37% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008.

Interest and Other Income (Expense), Net – Interest and other income (expense), net decreased to an expense of $7 million in the third quarter of 2009, compared to an income of $21 million in the third quarter of 2008.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 21% for the third quarter of 2009.

Net Income – GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2009 was $1.64 billion, compared to $1.29 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $1.88 billion in the third quarter of 2009, compared to $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2008. GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2009 was $5.13 on 320 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $4.06 in the third quarter of 2008 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2009 was $5.89, compared to $4.92 in the third quarter of 2008.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures – Net cash provided by operating activities in the third quarter of 2009 totaled $2.73 billion, compared to $2.18 billion in the third quarter of 2008. In the third quarter of 2009, capital expenditures were $186 million, the majority of which was related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the third quarter of 2009, free cash flow was $2.54 billion.

We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the GAAP measure of liquidity, is included at the end of this release.

Cash – As of September 30, 2009, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $22.0 billion.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 19,665 full-time employees as of September 30, 2009, down from 19,786 full-time employees as of June 30, 2009.

Google announced that it is opening the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time marketplace for display advertising space.

By establishing an open marketplace where prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ad space to be allocated much more efficiently and easily across the web.

“Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved,” said Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management at Google. “We’re focused on growing the display advertising pie for everyone. The DoubleClick Ad Exchange is a major part of that goal.”

The new DoubleClick Ad Exchange has been rebuilt using Google’s technology and infrastructure. It contains a wide variety of key features that will help improve returns for advertisers and enable publishers to get the most value out of their online content.

On the “sell side”, participation in the new Ad Exchange is designed for major online publishers. It already includes a wide variety of large premium publishers including newspapers, large portals, entertainment and branded sites. In addition, ad space on Google’s third party AdSense publisher sites, representing over 76% of U.S. online audiences and 73% of global online audiences1, is being made available through the new Ad Exchange. This will increase the volume of quality display advertisers available to Google’s AdSense publishers.

On the “buy side”, the new Ad Exchange is designed for ad networks and agency networks – companies that connect web sites with advertisers. It already includes over 40 ad networks across North America and Europe, including most of the 25 largest ad networks in the US2, with more now to be added. Additionally, AdWords advertisers will be able to run ads on sites in the Ad Exchange, using their existing AdWords interface.

Features of the new Ad Exchange include a completely new interface; a “real-time bidding” feature to allow ad networks to use their own technology to bid on an impression-by-impression basis; a “dynamic allocation” system, which automatically generates online publishers the highest return for every impression by allocating ads to the highest-paying sales channel, based on real time data; more granular publisher and advertiser controls; payments and clearing managed by Google; and a new API to allow ad networks to extend the functionality of the Ad Exchange.

Key benefits for sellers include:

* Real-time dynamic allocation to maximize yield. Publishers can automatically generate the highest return for every impression, using real-time data and bids to allocate ad space to the sales channel that pays the most at that second.
* Access to many more advertisers. The Ad Exchange offers publishers access to new buyers, including AdWords advertisers, bringing higher quality ads and more competition for ad space on their sites.
* Hassle-free payments managed by Google. We manage the billing and payments from networks so publishers get one monthly payment and minimize having to manage multiple relationships.
* Greater controls. Publishers can decide what advertisers, networks, ad formats, and bid types to allow.
* New easy to use interface with enhanced reporting. We use the simplicity of Google’s user design principles to help publishers easily find out how their sites are performing, to help them make the right decisions about their ad space.

Key benefits for buyers include:

* Access to more publishers and more ad space. Hundreds of thousands of AdSense publisher sites are now available on the Ad Exchange to Google-certified ad networks. And as more publishers join the Ad Exchange to take advantage of its yield management capabilities, more high quality inventory is being added all the time.
* Real-time bidder. The Ad Exchange has a new real-time bidder feature that allows buyers to use their own data, optimization and ad serving technologies to bid on their desired inventory on an impression-by-impression basis, choosing only the sites, audiences, or particular type of ad space they want to reach.
* New easy to use interface with enhanced buyer reporting capabilities. Redesigned reports are simple to use and understand, so buyers can easily see how their campaigns are performing to help them make the right decisions.
* More control and precision. Buyers control where their ads appear and don’t appear. They can use frequency capping, pacing and other features to precisely control ad delivery.
* Centralized clearing system. Google makes all payments to publishers, reducing complexity with a single billing and payment point. Buyers benefit from managing one business relationship instead of many.
* A new API – Ad networks and agency networks will have access to an API which enables them to integrate their own functionality and systems when working with the Ad Exchange.

After this weekend’s maintenance downtime, Google’s AdSense contextual advertising platform completed the roll-out of a new feature to publishers – the ad category filtering. It’s been a long time wait for AdSense publishers, who were in much need to have a better control over the ads that populate their sites.

Firstly, Google introduced the Ad Review Center a while back, allowing publishers to have a say with regard to the site-targeted ads their sites attracted. Ads are placed on hold for 24 hours for the publisher to block them or allow them to run; if no action is taken in 24 hours, ads will start serving.

Now, Google introduced the ad category filtering capability, where publishers can block up to 5 ad categories in their AdSense account. If you haven’t checked your account yet, below is a screenshot of how the new feature works.

All good and fine, more power to the publishers who were the very overlooked folks of an online advertising world that primarily caters for the needs of advertisers.

However, a closer look at how the ad category filtering functionality was implemented uncovers major, if not fatal, flaws:

- account wide ad filtering, making it impossible to filter out certain categories for one site you’re monetizing with AdSense, and a different set of categories for another site. With the current options, you can only eliminate categories across all sites you may have in your portfolio. For example, under no circumstance would I want weight loss ads on this very site, but I surely want them on my health & beauty blog. With AdSense, you cannot do this – it’s all or nothing, across your whole account. Ironically enough, AdSense policies prohibit publishers from owning more than one AdSense accounts, on the grounds that you can monetize through one account as many sites as you want – this policy is constantly contradicted by the how AdSense features are enabled at account level, and not at site level (URL filtering works the same way).

- inciting to mistargeting, since data offered with regard to category filtering discloses % of earnings and % of ad impressions. Guess what that ratio translates to? eCPMs! For example, if I wished to indulge in a little eCPM and revenue manipulation, I would read the table above as “Jesus pays”. See how ads in the “Religion” category appear to have generated 16.5% of recent earnings, while eating up only 5.6% of recent ad impressions? This means their eCPM is higher than ads in all other categories – how many publishers will now try to calculate revenue / ad impressions ratios and attempt to mistarget their AdSense ads to whatever category appears to pay best?

- failure to target ads, as this new feature candidly shows how completely inappropriate, mistargeted ads served on your unsuspecting site(s). I was really thrown off to find out that 1% of my recent ad impressions were assigned by Google AdSense to sexually suggestive or sexual health ads. I assure you, none of the sites in my portfolio warrant the presence of such ads – they’re supposedly contextually relevant ads and not one of my sites has pages with content that could have legitimately trigger these sex ads. Why were they served, then, and how come Google choose to let me know? Furthermore, one more issue is flagged here: supposedly sex(y) ads are only allowed to run on search, and not on content. These ads, while approved in the AdWords campaigns of the advertisers, should have not been allowed to run on the AdSense content network where only family safe ads are supposed to run.

That’s it, in a nutshell, Google AdSense’s new ad category filtering. Enjoy trying to figure out if and what should you filter from your account!

“Google had a very good quarter, especially given the continued macro-economic downturn. While most of the world’s largest economies shrank, Google’s year-over-year revenues were up 3%. These results highlight the enduring strength of our business model and our responsible efforts to manage expenses in a way that puts us in a good position for the economic upturn, when it occurs,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “We remain focused on investing in technical innovation to drive growth in our core and new businesses.”

Q2 Financial Summary

Google reported revenues of $5.52 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, an increase of 3% compared to the second quarter of 2008. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the second quarter of 2009, TAC totaled $1.45 billion, or 27% of advertising revenues.

Google reports operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.
GAAP operating income for the second quarter of 2009 was $1.87 billion, or 34% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.58 billion, or 29% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2009 was $2.17 billion, or 39% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.85 billion, or 34% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.
GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2009 was $1.48 billion as compared to $1.25 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2009 was $1.71 billion, compared to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008.
GAAP EPS for the second quarter of 2009 was $4.66 on 319 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $3.92 for the second quarter of 2008 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the second quarter of 2009 was $5.36, compared to $4.63 in the second quarter of 2008.
Non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP operating margin exclude the expenses related to stock-based compensation (SBC). Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS exclude the expenses related to SBC and the related tax benefits. In the second quarter of 2009, the charge related to SBC was $293 million as compared to $273 million in the second quarter of 2008. The tax benefit related to SBC was $69 million in the second quarter of 2009 and $48 million in the second quarter of 2008. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP operating income, operating margin, net income, and EPS are included at the end of this release.

Q2 Financial Highlights

Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.52 billion in the second quarter of 2009, representing a 3% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $5.37 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.65 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2009. This represents a 3% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $3.53 billion.

Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.68 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2009. This represents a 2% increase from second quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.66 billion.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.91 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 52% in the first quarter of 2009 and second quarter of 2008. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2009 through the second quarter of 2009, our revenues in the second quarter of 2009 would have been $44 million lower. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2009, our revenues in the second quarter of 2009 would have been $497 million higher.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $715 million, representing 13% of revenues in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 14% in the second quarter of 2008.

In the second quarter of 2009, we recognized a benefit of $124 million to revenues through our foreign exchange risk management program.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 15% over the second quarter of 2008 and decreased approximately 2% over the first quarter of 2009.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, decreased approximately 13% over the second quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the first quarter of 2009.

TAC – Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, decreased to $1.45 billion in the second quarter of 2009, compared to TAC of $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 27% in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 28% in the second quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.24 billion in the second quarter of 2009. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $218 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Other Cost of Revenues – Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, amortization of intangible assets, content acquisition costs as well as credit card processing charges, decreased to $655 million, or 12% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2009, compared to $674 million, or 13% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.

Operating Expenses – Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.54 billion in the second quarter of 2009, or 28% of revenues, compared to $1.64 billion in the second quarter of 2008, or 31% of revenues.

Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) – In the second quarter of 2009, the total charge related to SBC was $293 million as compared to $273 million in the second quarter of 2008.

We currently estimate SBC charges for grants to employees prior to July 1, 2009 to be approximately $1.1 billion for 2009. This estimate does not include expenses to be recognized related to employee stock awards that are granted after June 30, 2009 or non-employee stock awards that have been or may be granted.

Operating Income – GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2009 was $1.87 billion, or 34% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.58 billion, or 29% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the second quarter of 2009 was $2.17 billion, or 39% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.85 billion, or 34% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.

Interest and Other Income (Expense), Net – Interest and other income (expense), net decreased to an expense of $18 million in the second quarter of 2009, compared to an income of $58 million in the second quarter of 2008.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 20% for the second quarter of 2009.

Net Income – GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2009 was $1.48 billion as compared to $1.25 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $1.71 billion in the second quarter of 2009, compared to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. GAAP EPS for the second quarter of 2009 was $4.66 on 319 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $3.92 for the second quarter of 2008, on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS for the second quarter of 2009 was $5.36, compared to $4.63 in the second quarter of 2008.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures – Net cash provided by operating activities for the second quarter of 2009 totaled $1.61 billion as compared to $1.77 billion for the second quarter of 2008. In the second quarter of 2009, capital expenditures were $139 million, the majority of which was related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the second quarter of 2009, free cash flow was $1.47 billion.

We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the GAAP measure of liquidity, is included at the end of this release.

Cash – As of June 30, 2009, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $19.3 billion.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 19,786 full-time employees as of June 30, 2009, down from 20,164 full-time employees as of March 31, 2009.

IncrediMail has been using AdSense since the end of 2006 enabling it to share in advertising revenue generated from users clicking on Google sponsored links, in response to a search query conducted on IncrediMail sites. These sponsored links represent a significant revenue generating channel for IncrediMail in its efforts to monetize its user base. IncrediMail reported in May that about 70% of its revenue was generated from its Search business model that includes multiple search engines.

“We are very happy, having extended our agreement with Google. This renewal reflects the positive relationship established between our companies and a relationship that has allowed IncrediMail to continue to perform well,” said Ofer Adler, IncrediMail’s CEO. “The contract renewal facilitates our current business strategy, which allows IncrediMail users to carry out ‘Google searches’, will continue to move forward for another two years. It also reaffirms our commitment to our current business model that we believe has demonstrated our approach to monetizing our user base is clearly working.”

About IncrediMail Ltd.

IncrediMail Ltd. (NASDAQ: MAIL) is an internet company that develops customized, downloadable graphic consumer applications used to generate search related revenues and designs, markets and delivers high end personal desktop software. The company’s award winning e-mail client product, IncrediMail Premium, is sold in over 100 countries in 10 different languages. Other products include, HiYo a graphic add-on to instant messaging software, Magentic, a wallpaper and screensaver software, and PhotoJoy, software for presenting digital personal photos.

This unusual combination may come as a surprise but it’s all held together by the “power” of online advertising. A wacky one, if I may add… pun intended.

I finally stopped trying to run away from the flood of news items related to Michael Jackson’s death (by the way, does anyone else feel there’s way too much information running around these days?), and went to CNN.com to check the news. The headline item was (well, still is at the time I’m writing this) titled “Jacksons rely on strength of family” and it’s permalink is http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/27/jackson.family/index.html .  After some mildly-worded paragraphs on how Jackson’s father was a “rough taskmaker” and the shocking information that there was some “intrafamily bickering” going on, the article sweetly ends by quoting Jermaine on what a great job his parents did. Oh well… I’m not here to debate that.

What I would like to discuss, though, is how ad networks, publishers and advertisers never fail to let me down and even exceed my expectations. Ever since the story broke, I was sure that somewhere, somehow, inappropriate ads would find their way onto unsuspecting web pages and sit there undisturbed. What I did not expect was to find them on CNN’s very own site. Right underneath the article, there was an ad slot serving Google ads, and the very first ad said:

Micheal Jackson Tickets
Buy Tickets Now For Jacko Huge- Shows In The o2 – Don’t Miss Out!
MJackson.Bookmarks.Excite.co.uk

Brilliant! I am not even going to bother discussing what a crappy text creative it is, what’s mindblowing is how the ad network (Google), the advertiser (Excite, I suppose?) and the publisher (CNN.com) have all failed at what is a rather simple task:

- Google had more than enough time to cease serving ads for Michael Jackson tickets – why are these ads still active?

- Excite (assuming it’s them who advertise) also had more than enough time to “remember” taking down the ads on their own initiative, or perhaps proactively managing the ad campaigns is not something explicitly written in the job specs of whoever is in charge of doing so.

- CNN, ultimately, is the one displaying these ads. Has no editor actually read the page??? Even if Google failed at controlling what runs in their network and the advertiser doesn’t mind running outdated ads, CNN could have very easily blocked these ads themselves. Why it hasn’t been done it’s quite a mystery. The funny (or “offending”, depends on what is your type of humor) ad is still there, half hour after I have sent CNN a message about it.

Come on, at least correct the name, please! For the curious ones, below is a screenshot of the article and the Google ad slot.

MENLO PARK, Calif. – AdWhirl, the most popular ad platform solution among iPhone application developers, announced that it has closed a one million dollar seed round led by Foundation Capital, with additional participation by several angel investors.

Founded in April of 2009, AdWhirl has quickly become the leading open ad platform for iPhone developers, with over 1,000 publishers and more than one billion ads served per month to iPhone and iPod Touch users through otherwise free applications. AdWhirl offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to leverage targeted and personalized advertising in more than 160 countries.

“Mobile advertising has seen tremendous growth as more and more advertisers are discovering how to leverage the mobile medium,” said Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, who will join the AdWhirl board. “With AdWhirl’s unique mobile platform and growing lead in publisher adoption, we’re excited that AdWhirl will be well positioned to lead the way as the mobile ad market continues to explode.”

AdWhirl gives iPhone application developers a flexible platform to make money by managing and serving ads to their free apps from all of the top ad networks, including AdMob, Quattro Wireless, Videoegg, and Jumptap, with Millenial Media and Google’s Adsense coming soon.

“Our goal as a platform has always been to give developers full control over their ad space,” said Ra Roath, Co-Founder of AdWhirl. “In addition to adding new advertisers and optimizing ad revenues for developers, we intend to expand to other ad solutions such as offer-based rewards, so that developers have the flexibility to maximize revenues through multiple channels.”

AdWhirl’s platform also allows developers to cross-promote apps with free custom ads to gain distribution and boost sales of paid apps.

“With over 50,000 apps now in Apple’s App Store, it’s becoming more and more difficult for individual developers and small companies to get the attention of users,” said Sam Yam, Co-Founder of AdWhirl. “AdWhirl is committed to helping developers obtain mass distribution of their apps through free custom ads and a proper ad exchange where developers can help one another reach the top 100 in the App Store.”

The company says that it will use the funds to expand out to other platforms such as Android, Blackberry, and Palm Pre, while developing new solutions for developers to more effectively monetize their ad space and obtain better distribution for their apps.

About AdWhirl:

Founded in April 2009, AdWhirl (www.adwhirl.com) is the world’s first dynamic ad platform for Apple’s iPhone, allowing developers and publishers to serve advertisements from different ad networks or create their own advertisements for cross-promotion purposes. AdWhirl’s rollover technology ensures that publishers always serve a paid advertisement when possible, optimizing ad networks’ inventory. AdWhirl offers both advertisers and publishers the ability to leverage targeted and personalized advertising in more than 160 countries.

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world today reported the top 25 ad networks based on their reach among U.S. Internet users in April 2009. The ranking showed that AOL’s Platform-A remains the top ad network, reaching nearly 176.5 million U.S. Internet users, or 91.5 percent of the total audience, followed by Yahoo! Network (167.1 million) and Google Ad Network (164.5 million). New ad network FOX Audience Network ranked sixth, reaching 149.2 million people. Several ad networks in the top 25 achieved double-digit growth during the past year, led by Turn Inc. (up 121 percent), CPX Interactive (up 88 percent) and 24/7 Real Media (up 48 percent).

______________________________________________________________________________
Top 25 Ad Networks

April 2009 vs. April 2008

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)
Apr-2008        Apr-2009       % Change

Total Internet: Total Audience          190,728         192,875           1

Platform-A                              170,508         176,455           3
Yahoo! Network                          160,206         167,129           4
Google Ad Network                       155,882         164,518           6
ValueClick Networks                     140,930         160,307          14
Specific Media                          144,773         158,012           9
FOX Audience Network                        N/A         149,249         N/A
24/7 Real Media                          99,959         147,668          48
Traffic Marketplace                     114,682         143,519          25
Microsoft Media Network US              119,595         139,674          17
Tribal Fusion                           135,113         138,274           2
Casale Media – MediaNet                 127,184         137,884           8
interCLICK                              107,961         134,834          25
Turn, Inc                                60,617         134,028         121
Adconion Media Group                    117,965         133,498          13
CPX Interactive                          69,178         130,370          88
Collective Network by Collective Media   88,279         129,808          47
ADSDAQ by ContextWeb                     93,815         123,534          32
AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science)  N/A         121,001         N/A
Burst Media                              89,670         116,727          30
Undertone Networks                       72,940          97,053          33
AdBrite                                  81,838          91,033          11
Pulse 360                                   N/A          82,574         N/A
Vibrant Media                            72,351          80,779          12
Adify                                       N/A          73,467         N/A
Kontera                                  52,159          72,870          40
______________________________________________________________________________

“Underscoring the growing importance of ad networks to the digital advertising economy, each of the top 25 ad networks has expanded its reach during the past year,” commented Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. “It almost seems that new ad networks are emerging every day, each aimed at helping advertisers achieve their campaign objectives, whether it’s to deliver reach and frequency or to target a specific audience segment.”

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SAN FRANCISCO – Gregory Markel, Founder and President of Infuse Creative, will be drawing upon his years of video search engine marketing and optimization experience with a focus on how videos can generate publisher revenue using Google AdSense at the 2009 ADSPACE conference and expo in the Moscone Center West on Wednesday, April 22.

Gregory, Founder, President, Infuse Creative, SEMCares, and a perennial guest speaker at numerous global search marketing conferences since 2000, has generated over 7,000 video search marketing related pages at Google including appearances at SMX, Pubcon, USC Annenberg School of Communications, Cal Tech, and most recently, a video search marketing and SEO talk and analysis on YouTube community ranking factors at the 2009 Search Engine Strategies conference in New York, which was recently analyzed at ReelSEO.com.

Gregory has also been a featured guest video search marketing analyst on the FOX Business News’ “Money for Breakfast” with FOX Business Analyst Alexis Glick, where he was asked to provide his expert opinion regarding the viral marketing effectiveness of the General Motors YouTube video “U.S. Auto Industry and Ripple Effect”.

Gregory Markel, later this year, will also give an hour-long talk on video search marketing SEO and Google TV online video on YouTube at the 2009 Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, California, this August.

About Infuse Creative: www.infusecreative.com

Infuse Creative, founded by Gregory Markel, has provided search engine optimization, social media, and digital marketing services and technology to a diverse range of clients, including Mazda, Gibson Musical Instruments, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Pacificare, The BBC, Ed Hardy, Led Zeppelin, CBS, FOX, The National Geographic Channel, Reality Executives International, Sony, Universal Vivendi and many more.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/infusecreative

About ADSPACE: http://www.adspaceconference.com/sf/adspace/

ADSPACE, part of ad:tech, is the first and only search engine marketing conference and expo dedicated to Google AdSense and contextual advertising. Designed for small to mid-sized publishers, advertisers and vendors, ADSPACE offers insider tips and strategies on how to maximize AdSense revenue and monetize websites using Google’s content network.

AdSense Video Units were launched October 2007, with quite some bang. The feature allowed English-language AdSense publishers to add video content from YouTube partners to their sites in a customizable player. The video would then display text overlay ads and a companion banner above the video.

It all came to an end on March 27, when an official announcement on the Google AdSense blog informed that:

“As you may know, we frequently review our products and features to ensure their effectiveness. After reviewing our AdSense video units feature, which allows you to show YouTube content and ads on your pages, we’ve found that it hasn’t had the impact we had hoped for. As a result, we’ve decided to retire this feature at the end of April so we can focus our resources on other opportunities to help publishers earn from their sites.

[...] please note that this change won’t affect the availability of other video-related ads options — video ads may appear in your AdSense for content ad units if you’ve opted into image ads, and AdSense for video is still accepting applications from eligible publishers who produce video content.”

Signing up for video units is no longer available to new publishers, and publishers who currently use video units are asked to remove them. Once video units are retired at the end of April, remaining video units in skyscrapers and leaderboards will direct to YouTube.com, while other ad slot sizes will automatically be changed to standard embedded YouTube players displaying top YouTube videos – without generating any revenue, though. Publishers are also advised to change their video units to standard ad units if they have less than 3 such units per page.

There’s no surprise in this announcement, I believe: what originally appeared to be a good idea, was poorly implemented and developed as a product, with little regard to the market conditions and usability. If anything, it’s a surprise that the video units weren’t retired earlier. The remaining question is “What’s next?” – my bet is on the AdSense for feeds product to make a more or less elegant exit.

- Google’s Head of North American Sales Moves to AOL

Tim Armstrong, Google’s now former head of sales for North America, and the developer behind Google’s AdSense and AdWords advertising products, is heading to AOL. As Brand Republic puts it, the move is caused by the “managerial shake-up” in Google. Armstrong will serve as chief executive at AOL and will be the driving force behind AOL’s presence in the online advertising arena.

- Razorfish Launches scatter|gather Blog

The new blog from Razorfish “covers the intersection of pop culture, consumer behavior & digital content”. Contributors are all practicing Content Strategists: Adam Gottlieb, Bob Maynard, Dawn Bovasso, Doug Bolin, Jared Keleher, Ruth Kaufman, Robert Stribley, Rachel Lovinger, Michael Barnwell, Matt Geraghty, Mary S. Butler, Lynn Leitte

NEW YORK – To be successful in search advertising, one must be bionic – able to achieve better results in less time, despite growing complexity, tedious analysis and fierce competition. To make advertisers bionic, Clickable introduced the newest version of its flagship tool. With one of the world’s largest development teams dedicated to a pure-play search management product, Clickable Pro 2.0 makes search and PPC advertising simple, instant and profitable for small businesses, midsize enterprises and agencies.

A host of innovations come together in one intuitive, online interface to empower advertisers to manage search and PPC performance across Google, Yahoo and MSN’s advertising networks. Driven by customer feedback, Clickable Pro 2.0 innovations include:

* Emerging Google Ad Formats – including Image (banners), Local Business (maps) and Mobile (text and image) – to give marketers more opportunities to connect with their customers. Customers now can add and edit new ad formats right alongside text ads. Clickable is offering this beta functionality for free to Clickable customers so they can experiment and guide Clickable’s development around new advertising formats.
* Keyword Filter And Bulk Edit to empower agencies and advertisers to quickly search, edit and export high volumes of keywords across all advertising networks and accounts, all at once and with great flexibility. Bulk editing reduces tedious spreadsheet analysis, saves time and reduces errors.
* Clickable Conversion Tracking, which moves out of beta and into the Clickable interface, enabling advertisers to easily measure ROI with one simple, independent tracking system. This powerful reporting tool also informs Clickable’s ActEngine in real time to deliver campaign recommendations with better return.
* An Improved ActEngine, including new recommendations to help advertisers more precisely set keyword match types to drive higher quality traffic; properly set up campaigns for content versus search keyword inventory; and optimize long-tail keyword bids. The ActEngine now includes a history of campaign recommendations accepted or ignored; this is the first in a series of enhancements to report results pre- and post-recommendations and drive overall transparency.

“Clickable is transforming search advertising for small to midsize advertisers and agencies on the principle of simplicity,” says David S. Kidder, co-founder and CEO of Clickable. “We’ll continue to rapidly release meaningful product iterations that cultivate best practices, save time and drive performance and profitability. In this down economy, our promise is to help advertisers’ drive better results in less time, and constantly improve.”

As always, Clickable is an advertiser’s trusted advisor, with world-class Customer Support and Community, including 24-hour customer support via live chat and phone. For marketers who need extra help getting started, Clickable Assist delivers tiered packages of managed services to ensure success.

Visit The Official Clickable Blog for a video tour of what’s new in Pro 2.0, as well as links to new features in our online product guide.

About Clickable

Clickable is an online solution that makes search advertising simple, instant and profitable. Clickable’s immediate activation and intuitive user experience make it easy for marketers to manage performance across all major search-advertising networks, including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Powerful recommendations, bulk editing, conversion tracking and reporting make marketers more efficient, effective and confident – even at the very first login. Visit www.clickable.com to take the tour.

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics™, Inc. released industry pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for the fourth quarter 2008 from the search advertising industry’s leading independent click fraud reporting service – the Click Fraud Index® (www.ClickFraudIndex.com).

Now in its fourth year, the Click Fraud Index monitors and reports on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network™, which provides statistically significant industry PPC data collected from online advertising campaigns for both large and small companies across all the leading search engines. Key findings from data reported for Q4 2008 include:

* The overall industry average click fraud rate grew to 17.1 percent for Q4 2008. That’s up from 16.0 percent in Q3 2008 and from the 16.6 percent rate reported for Q4 2007.
* The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 28.2 percent. That’s up from the 27.1 percent rate reported for Q3 2008 and down slightly from the 28.3 percent rate reported for Q4 2007.
* Traffic from botnets was responsible for 31.4 percent of all click fraud traffic in Q4 2008. That’s up from the 27.6 percent rate reported for Q3 2008 and the 22.0 percent rate reported for Q4 2007.
* In Q4 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside the U.S. came from Canada (7.4 percent), Germany (3.0 percent) and China (2.3 percent).

“Based on the data we tracked in Q4 2008, it seems that the online advertising industry is not immune to the growing tide of cybercrime during this recessionary period,” said Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics. “Both the overall click fraud rate and the rate of click fraud originating from botnets were the highest ever in Q4 2008. In addition, we’ve started to see old schemes like click farms reemerge. Advertisers should pay close attention to these types of threats in their online campaigns throughout the year.”

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click Fraud Network, the industry’s first independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising campaigns for pay-per-click fraud. Click fraud data is tracked and published on a quarterly basis for specific search providers, industries and trends. The service is unique in that it monitors online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from search provider campaigns and the advertisers’ own web sites – providing the industry’s most accurate view of click fraud to date.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the industry leader in scoring, auditing and improving traffic quality for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides traffic quality management solutions for online advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. The company also publishes the Click Fraud Index®, the top independent source of industry click fraud data. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Click Fraud Index is a registered trademark of Click Forensics, Inc. Click Forensics and Click Fraud Network are trademarks of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

“While we hoped that Print Ads would create a new revenue stream for newspapers and produce more relevant advertising for consumers, the product has not created the impact that we — or our partners — wanted.” says Spinnell.

The reasons behind this strategic decision should not be a surprise for anybody: yet another measure of cutting down costs by the Internet giant. The eCPMs running through the Print Ads program must have followed trend and dropped beyond the level at which Google would make business sense out of them. Additionally, Google seems to have entered a cost-cutting frenzy: lay-offs, shutting down offices, abandoning or merging programs / products are all the rage nowadays.

Spinnell gives a rather blunt explanation (or lack thereof!): “We will continue to devote a team of people to look at how we can help newspaper companies. It is clear that the current Print Ads product is not the right solution, so we are freeing up those resources to try to come up with new and innovative online solutions that will have a meaningful impact for users, advertisers and publishers.” I can almost hear plenty of voices in the industry saying “I told you so!” with regard to that product, but I guess that’s what happens when portfolio products in times of recession.

The advertisers who still have campaigns booked with Google Print Ads will continue to see their ads running until March 31 2009.

Read Spinnell’s blog post here.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Tumri, the leading provider of dynamic and intelligent display advertising solutions, announced that Tumri’s display ad platform is certified to operate context-aware ads across the Google content network. Advertisers will now be able to benefit from the performance support of Google’s contextual information and Tumri’s dynamic ad creation and optimization capabilities. The certification allows advertisers who use DoubleClick’s DFA to use Tumri’s AdPods to serve context-aware ads on the Google content network.

Tumri’s participation in context-aware ads on the Google content network benefits advertisers by allowing Google to feed its contextual page information about web page content into Tumri’s dynamic ad generation engine. Tumri’s AdPod seamlessly generates highly-targeted marketing messages in real time through its dynamic, intelligent ad optimization and presentation layer based upon the advanced contextual information from Google. As a result, advertisers deliver more targeted, higher-performance display ad campaigns that create greater customer satisfaction and more meaningful interactions with its target audience.

“This expanded functionality opens the door to the next generation of display advertising,” said Calvin Lui, president & CEO of Tumri. “By combining the power of Tumri’s AdPod with Google’s contextual data, advertisers can now deliver highly relevant messages within impactful graphical experiences like never before. We are marrying the precision of search-like capabilities with the visual power of display.”

As part of the certification, Tumri worked with Google to ensure that all Tumri ads meet Google’s policies, specifications, and performance requirements. The context-aware third-party ads support key targeting variables such as language, country, page keywords, geographical data and other contextual parameters. These enhanced contextual ads enable advertisers to create more relevant messaging with more compelling creatives and offers. This functionality is extremely compelling for various market segments, including:

* large retailers who rely on geo-targeting and have multiple product offers;
* financial services companies that use interactive tools and/or live stock quotes in their advertising;
* travel companies that tailor destination offers based on locations mentioned in publisher website content;
*

and auto manufacturers who use both geo-targeting and color preferences for each offer.

Tumri’s highly interactive, dynamic and relevant AdPods offer more effective, efficient and powerful execution to any display advertising campaign. AdPods seamlessly combine flash, video, images, text and data feeds (such as RSS, affiliate, proprietary XML feeds), to deliver strong brand awareness, merchandising, and localized ads that adjust on-the-fly to target audiences. Some of the most recognized brands in the world – including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lenovo, Overstock.com, Sears, and Capital One – have leveraged Tumri’s platform to generate tremendous lifts in performance while gathering unparalleled consumer insight.

About Tumri

Tumri is the leading provider of dynamic display advertising solutions. Based in Mountain View, CA, Tumri (www.tumri.com) has developed an innovative advertising platform that creates a highly dynamic and interactive advertising experience. The Tumri solution – the AdPod – enables advertisers to craft highly targeted marketing messages to consumers on-the-fly. The Tumri platform seamlessly deconstructs ad creatives into core sub-components, then enables advertisers to adjust each sub-component by targeting parameters or optimize by performance metrics. As a result, the Tumri platform delivers highly relevant advertising messages to consumers while lowering creative production costs and timelines. Additionally, Tumri’s patent-pending platform optimizes performance at a sub-ad component level and delivers unparalleled consumer insights through its proprietary reporting. Tumri was named a “One to Watch” company for Dealmaker Media’s 2007 Momentum Growth Conference and has been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and in BusinessWeek. Tumri is funded by the premier venture capital firms Accel Partners, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, and Shasta Ventures. To learn more about Tumri visit www.tumri.com.

Here’s an updated summary for all of you interested in the matter:

1. The integration AdSense – DoubleClick was originally scheduled to be included in the DoubleClick DFP fall release 2008 – there’s been even a premature announcement from DoubleClick concerning this. However, the release did not include support for AdSense.

2. Currently, AdSense integration is mentioned in DFP as being in “beta”, see screenshot below.

There are also a number of entries in DoubleClick DFP (DART for Publishers) help center in regard to the integration with Google AdSense, and publishers can even select “AdSense” as a topic when escalating issues to DoubleClick through their customer resource center (see below).

3. Some of you have noticed Google ads that appeared to be served through DoubleClick, since googleads.g.doubleclick.net was part of their URL (as opposed to googlesyndication.com that is associated with ads served through the AdSense program into the Google content network). I can confirm that this is indeed the case, see screenshot below taken just a few minutes ago:

Additionally, my AdSense account displayed doubleclick.net as having served ads – I have now added this domain to the list of domains permitted to serve ads through my account.

Conclusions? For now, just a couple:

- the Google AdSense – DoubleClick integration is NOT finalized yet;

- if you use both DoubleClick DFP and Google AdSense, continue trafficking the Google ads as custom rich media ads;

- DO add doubleclick.net in your Google AdSense account’s list of allowed sites (you can do so by accessing the “Allowed Sites” page under the “AdSense Setup” tab);

- wait for a formal announcement from DoubleClick that the integration has been completed and available to publishers (check back here on www.AdOperationsOnline.com, I’ll make sure to report this as soon as possible).

Questions, comments, ideas, thoughts? Post them below and I’ll be happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge!

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., December 8, 2008-Brightcove Inc. today announced the formation of the Brightcove Alliance, a global ecosystem of leading technology and distribution partners who have integrated with the Brightcove online video platform, as well as solution providers building customer websites and video applications using Brightcove. Through the Brightcove Alliance, organizations worldwide have access to a broad range of expert partners, pre-integrated technologies and services to support online video initiatives of any size and scope in every market.

“Video is pervasive on the Web and website producers and operators are faced with an increasingly complex set of requirements and challenges to operate successful online video initiatives,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “Our fast-growing network of Brightcove Alliance partners extends the possibilities of online video for organizations regardless of their size or market. The Brightcove Alliance helps our customers grow their businesses and expand the role of online video on the Web, while empowering our partners to create new innovations in online video.”

Brightcove has attracted a wide range of partners that wish to provide solutions to the hundreds of major media companies and marketers that publish their video through the Brightcove platform. With the launch of Brightcove 3 in October 2008, the company released a rich set of open APIs that partners can use to integrate with and build solutions on top of the Brightcove platform.

The Brightcove Alliance launches with more than 90 partners, spanning a variety of online video needs, including creative and interactive design, advertising networks and server technologies, delivery and distribution, analytics and audience measurement, social media and community building. Through the Alliance, partners have access to training, support, technology and co-marketing opportunities for reaching the Brightcove customer base.

In early 2009, Brightcove will introduce training and certification programs for partners as well as channel reseller opportunities. For more information on the Brightcove Alliance partner program please visit http://www.brightcove.com/partners.

Alliance Partner Support

“Video is a central focus for any brand with a serious presence on the Web. The Brightcove Alliance enables us to easily bundle online video capabilities into our agency services and free up interactive resources to focus on creative execution instead of software development and maintenance.”
Rob Davis, leader of the interactive video practice at OgilvyInteractive

“24/7 Real Media’s Open AdStream seamlessly integrates with Brightcove, allowing our publishers to simply traffic video campaigns. Our clients benefit tremendously from our strong partnership with Brightcove by allowing them to monetize their video content in the most productive, efficient way. In working with Brightcove we are empowering media companies to operate a more successful online video business by pulling together all of the necessary pieces to the puzzle – a proven platform in Brightcove and a market leading ad serving technology in Open AdStream.”
Nicolle Pangis, vice president, product management, global media and technology, 24/7 Real Media

“Brightcove’s open platform and partner program provide exciting new opportunities to accelerate innovation and boost efficiencies for online video campaigns. We’re looking forward to having VivaKi become a part of the Brightcove Alliance and expanding the success we’ve already had with Brightcove at Denuo to other Publicis Groupe agencies.”
Tim Hanlon, executive vice president and managing director of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi Ventures and advisor to Brightcove

“Nielsen’s VideoCensus provides deep online video measurement and independent accounting of key audience metrics that are critically important to any news or entertainment brand with an online advertising business. The integration of our measurement service with Brightcove’s platform will provide mutual customers with a turn-key opportunity to gauge audience size, demographics and other important indicators associated with their online video programming.”
Charley Shoemaker, director, product management, Nielsen Online

“Platform-A and ADTECH’s integration with Brightcove provides publishers with new ways to enhance productivity by streamlining their online video operations, which in turn helps to drive business growth. Platform-A’s goal is to be a one-stop shop for online advertising, so the Brightcove Alliance will help us to bring more features to media owners and more premium content to advertisers looking to deepen their engagement with audiences, both of which are crucial in today’s economic climate. For Brightcove publishers, ADTECH provides powerful ad serving solutions for the monetization of their video content.”
Dirk Freytag, CEO, ADTECH

Brightcove Platform Customer Support

“As part of our mission to satisfy curiosity across all platforms, Discovery has created a compelling online video experience supported by Brightcove technology. As we continue to expand and enhance our video offerings, we look forward to leveraging new opportunities and partnerships through the Brightcove Alliance.”
Kevin Loftis, senior vice president, interactive technology, Discovery Communications

“Brightcove has allowed FUEL TV to develop our online video offering in ways we could not have accomplished on our own and easily connect with third-party technologies to grow our online audience. We applaud its successes to date and look forward to future innovations to help us further build our online video product and advance our video distribution strategy.”
Gene Pao, FOXs FUEL TV vice president of new media and international development

“TheStreet.com has built a successful online video business with the Brightcove platform. Now, through Alliance partners like Metacafe and Clearspring, we can use the same platform to easily distribute video through a popular portal and across social networks. We’re excited about the possibilities offered by Brightcove’s network of partners and the opportunities to grow our business.”
Bill McCandless, general manager, multimedia, for TheStreet.com

“We continue to see value from the Brightcove platform in helping us build community and drive traffic not only to Channel Sun, but also to www.sun.com and other Sun Web properties. We’ve also been able to rapidly plug in commenting and rating features from best-of-breed technology providers like JS-Kit to further engage our online audience without having to build the features from scratch.”
Karen Galatis, senior director of integrated marketing, Sun Microsystems

“Tremor’s ad network and Acudeo platform adds value to our Brightcove online video operations, helping us maximize ad delivery opportunities. Our ability to leverage Brightcove’s network of partners like Tremor is crucial as we continue to expand our online video operations.”
David Katz, executive director, digital media, Starz Media

“Red Star 18′s use of the Brightcove platform has enabled us to seamlessly integrate streaming video into our entertainment, editorial and Web exclusive site sections. Our initial phase has been very successful in delivering video, and we look forward to further expanding the reach of our Brightcove-powered video by leveraging third party content partnerships and developing additional video channels.”
Paul FitzGerald, account director at Air Canada

Companies participating in Brightcove Alliance launch include:

Advertising and Monetization
24/7 Real Media
Ad Delivery Solutions
Adap.tv
ADTECH
Asterpix
BrightRoll
CheckM8
DoubleClick*
evenhere
Eyeblaster
FreeWheel
Google Adsense for Video
HIRO-Media
InSkin Media
JD Project
LiveRail
Panache
Platform-A
ScanScout
Smart AdServer
Smartclip
SpotRails
SpotXchange
Tremor Media
Utarget.FOX
YuMe

Distribution
AnySource Media
AOL Video
Bebo
Glam Media
Metacafe
Preview Networks
TubeMogul
Veoh Networks
Mobile
AtomiZ
Azuki Systems
Nellymoser
Transpera
vtap
Yospace

Reporting and Analytics
GlanceGuide
Nedstat
Nielsen Online
Omniture
Quantcast
Snoobi
TubeMogul
Visible Measures

Search and Discovery
Blinkx
Cooliris
EveryZing
Lingospot
Loomia
Taboola
Vibrant Media

Social Media
Automattic Inc.
Clearspring
Gigya
IntenseDebate
iWidgets
JS-Kit
Meebo
Pluck
Six Apart
Slide
Sprout
Viewer Experience
Audible Magic
dotSUB
Limelight Networks
PLYmedia
Quova

Solution Partners
Adjust Your Set
Best Before Media
Blonde
Cantos
Code and Theory
Cynergy
HubSales
IDINI Consulting Group
Maverick Television
Method
myvideorights.com
NBTV Studios
Oasis Technology Partners
OgilvyInteractive
Red Star 18
Schematic
Serranetga
Simply Media
Slamcore
StoryWorks Media
StudioNow
Thinkdigital
Twin Technologies
VivaKi
xif
* DoubleClick is a trademark of Google Inc.

About Brightcove
Brightcove is an online video platform. Media companies, businesses and organizations worldwide use Brightcove to publish and distribute video on the Web. Founded in 2004, Brightcove is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business with offices across North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.brightcove.com.

Halloween and Early Holiday Browsing Boost Traffic to Retail Sites

RESTON, VA, November 20, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for October 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The U.S. presidential election, Halloween and the approaching holiday season were significant drivers of Internet traffic for the month.

“The historic presidential race had millions of Americans glued to their computers for the latest news during the final stretch of the campaign,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “Prospective voters were able to get up-to-the minute information on candidates, important issues and the latest poll results as they prepared to check off the box in the voting booth on November 4.”

Politics Category Tops Fastest-Growing List in October

October saw a significant surge in traffic to the politics category, as Americans tuned in closely to the presidential and local congressional races. The category grew 40 percent to 28 million visitors in October, making it the fastest growing category for the month.

BarackObama.com was the most visited site in the category with 8.5 million visitors, up 59 percent versus the previous month, followed by JohnMcCain.com with 3.8 million visitors (up 29 percent). October marked the largest audiences of the season for both of the candidates. Other sites generating substantially higher traffic in the month included: CatholicVote.com (up 410 percent to 1.5 million visitors), GOP.com (up 111 percent to 1.2 million visitors), and Factcheck.org (up 96 percent to 1 million visitors). Voting advocacy sites VoteforChange (up 62 percent to 2.4 million visitors) and RocktheVote.com (up 46 percent to 1.1 million visitors) also saw strong gains.

Saturday Night Live’s election comedy sketches, including Tina Fey’s popular impersonation of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, helped NBC Universal rank as one of the top 10 gaining properties for the month. NBC Universal’s online channel for Saturday Night Live (SNL) content surged 85 percent to 4.4 million visitors in October.

Approaching Holidays and Halloween Cause Traffic Boost at Retail Categories
The combination of Halloween and the looming holiday shopping season resulted in strong traffic increases to several retail categories in October.

Retail – apparel sites grew 13 percent to more than 67 million visitors as people searched for Halloween costumes, early holiday deals and the latest seasonal apparel in October. The category was led by BuyCostumes.com, which witnessed a 107-percent increase to 9.5 million visitors. Several other costume-related sites also experienced gains in October, including CostumeSuperCenter.com (up 110 percent to 2.6 million visitors) and Costumzee.com (up 161 percent to 2.1 million visitors).

In addition to costume retailers, several other apparel retailers experienced strong traffic growth during the month, including Zappos.com (up 18 percent to 5.1 million visitors), Gap Online (up 24 percent to 4.2 million visitors) and AE.com (up 18 percent to 3.3 million visitors).

With the holidays quickly approaching, traffic to the retail – toys category surged 17 percent to more than 25 million visitors as Americans searched early for this year’s top toys. Toysrus sites led the category with 9.3 million visitors, a gain of 28 percent, followed by Barbie with 3.4 million visitors (up 10 percent) and The LEGO Group with 2.7 million visitors (up 22 percent). Several other popular toy brands also experienced double-digit growth in October, including AmericanGirl.com (up 51 percent), Fisher Price (up 43 percent) and LeapFrog.com (up 90 percent).

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in October with 147 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 144.9 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 123.5 million visitors. All of the top ten properties maintained their positions from September. New arrivals to the ranking this month included NBC Universal, which entered at position #33 with nearly 25 million visitors and JPMorgan Chase Property, which rose to position #41 with the addition of Washington Mutual, bringing the property’s combined audience to more than 23 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Platform-A led the October Ad Focus ranking reaching 91 percent of the 190.6 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network followed reaching 86 percent and Google Ad Network captured the third position reaching 83 percent of Americans online. ValueClick Networks moved up one position to #4 reaching 82 percent of online users and Traffic Marketplace rose one position to #8 reaching 74 percent.
____________________________________________________________________
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)

October 2008 vs. September 2008

Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Sep-08 Oct-08 % Change Rank by

Unique Visitors

Total Internet: Total Audience 189,468 190,616 1 N/A

TheStreet.com Sites 4,135 10,550 155 101

Spencer Gifts, LLC. 2,077 5,058 144 231

HULU.COM 2,850 5,342 87 214

Healthgrades 2,894 5,034 74 234

Everyday Health 14,930 25,781 73 31

BARACKOBAMA.COM 5,350 8,515 59 131

Cablevision 6,049 9,571 58 112

NBC Universal 16,034 24,896 55 33

Kayak.com Network 5,141 7,860 53 144

JPMorgan Chase Property 15,506 23,142 49 41
____________________________________________________________________
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in October 2008

TABLE 2
____________________________________________________________________
comScore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)

October 2008 vs. September 2008

Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Sep-08 Oct-08 % Change

Total Internet: Total Audience 189,468 190,616 1

Politics 20,081 28,016 40

Retail – Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 33,659 40,358 20

Retail – Toys 21,461 25,195 17

e-cards 28,537 33,377 17

Entertainment – Humor 25,486 29,797 17

Retail – Mall 26,509 30,742 16

Gay/Lesbian 2,771 3,189 15

Retail – Apparel 59,354 67,144 13

Teens 28,765 32,505 13

Auto – Manufacturer 22,154 25,015 13

____________________________________________________________________

Please visit the following link for Tables 3 & 4: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2593

About comScore Media Metrix

comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe. comScore Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate

Google content network, one of two Google network components, is made up of many hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, web pages and blogs which have joined the AdSense Google network in order to be able to display contextual advertising. Now certified by Google, Smart AdServer is among the first European Adservers to meet the technical requirements implemented by Google.

By offering the possibility of advertising on YouTube and on the Google network, Smart AdServer enables advertisers and agencies to extend the marketing outreach of their advertising campaigns by reaching a larger targeted audience, and using innovative formats such as overlay. “This is an important stage in Smart AdServer’s development and we are delighted to enable our clients to advertise and track advertising campaigns on this network and site” explains Cyrille Geffray, Smart AdServer’ General Manager.

Smart AdServer develops and promotes an advertisement campaign management tool for agencies, advertisers, advertising companies and editors. A new generation Adserver created in 2001, Smart AdServer has rapidly progressed to the point where today it is a leader on the French and European markets, with more than 130 clients and 1,200 sites.

About Smart AdServer

Smart AdServer SAS develops and markets one of the main adserving technologies for the management of online campaigns for media agencies and publishers. Created in 2001, the company Smart AdServer has soon become a key player in France, posting the fastest growth in Europe in terms of customers compared with its competitors, thanks to the innovative and unique functionalities offered by its product, and its ease of use. Smart AdServer has 130 customers for 1200 sites spanning four continents.

Among its clients are large media agencies such as Zed digital, Starcom, Mindshare, Mediacom, Mediaedge:cia, Universal McCann, Brilliant Media … as well as a large number of sites and companies, including PIXmania, Reed Business, Axel Springer Hungary, Radio Canada, MSD Global, Wolters Kluwer, La Vanguardia, Medioonet, Curse Gaming, Amiado…

www.smartadserver.com

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics™, Inc. released industry pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for the third quarter 2008 from the search advertising industry’s leading independent click fraud reporting service – the Click Fraud Index™ (www.ClickFraudIndex.com).

Now in its third year, the Click Fraud Index monitors and reports on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network™, which more than 4,500 online advertisers and agencies have joined. The Click Fraud Network provides statistically significant industry PPC data collected from online advertising campaigns for both large and small companies across all the leading search engines. Key findings from data reported for Q3 2008 include:

The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.0 percent for Q3 2008. That’s down slightly from the 16.2 percent rate reported for both Q2 2008 and Q3 2007.
The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 27.1 percent. That’s down from the 27.6 percent rate reported for Q2 2008 and the 28.1 percent average click fraud rate reported for Q3 2007.
Traffic from botnets was responsible for 27.6 percent of all click fraud traffic in Q3 2008. That’s up from 25.2 percent for Q2 2008.
In Q3 2008, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside North America came from Russia (4.9 percent), France (4.8 percent) and the U.K. (3.5 percent).
“For the past two quarters the industry average click fraud rates seem to be hovering around the 16 percent level,” said Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics. “Gains are being made by advertisers taking more action to proactively filter out fraud before it affects online campaigns. However, the growth in click fraud traffic from botnets continues to rise and it should be one of the top areas advertisers and the industry should monitor closely.”

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), the industry’s first independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising campaigns for pay-per-click fraud. Click fraud data is tracked and published on a quarterly basis for specific search providers, industries and trends. The service is unique in that it monitors online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from search provider campaigns and the advertisers’ own web sites – providing the industry’s most accurate view of click fraud to date.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the industry leader in scoring, auditing and improving traffic quality for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides traffic quality management solutions for online advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. The company also publishes the Click Fraud Index™, the top independent source of industry click fraud data. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Click Forensics, Click Fraud Index and Click Fraud Network are trademarks of Click Forensics, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

You’ll be then disappointed to find out that, once again, AdSense in DFP will be available soon, but just not yet. “Please be on the lookout for an e-mail announcing the availability of AdSense in DFP soon”, is what the official release letter says. “We have decided to delay the release to further enhance both the trafficking and yield management aspects of the integration. These additional enhancements will ensure that all of our customers can get the most out of this new feature from the start.” – in layman language, this translates to “it’s still too bugged to be released, we’ll do it when we think we can get away with it”.

Enough, with the bickering though, let’s see what the new DFP release is bringing to the table:

Efficiency & Visibility

- Local Time Zone Trafficking. New UI enhancements allow for trafficking any ad in any time zone. Also, values for CPD campaigns will be calculated and validated using the chosen time zone, instead of Eastern Time. Please contact support to have the feature enabled.
- Create and Manage Boomerang Lists. You can now create and manage Boomerang Lists via DFP without contacting DoubleClick Services. With this ability at your fingertips, you’ll be able to leverage retargeting to increase CPMs and more easily use those lists as a buyer within the Advertising Exchange. Please contact support to have the feature enabled.
- Cost Per Day for Sponsorship and Weight-Based Bulk. You can now use CPD pricing for weight-based ad types.
- Dashboard: Save preferences, column chooser, and export data. Save sort order, filter selection, rows per page automatically and export widget data to Excel or CSV for the DART Adapt, delivery, my orders, and watch list widgets.
- Dashboard: 3 new filters for Delivery widget. Ad slot size, ad type, and red light/green light status. (Feature available on November 1.)
- Decision Support (AF): Column chooser and save preferences. Select only the columns of data about the contending ads you wish to use. Selections are saved automatically for this and other user settings on the page, including number of contending ad rows and collapsing of sections.

Small Enhancements and Bug Fixes:

- Login to Boomerang List Editing from DFP, without reentering your credentials
- Flat Fee and CPD Ads: Change start and end dates for CPD and Flat Fee ads after they’ve been submitted, up until 30 minutes before they start
- CPD Ads: Change the end date after the ad has started running
- Filter zone by creation type (auto-created or manual)
- Decision Support (AF): Targeting criteria in ad properties pop-up
- Decision Support (AF): Sponsorship forecasts with Keyvalue or Keyword wildcards result in a warning
- Change Order total quantity on the fly
- Added Time-Based Bulk to the Pending Ads Report
- Advertiser Name limit increased from 64 to 128 characters
- New icon for creative status
- Show / don’t show salespeople in the sales dropdown
- Fix: Forecasted OSI properly calculated.
- Fix: Improved forecasting on geotargeted Roadblocks
- Fix: Google Toolbar now completely compatible with DFP5
- Fix: Correct priority displayed for Ad Exchange ads
- Fix: Target special German characters accurately in keywords and keyvalues
- Fix: Content Category filter in Inventor Manager report much faster, fewer timeout

“We had a good third quarter with strong traffic and revenue growth across all of our major geographies thanks to the underlying strength of our core search and ads business. The measurability and ROI of search-based advertising remain key assets for Google,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “While we are realistic about the poor state of the global economy, we will continue to manage Google for the long term, driving improvements to search and ads, while also investing in future growth areas such as enterprise, mobile, and display.”

Q3 Financial Summary

Google reported revenues of $5.54 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, an increase of 31% compared to the third quarter of 2007 and an increase of 3% compared to the second quarter of 2008. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs (TAC). In the third quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.50 billion, or 28% of advertising revenues.

Google reports operating income, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.

- GAAP operating income for the third quarter of 2008 was $1.74 billion, or 31% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.58 billion, or 29% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2008 was $2.02 billion, or 37% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.85 billion, or 34% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.
- GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2008 was $1.35 billion as compared to $1.25 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2008 was $1.56 billion, compared to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008.
- GAAP EPS for the third quarter of 2008 was $4.24 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $3.92 for the second quarter of 2008 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2008 was $4.92, compared to $4.63 in the second quarter of 2008.
- Non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP EPS are computed net of stock-based compensation (SBC). In the third quarter of 2008, the charge related to SBC was $280 million as compared to $273 million in the second quarter of 2008. Tax benefits related to SBC have also been excluded from non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS. The tax benefit related to SBC was $63 million in the third quarter of 2008 and $48 million in the second quarter of 2008. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP operating income, operating margin, net income, and EPS are included at the end of this release.

Q3 Financial Highlights

Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.54 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, representing a 31% increase over third quarter 2007 revenues of $4.23 billion and a 3% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $5.37 billion. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting TAC.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.67 billion, or 67% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2008. This represents a 34% increase over third quarter 2007 revenues of $2.73 billion and a 4% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $3.53 billion.

Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.68 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2008. This represents a 15% increase over network revenues of $1.45 billion generated in the third quarter of 2007 and a 1% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $1.66 billion.

International Revenues – Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.85 billion, representing 51% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2008, compared to 48% in the third quarter of 2007 and 52% in the second quarter of 2008. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2008 through the third quarter of 2008, our revenues in the third quarter of 2008 would have been $59 million higher. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2007 through the third quarter of 2008, our revenues in the third quarter of 2008 would have been $168 million lower.

In the third quarter, we recognized a benefit of $34 million to revenue through our foreign exchange risk management program.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $776 million, representing 14% of revenue in the third quarter of 2008, compared to 16% in the third quarter of 2007 and 14% in the second quarter of 2008.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 18% over the third quarter of 2007 and increased approximately 4% over the second quarter of 2008.

TAC – Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $1.50 billion in the third quarter of 2008. This compares to TAC of $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 28% in the third quarter, compared to 28% in the second quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC expense is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.33 billion in the third quarter of 2008. TAC is also related to amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $167 million in the third quarter of 2008.

Other Cost of Revenues – Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, amortization of intangible assets, content acquisition costs as well as credit card processing charges, increased to $678 million, or 12% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008, compared to $674 million, or 13% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.

Operating Expenses – Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.63 billion in the third quarter of 2008, or 29% of revenues, compared to $1.64 billion in the second quarter of 2008, or 31% of revenues. The operating expenses in the third quarter of 2008 included $859 million in payroll-related and facilities expenses, compared to $810 million in the second quarter of 2008.

Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) – In the third quarter of 2008, the total charge related to SBC was $280 million as compared to $273 million in the second quarter of 2008.

We currently estimate stock-based compensation charges for grants to employees prior to October 1, 2008 to be approximately $1.1 billion for 2008. This does not include expenses to be recognized related to employee stock awards that are granted after October 1, 2008 or non-employee stock awards that have been or may be granted.

Operating Income – GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2008 was $1.74 billion, or 31% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.58 billion, or 29% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2008 was $2.02 billion, or 37% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.85 billion, or 34% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2008.

Interest Income and Other, Net – Interest income and other was $21 million in the third quarter of 2008, compared with $58 million in the second quarter of 2008. The decrease was primarily related to an increase in expenses substantially due to more activity under our foreign exchange risk management program. The cost of the options used to manage our foreign exchange risk is amortized on a mark-to-market basis. As a result, the amount of amortization expense we recognize in any particular quarter is impacted by how much the option moves into or out of the money, as well as the underlying currency’s volatility.

Net Income – GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2008 was $1.35 billion as compared to $1.25 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2008, compared to $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008. GAAP EPS for the third quarter of 2008 was $4.24 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $3.92 for the second quarter of 2008, on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS for the third quarter of 2008 was $4.92, compared to $4.63 in the second quarter of 2008.

Income Taxes – Our effective tax rate was 24% for the third quarter of 2008.

Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures – Net cash provided by operating activities for the third quarter of 2008 totaled $2.18 billion as compared to $1.77 billion for the second quarter of 2008. In the third quarter of 2008, capital expenditures were $452 million, the majority of which was related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment. Free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. In the third quarter of 2008, free cash flow was $1.73 billion.

We expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.

A reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities, the GAAP measure of liquidity, is included at the end of this release.

Cash – As of September 30, 2008, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $14.4 billion.

On a worldwide basis, Google employed 20,123 full-time employees as of September 30, 2008, up from 19,604 full-time employees as of June 30, 2008.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

A live audio webcast of Google’s third quarter 2008 earnings release call will be available at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html. The call begins today at 1:30 PM (PT) / 4:30 PM (ET). This press release, the financial tables, as well as other supplemental information including the reconciliations of certain non-GAAP measures to their nearest comparable GAAP measures, are also available at that site. A replay of the call will be available beginning at 7:30 PM (ET) today through midnight Thursday, October 23, 2008 by calling 888-203-1112 in the United States or 719-457-0820 for calls from outside the United States. The required confirmation code for the replay is 6417802.

NEW YORK – KickApps (www.kickapps.com), the industry’s leading on-demand social media, video player and widget platform, today announced that it has made it extremely easy for web publishers to add video advertising into their editorial and user-generated videos using the KickApps Widget & Video Player Studio. With drag-and-drop ease, it is now possible to add translucent overlay, interstititial, pre- and post-roll video, and other new video advertising formats to all KickApps powered video players. As part of this new feature, KickApps supports out-of-the-box integration from Google AdSense for Video, Scanscout, Adap.tv, and 24/7 Real Media. Support for DoubleClick’s DART and others will follow shortly.

Online video has emerged as one of the most engaging applications on the web today and advertising budgets are following suit. Recent research conducted by Bain & Company in coordination with the Interactive Advertising Bureau finds that video advertising is garnering an average CPM of $43, with demand for video inventory outstripping supply.

KickApps customers that have bought out the advertising inventory from their KickApps powered social media and video websites will be able to access these new advertising features. Integrating video ads is a simple three-step process:

1) Create a custom video player using the KickApps Widgets and Video Player Studio

2) Select from a list of modules of ad networks or pre- and post-roll

3) Provide the ad network’s publisher ID number or the URL of a Flash video file

“As social media and online video become a greater part of every web publisher’s website, technical and business complexity should be replaced with efficiency and a easy path to revenue generation,” said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps. “We’ve applied this principle throughout the KickApps Platform, making it incredibly easy to create compelling social media and video experiences, and now making it easier than ever for web publishers to monetize video on their websites. With the enhancements we’ve made over the last few months to the Platform and the KickApps Widget & Video Player Studio, every web publisher and designer is just a few clicks away from being a social media rockstar.”

About KickApps

KickApps provides on-demand social media, online video and widget applications that enable web publishers and marketers to grow, engage and monetize online audiences. Its SaaS platform includes social networking, user-generated content, programmable video players, drag-and-drop widget building, WidgeADs™ and other applications that are tightly integrated with robust media moderation, member management and reporting. The KickApps Platform seamlessly integrates with any website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, feeds, Widgets and APIs (REST and SOAP). Customers include: SOAPnet, CW Television, Guinness World Records, Scripps Network Interactive, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites. For more information, visit www.kickapps.com and www.kickdeveloper.com.

BROOMFIELD, Colorado – TruEffect, a provider of next-generation advertising technology, today announced that its patent-pending DirectServe™ Technology has been certified across Google’s AdSense content network. DirectServe™ is currently the only solution certified by Google to deliver display advertisements from an advertiser’s own Web domain on Web sites participating in Google’s new content network. DirectServe enables advertisers to create a direct relationship with consumers visiting Web sites on the Google content network by targeting them with the right message at the right time, within the context of their relationship.

A June 2008 study from WPP’s GroupM shows digital media’s share of worldwide advertising expenditures is expected to hit 15 percent in 2009, almost double from four years ago. Digital media will remain the main source of growth as ad spending in traditional media declines. As this shift continues, marketers will seek more effective ways to target new and known customers.

“Google’s certification of DirectServe is further testament to the adoption of TruEffect’s model, which enables marketers to spend their ad dollars more efficiently and helps increase ROI,” said Ron Hill, president and CEO, TruEffect. “With DirectServe, TruEffect puts advertisers in control of their own interactive campaign data. Simultaneously, we’re ensuring consumers that information is being shared solely with brands they know and trust.”

DirectServe’s approach to effective message targeting allows advertisers to distinguish between consumers with whom they have a relationship from consumers who are new to them. By seamlessly integrating with their existing data model, advertisers are able to address consumers directly and develop a dialog based on the nature of their relationship. More information about DirectServe is available at http://www.trueffect.com/products/DirectServe.aspx.

ABOUT TRUEFFECT

TruEffect, a provider of next-generation advertising technology, offers the first advertising solution enabling interactive marketers to have exclusive control of their online campaign data, helping them to create a direct relationship with customers and seamlessly incorporate customer data into the overall marketing ecosystem. Headquartered in Broomfield, CO, TruEffect is based on patent-pending technology designed for advertisers investing more in interactive marketing and looking to manage Internet ad campaigns more efficiently and with greater control. Its SafeServe, TruAdvertiserXLS and DirectServe products are used by leading Internet marketers. TruEffect is a Microsoft Certified Partner. For more information visit www.TruEffect.com.

Still, Google Chrome in itself is not what I wanted to bring your attention to: it’s the window (pun intended!) of opportunity it opens for Google in regard to gathering even more data on users and their behavior. In today’s ever tightening world of online advertising, with rapidly dropping CPM levels and advertisers pressuring for accurate targeting, the ones able to fine-tune ad targeting will be the winners. Google has already enough information coming from all those using Google accounts and applications such as the toolbar – with Chrome, they have just taken a bigger bite from the pie and one step forward in user targeting.

The Google Chrome privacy policy states that it will log the IP addresses of whoever downloads the browser and all URLs or other queries typed into Chrome’s address bar will be sent to Google, which will use that information to make suggestions to users.

The browser will also retrieve and process information received from its users but doesn’t specify if it will retain the data or for how long: “Information that Google receives when you use Google Chrome is processed in order to operate and improve Google Chrome and other Google services,” the policy states. Since Google AdWords, AdSense, Ad Manager and DoubleClick are all providing “Google services” now, it’s really not difficult to see how this browser may greatly leverage Google’s advertising capabilities. Fair or not? Let’s sit back and see reactions from the market – I’m sure it won’t take long before we hear back!

For your reading pleasure, see below the full press release for Chrome’s launch.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (September 2, 2008) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today launched Google ChromeTM, a new open source browser intended to create a better web experience for users around the world. Available in beta in more than 40 languages, Google Chrome is a new approach to the browser that’s based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products.

In the early days of the Internet, web pages were frequently little more than text. But today the web has evolved into a powerful platform that enables users to collaborate with friends and coAd Operations Online › Create New Post — WordPresslleagues through email and other web applications, edit documents, watch videos, listen to music, manage finances and much more. Google Chrome was built for today’s web and for the applications of tomorrow.

“We think of the browser as the window to the web – it’s a tool for users to interact with the web sites and applications they care about, and it’s important that we don’t get in the way of that experience,” said Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management, Google Inc. “Just like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome has a simple user interface with a sophisticated core to enable the modern web.”

Making the web experience better for users
Google Chrome was designed to make it easy for users to search and navigate the web for the content they’re looking for.

* A combined search and address bar quickly takes users where they want to go, often in just a few keystrokes.
* When users open a new tab in Google Chrome, they’ll see a page that includes snapshots of their most-visited sites, recent searches and bookmarks, making it even easier to navigate the web.

Google Chrome was engineered to deliver a seamless web experience for users. At its core is a multi-process platform that helps provide users with enhanced stability and security.

* Each browser tab operates as a separate process; by isolating tabs, should one tab crash or misbehave, others remain stable and responsive, and users can continue working without having to restart Google Chrome.
* Google also built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which not only speeds up today’s web applications, but enables a whole new class of web applications that couldn’t exist on today’s browsers.

Contributing to the innovation of browsers through openness
“While we see this as a fundamental shift in the way people think about browsers, we realize that we couldn’t have created Google Chrome on our own,” said Linus Upson, Director of Engineering, Google Inc. “Google Chrome was built upon other open source projects that are making significant contributions to browser technology and have helped to spur competition and innovation.”

To further advance the openness of the web, Google Chrome is being released as an open source project under the name Chromium. The intent is that Google will help make future browsers better by contributing the underlying technology in Google Chrome to the market, while continuing to develop additional features.

How to get Google Chrome
Google Chrome can be downloaded at www.google.com/chrome. It is being released in beta for Windows in over 100 countries in the following languages: Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Turkish, English (US), English (UK), Arabic, Czech, Danish, Hebrew, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Indonesian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Filipino, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Estonian.

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux users will be available in the coming months. For more information on the open source project, Chromium, visit www.chromium.org.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For screen shots or b-roll, visit www.google.com/chrome/press.

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

While this is good news for all small and mid-sized publishers who cannot afford the ad serving fees of DoubleClick DFP or another professional ad serving solution, the AdSense team does not address two very important aspects in their announcement: all publishers can now have their Google ads open in a new window and can have Google ads displaying in more than 3 ad units.

- opening ads in a new window
This feature is one of the most requested one by publishers of all sizes, but it was always denied to the small and mid-sized publishers, the very audience of Ad Manager, for ads opening in a new window may not be a good user experience. However, on a case-by-case basis, the feature was seen available on large AdSense partners.

Google Ad Manager does have this feature available though – and it now becomes available to all AdSense publishers, making the AdSense rules obsolete in this regard. Why was it then so fiercely prohibited in the first place? Has it suddenly become a good user experience?

- displaying more than 3 Google ad units per page
Again, this was a rule enforced in the Google AdSense program: no more than 3 ad units per page, please. If a publisher still displayed more than 3, the system would automatically not show ads after the 3rd unit.

However, Google Ad Manager works differently and there is no impediment for a publisher to display way more than 3 ad slots – and have them all filled by AdSense. Google ads will be showing in all slots and it’s solely down to the publisher’s honesty not to allow that to happen. I clearly remember a discussion in the Google Ad Manager group, when somebody asked how would the ’3 ad units per page’ rule be enforced and the official Google answer was that it will not be enforced but publishers using Ad Manager are kindly asked not to take advantage of the opportunity.

I’ve asked these questions on the Inside AdSense blog – no reply so far.

As far as finding out details on how Ad Manager works, I absolutely recommend checking out http://www.johnon.com/605/working-4-google.html – brilliant explanation!

Therefore, whenever you visit a site carrying AdSense ad slots, your browser will likely be served yet one more cookie, taking it to new heights of glycaemia. This is, of course, for your own benefit {insert irony here}… to see more relevant, more targeted ads.

In Google’s own words:

“How does Google use DoubleClick cookies to serve ads?

Google uses the DoubleClick DART cookie on our Google content network to serve more relevant ads across the web and limit the number of times you view an ad. When you visit a website and view an ad or click on an ad supported by Google’s advertising services, we may set a cookie on your browser. This advertising cookie will appear in your browser as .doubleclick.net.

When the cookie is set on your browser, it allows Google to gather information about your browser’s interaction with a given ad. This information gets recorded in a log that looks something like this:

time: 06/Aug/2008 12:01:32
ad_placement_id: 105
ad_id: 1003
userid: 0000000000000001
client_ip: 123.45.67.89
referral_url: “http://youtube.com/categories”

The “time” field reflects the time the ad was displayed. The “ad placement id” and “ad id” identify the advertising campaign and the specific ad served. The “userid” is the display ad cookie that identifies the browser. The “client IP” reflects the user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. A “referral URL” indicates the URL of the page where the ad was served. Our logs also record whether a user’s browser clicks on or interacts with an ad.”

What is unclear yet, and I’m going to test it soon, is what happens when the AdSense JavaScript code is not directly displayed in one’s browser and is executed through an ad server instead. Will be back with the test results soon!

P.S. Haven’t I told you that the AdSense – DoubleClick integration is about to happen any minute?

Here is the list of all that’s new in today’s release:

- Creative preview on your site: you can now preview a creative on your site to test the creative before the campaign starts.
- New look and feel: the style and overall appearance of the product has changed. I find the new look to be much neater, with less unused space, more ‘put together’ and polished.
- Additional languages: Ad Manager is now available in three new languages: French, Italian, and Ukrainian.
- Unlimited flight dates: originally you could only set unlimited flight dates for ad network orders. Now you can set unlimited flight dates on any Exclusive, Remnant, or House order that has an unlimited impression goal.

The document, a .doc file, is available from the NY Times site. See below a screenshot of the search results featuring the document:

The document seems to have been written by a certain ‘gregsi’ and the company associated with it is… Microsoft, according to the .doc file properties.

These are the suggested remedies “that address harm to competition that will result should the merger be allowed to close”.

1. Divest DART for Publisher (DFP) businesses to an independent and viable purchaser
2. Open access for competing ad networks
3. Open Access to AdSense/AdWords for competing tool vendors
4. Elimination of restrictive API practices and “fair” access to AdWords
5. Prohibit exclusive dealings, the “tying” of AdSense and DFP/DFA, and the tying of any Google products as a condition to obtaining its dominant AdWords package for advertisers
6. Erect firewalls and other safeguards so that the Google commercial organization cannot see or use competitively sensitive flowing through DoubleClick’s ad-serving tools.

These are, as expected, in line with remedies required by other organizations (such as the EPIC letter to the FTC), only much clearer in explaining the facts.

We all know what came of the merger and, as you can see from a previous post of mine, Google is now stronger than ever in terms of access to quality placements.

Still, what’s this document doing on the NY Times server? Could I just point out the irony in it, as NY Times is a premium Google AdSense publisher?

We’ll be having a press conference at our Dublin offices later today (noon GMT) that may or may not be followed by a party – keep your ears open if you’re around, cause we do know how to party!

If you’re an artist or a music fan, here’s what MUZU.TV has for you: an extensive library of music related video content, as MUZU has signed a deal with major record label Sony BMG and also over 200 international labels which include Defected Records, Cherry Red Records, and Eagle Rock to name a few. MUZU TV protects the rights of music on the site and generates income by a shared advertising revenue with the music content owners including unsigned artists.

MUZU TV Features:

FAN TV – With a profile on MUZU.TV, a fan has the ability to upload videos onto the artists page. These videos can be from live performances, TV footage, or personal footage with the band or of songs from the band / artist.

CHANNELS – You can create channels in your personal profile of your favorite songs and videos and add them to your player. You can create as many channels as you want to be featured on your profile.

EMBED PLAYER – The player that is featured on each profile can be embedded into an artist or a fans personal website by using the embedding code from the player. Any changes that a person makes to the player within their MUZU.TV player – those changes will update on the player where it has been embedded.

I know, you’re on a blog about online advertising, so chances are you’d want to know how MUZU.TV is monetized: we’re mostly relying on direct sales and employing Google AdSense to cover the remnant inventory. In parallel, we’re working at the moment on a number of deals with video and rich media ad networks in order to make the most of our rapidly expanding video inventory.

The ad serving platform we’re using is DoubleClick DFP, and we’re also employing Fivia’s excellent AdFront solution for smooth integration of the ad operations with Sales and Finance.

Advertising opportunities on MUZU.TV

- TV Player and Channel: to showcase brand-owned music video content and a selection of artist’s content from within the MUZU TV site
- Embed your Music TV player into brand’s site with a selection of content from MUZU TV and brand’s own content
- Interactive Video Product Placement: Interactively authored objects within video, with clickable product that pauses content, and allows the user to get info & / or purchase. Agreement with Artist / label required
- In Stream Video ad formats: Interstitial sting, Rich media Ticker, Expandable Ticker, post roll video / clickable sting
- Standard Rich Media formats: Button, MPU, Skyscraper, Leaderboard, Supersizes, Expandable, Overlay, Roadblock, Advanced video, Transitional
- Integrated Co-branded competitions for User / Artist Generated Content: incentives to specific users to contribute to a brand’s Channel
- Branded Live Streams: from branded events or the MUZU TV studio
- Sponsored Content: (On a select basis)
- Campaign targeting to specific User’s demographics, Genres, Artists, Festivals, Venues and more…

If you are a member of the press and would like to get in touch with us, please email Debra Johnson at Taylor Herring PR: debra.johnson@taylorherring.com

If you would like to discuss about advertising opportunities, please contact advertising@muzu.tv or call us at + 353 1 487 7740.

For any other enquiries, shoot us an email at info@muzu.tv and one of us will get back to you right away!

P.S. I’ve just noticed this is my 100th blog post! One more reason to celebrate today

Here’s a screenshot of the feature:

I have asked DoubleClick support for details on the subject (is it available in closed beta, and if so how would one work it since I haven’t found any way to add an AdSense publisher ID or code?). The answer came back very quick and… the feature should not be visible in the user interface yet

Guess the wheels started moving and we can soon have AdSense as an option for the remnant inventory: nice move from Google who will then have access to premium ad slots and expand their content network to major publishers and placements.

A Mashable poll asked which social networks had the best ads: Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, hi5, Friendster, LinkedIn, ‘other’ and ‘they’re all equally horrible’ were the answer choices. I can almost hear you giggling at this point, so I assume there won’t be much of a surprise to confirm that yes, indeed, ‘they’re all equally horrible’ is the winner, proudly followed by Facebook!

At quite some distance from the horror and Facebook came Friendster, then MySpace and LinkedIn.

Surely, this was ‘just a poll’ and not a very scientific one: advertising is probably perceived as evil and a price to pay for accessing certain content and services online, so the ‘horrible’ answer may have been used just because it was offered.

Still, if we look at the honorable runner-up, Facebook, it’s obvious why users have chosen it as the least offensive. For now, Facebook ads are quite discreet (the little boxes with mostly text ads that you never click on…) and users seem to be punishing the flashy, tacky, in-your-face ads you’re most likely to meet on MySpace or hi5. Schroeder explains Facebook’s approach by implying that the ‘visually unobtrusive’ ad box is more eye-catchy than the Google ads present on MySpace. Here’s when Facebook lost me, though. Facebook is by now ‘renowned’ to ad agencies to have one of the lowest CTR and conversion rate in the history of the internet – why would Mr. Schroeder willingly compare Facebook’s ad performance (or lack thereof) with Google AdSense’s on social networks?

The tool is supposed to address the challenges in scaling a campaign’s reach while still keeping it relevant for the target audience. To quote the original announcement: To work with the Google Ad Planner, “simply enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and the tool will return information about sites (including the ones in the Google content network and monetized through the AdSense program) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you’ve added to your media plan.”

What’s most interesting is that this launch seems to be well-timed to the launch of Google Trends for Websites last week, even though they claim the AdPlanner is build around the needs of media planners.

The Google Ad Planner can create media plans that can be exported to a .csv file and the original blog post is clearly mentioning integration with DoubleClick’s MediaVisor – it seems Google and DoubleClick are slowly proceeding towards integration of their platforms, even if taking only tiny steps.

The network claims to be able to help you improve your site’s monetization significantly over what you’re usually getting from other ad networks. The Google AdSense program is repeatedly mentioned as a known low-paying alternative, and ADSDAQ markets themselves as the little guy’s better alternative.

Fine. I start the registration sign-up and after a few screens, I’m prompted with the following mindblowing graphic, showing the business plan of these people is based on the assumption that your puny little site is only making $0.50 CPM.

At this point, I wonder if there’s any point continuing the registration process. Without going into any details on what eCPM I make from my sites through AdSense, I guess you will agree that $0.50 is a joke. Any half-decent site can do much, much better than this. In fact, such low CPMs can only be expected from sites that are smart priced or extremely poorly optimized in terms of ad placements, something that ADSDAQ shouldn’t automatically assume about all sites that are signing up.

Still, I continue the registration, thinking that I’ll decide later what CPM to ask for. At the very last stage of the registration, in the tags generation section, here’s what pops up: ‘Put Ad Tags on pages that receive traffic from the United States. Non-US impressions will be sent to your Backup Tags until they are supported in the future.‘ This was the point where I abandoned the screen and will never go back. To be told only after having completed the registration and after having entered contact and site details into their system that I’ll be doing a bit more than $0.50 CPM for US traffic – that was the biggest joke of all.

To conclude, I should have known better. I should have known that no ad networks tailored to smaller publishers are seriously thinking and able to monetize anything else but porn, warez, link farming sites and the likes. For the small publisher with quality sites there’s pretty much no other choice than staying with Google AdSense until the traffic builds up to be able to sell directly or join larger, reputable networks.

I got to think more about this deal and it surely makes sense now… Microsoft wanted Yahoo, but only if it came as a bargain. It didn’t. They were in discussions with YuMe all this time and it seems that what they were really after was a large chunk of the video advertising pie. They got it not only through the YuMe deal that’s supposed to monetize their video inventory, but also through the acquisition of Navic, for TV ads. Google is way behind in the video ads game and finding ways to monetize video content – Microsoft just took a good leap with its recent moves.

I guess we’ll soon witness Google speeding up on their video advertising efforts, opening their currently closed programs (Google In-video, for example, consisting of text overlays) and be more aggressive in their approach to monetize TV (AdWords for TV, where they even reimburse advertisers some of the costs to produce TV creatives but the program is still far from being a success).

Here’s a quick list of supported ad servers and partners:

North America: Ad servers

- Atlas (www.atlassolutions.com)
- DoubleClick (www.doubleclick.com)
- Eyeblaster (www.eyeblaster.com)
- Mediaplex (www.mediaplex.com)
- Tumri (www.tumri.com)

North America: Rich media

- DoubleClick (www.doubleclick.com)
- Eyeblaster (www.eyeblaster.com)
- EyeWonder (www.eyewonder.com)
- Interpolls (www.interpolls.com)
- Pointroll (www.pointroll.com)
- Unicast (www.unicast.com)

North America: Research

- Dynamic Logic/Safecount (www.safecount.net)
- Factor TG (www.factortg.com)
- IAG (www.iagr.com)
- InsightExpress (www.insightexpress.com)

Interesting choice of ad servers, with Tumri in but many major ones missing – it is unclear yet if it is because deals with other major ad serving companies aren’t in place yet but they’re being worked on, or it’s simply a business decision from Google not to work with them at all.

The lack of integration between DoubleClick and Google, which I briefly touched in a previous post, makes trafficking Google ads a little difficult but not impossible. As you probably know already, Google ads are served through an iframe with a JavaScript code. In order to traffick such ads, you will need to think of them as rich media ads and proceed accordingly:

- create a new order (for your in-house advertiser, for example);

- create, one by one, ads for each format and/or AdSense channel you will be using;

- set delivery to ‘time-based bulk’ and priority to ‘default’, which would be the appropriate one in most cases of remnant inventory;

- assign a rich media creative, where you have copied the JavaScript ad code generated from the AdSense account, not forgetting to remove the <!– and the //–> bits (these will prevent correct execution if left in the code).

Of course, you would first need to think of the structure and different channels you would like to use in order to distinguish between different content categories and ad slots, and create them in the AdSense account. After you generate the ad code and adapt it to be trafficked in DFP, it should look like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
google_ad_client = "pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
/* Ad Slot 120x600 */
google_ad_slot = "xxxxxxxxxx";
google_ad_width = 120;
google_ad_height = 600;
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>

In case you are using the ‘allowed sites’ feature in your AdSense account (you should, really), do not forget to ad dfp.doubleclick.com in the list.

If your experience differ or have any suggestions to share, please leave a comment – discussions are always welcome.

(…)
Google content network now accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors. During this initial release, only ads in English are eligible, although we look forward to offering more options in the future.

By accepting third-party ads, we can attract a greater variety of advertising on the Google content network, which we believe will result over time in increased revenue for publishers and more relevant advertising for end users.

If you’re currently opted in to image ads, you’re already able to receive third-party ads. If not, you can enable image ads to start receiving third-party ads immediately.

If you choose to allow third-party ads on your site, please update your privacy policy to inform your visitors that third-party vendors may serve ads on your site. Please also provide links to these vendor websites and inform your users that they may opt out of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability).

You’ll continue to have full control over which ads appear on your site with tools like competitive ad filtering and the Ad Review Center. Also, only advertisers with whom we have proven relationships and who’ve clearly demonstrated commitments to our quality standards may participate in this program. Our policies governing ad content and formatting remain unchanged.
(…)

“Google’s move to open up its network to PointRoll is a win for everyone involved,” said Jason Tafler, CEO, PointRoll. “PointRoll advertisers now have the option to run creative, engaging and effective rich media campaigns on the world’s largest ad network. Using PointRoll’s precise targeting technology and measurement capabilities, advertisers are able to reach their desired audience with the most relevant and salient messages, and definitively analyze campaign effectiveness. Additionally, this signals Google’s commitment to creating a truly agnostic environment that, in the end, creates the best experience for users and advertisers.”

The Google content network encompasses hundreds of thousands of websites, including premium publishers and long-tail niche sites. Google and PointRoll worked together to ensure that the ads served to the Google content network meet Google’s policies and specifications. After completing Google’s certification process, PointRoll’s sophisticated targeting technologies can now optimize the breadth of Google’s sites and categories, matching advertisers’ messages to the users who find them most relevant.

“We are thrilled that Google has decided to open up the network to PointRoll rich media,” said Darren Herman, Head of Digital Media at The Media Kitchen. “PointRoll’s ability to develop and implement new and innovative technology has allowed us to consistently deliver engaging campaigns to our clients. Measurement and analytics are consistently evolving and interaction and engagement are hot topics that we’re addressing at The Media Kitchen. PointRoll has allowed us to go beyond the click [CTR], and now we can continue to drive our clients’ messages to the Web’s largest audience.”

The Google content network joins the more than 3,000 online publishers-including elite sites such as AOL, MSN, Yahoo! and The New York Times-that leverage PointRoll rich media to provide powerful, engaging brand experiences to users. PointRoll’s unparalleled service ensures that its ads seamlessly integrate on the many sites with which the company works.

Companies such as Ford, Sears, Cadbury-Schweppes, Toyota, CVS and McDonald’s turn to PointRoll not only because it proactively offers best-in-class solutions that enable more engaging, effective online advertising, but also because it consistently outmatches the competition with its full-service approach and ability to solve complex problems.

About PointRoll

PointRoll, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), offers a solution to the limited performance of standard banner ads by effectively bringing a mini web site to the user without requiring a click. PointRoll’s superior rich media technology and service enable advertisers to connect with consumers by creating an interactive online environment that generates conversion. With interactive features such as streaming video, polling, instant e-mail, data collection and more, marketers can easily create and deliver ads that build brand awareness and drive sales. The result: great creative controlled by the user and improves ad effectiveness-without the negative experience associated with intrusive technologies. Additionally, PointRoll delivers comprehensive, real-time reporting that definitively illustrates return on investment. For more information, please visit www.pointroll.com.

ATLANTA – May 19, 2008 – EyeWonder, Inc., a leading innovator in Interactive Digital Advertising technologies and services, today announced it is one of the rich media providers now officially approved to run ads on the Google content network. This certification enables advertisers to work with EyeWonder to serve and track their display ad campaigns across the Google content network. EyeWonder’s participation gives advertisers access to more creative format options, flexibility and control over their campaigns with all the benefits of third-party ad serving.

“EyeWonder’s addition will enable more advertiser and agency clients to immediately benefit from easy access to the richest media and video ad solutions – ones that have been consistently proven to deliver stronger branding results for online display campaigns,” said Michael Rosner, Senior Vice-President, Global Sales at EyeWonder. “We are proud to work with the Google content network, and we look forward to bringing the most compelling and interactive ad options to the world’s largest online ad network.”

EyeWonder is one of the world’s top providers of rich media and digital video advertising products and services. According to Nielsen Online, AdRelevance, a global leader in Internet media and marketing research, EyeWonder tripled its campaign impression volume from 2006 to 2007, and also more than doubled its rich media market share. A recent MarketNorms® analysis concluded that in-page rich media and video ad campaigns powered by EyeWonder showed significant advantages in delivering increases in core brand metrics compared to those of other rich media ad providers. EyeWonder and Google worked together to ensure that ads served into the content network meet Google’s policies and specifications. Having completed the certification process, EyeWonder’s addition to the content network combines the impact and effectiveness of today’s richest and most interactive ads with the reach of the world’s largest advertising network. Now, advertisers can reach these audiences with compelling campaigns that feature the emotional impact of EyeWonder video, the latest creative and interactive features and more, all within the ad unit itself.

For more information on EyeWonder, please contact Michael Rosner at mrosner@eyewonder.com.

About EyeWonder, Inc.
EyeWonder is a pioneer and innovator in Interactive Digital Advertising, providing clients with the technology, experience and industry expertise to advance their brand. The company’s products and services are used by the world’s top agencies and brands to universally deploy campaigns across existing and emerging platforms. For more information, please visit www.eyewonder.com.

(…) DoubleClick Mobile is now integrated with third-party mobile ad networks including Google’s AdSense for mobile content and many others. Now, publishers can use DoubleClick Mobile to manage mobile display inventory that’s been sold directly and indirectly, through automated access to one or more networks of mobile advertisers. (…)

The email continued with an invitation to join a webinar later today, titled “Mobile Monetisation: Increasing Revenues with Direct and Indirect Streams”.

I will not be able to join the webinar but the conclusions are pretty, pretty, pretty clear: Google AdSense has started to feed on the huge DoubleClick ad space cake, getting into whatever ad space it can.

I’ll follow-up with some thoughts on mobile advertising and small screen advertising soon