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My 2 featured articles for the week ending July 28, 2006:

Archived blogs for the week of Jul. 31, 2006

1208 - Aug. 3, 2006 - 7.24 AM EST

Google inks deal with XM Satellite Radio

Google has inked a deal with XM Satellite Radio to introduce commercial advertising inventory on XM’s non-music channels, using Google’s advertising base through its dMarc Media Network.

Now, Google advertisers will be able to use a simple, automated platform to reach XM’s millions of subscribers nationwide and XM Radio will have access to Google’s advertisers in offering relevant, targeted messages to their subscribers.

After many months of trials, the new platform is now in full production enabling Google advertisers distribution through XM Satellite Radio.

“XM Radio is excited about the opportunity in leveraging Google’s large advertising base to open up a new revenue stream, while at the same time provide marketers with a new way to reach consumers in an environment of compelling content and limited commercial loads,” said D. Scott Karnedy, senior v.p., sales and marketing at XM Satellite Radio.

Google's dMarc Platform connects advertisers directly to radio stations through Google's automated AdWords system. The platform simplifies the sales process, scheduling, reporting and delivery of radio advertising. This enables advertisers to more efficiently acquire and track their ad campaigns.

Posted on Businessblog™

1207 - Aug. 2, 2006 - 2.03 PM EST

Search engines working with media companies

Overall, Google, Yahoo and MSN, along with about ten other Internet companies have been agreeing to certain deals that compensate them for their content and help drive additional traffic to their Web portals.

Deals in which media organizations such as the Associated Press (AP) will be compensated on a pay-per-click basis, could cause an important shift in the relationship between old media and new Web content providers.

"The companies who own the content did a lot of work to generate that content," Google's Eric Schmidt recently said in an interview. "We want them to get the majority of the revenue from advertising."

At the beginning of 2006, Google inked a deal with AP, one of more than fifty such agreements Associated Press' CEO Tom Curley has obtained from Internet players, after taking the helm of the world's largest news organization three years ago.

"The Associated Press and others in the industry did not appreciate the value of the content and understand the economics of the marketplace as we do today," Curley said in an interview. "There's been an evolution in our thinking."

Tom Curley, a former president of USA Today, has made protecting AP's intellectual property one of his top priorities, creating a committee that focused on "proper use" of AP's content by search engines.

Major Internet portals such as Google, AOL and Yahoo have been paying for content since their creation in the mid-90s. "What's different is the level," Curley said. "The compensation has been increased significantly."

While many of the details of AP's deals are secret, they encompass everything from access fees to tailored news products to shared revenues from the advertising displayed alongside AP stories.

The new compensation arrangements appear to represent a significant shift for Google, which is fighting a federal lawsuit by Agence France-Presse over alleged copyright violations. The Paris-based news agency sued Google for including AFP's photographs, headlines and story ledes in search results without permission.

Joshua Kaufman, an attorney for AFP, said the agency was paid by companies like Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft's MSN unit, but not by Google. ``That was the crux of the problem,'' he said. ``All AFP wanted was to negotiate a straight-up license with them.''

Google has denied violating AFP's copyrights. Not every content provider who is demanding payment is receiving it.

``It has always been fairly clear to me that outside of certain content areas and certain audiences, it is going to be difficult to charge for what many news organizations produce in terms of news,'' said Neil Budde, general manager for Yahoo news.

Posted on Businessblog™

1206 - Aug. 1, 2006 - 2.32 PM EST

AOL offers video search

Yesterday, AOL said it will introduce video search when it begins selling TV programs like "South Park," "Flip this House" and "Babylon 5." The new feature is to be available later this week.

The new service will be called AOL Video and it will allow users to search for videos across the Internet, upload their own, buy or watch for free thousands of TV shows from any of the 45 video-on-demand channels on just about any device.

The video search website will feature shows licensed from Viacom's MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, A&E Television Networks and some content from Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Resembling Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store, AOL's TV shows will sell for about $1.99 each. Episodes from Procter & Gamble Production's "Another World" and "The Edge of Night" are being made available as free ad-supported clips.

According to Fred McIntyre, v.p. of AOL's VideoLater, towards the end of this year, AOL plans to launch a rental and download-to-own movie service. "Our focus is creating one Web destination where users can find lots of video content available on the Web," he said. "This is why we've made some interesting moves in the market."

Technology from Truveo, the video search engine AOL purchased in December, and Singingfish, acquired in 2003, will power the site. Clips not hosted on the site will appear through AOL's video search tool. Those could include user-contributed videos from sites Google Inc., YouTube Inc. or MySpace Inc.

Jupiter Research senior analyst Joseph Laszlo says AOL is seeking a long-term strategy in video and search. "AOL will remain the most important dial-up ASP, though they are losing millions in a shrinking business," he said. "I think we'll start to see more services in video, music and instant messaging."

Posted on Businessblog™

1205 - July 31, 2006 - 5.12 PM EST

Judge OK's Google click-fraud settlement

A state judge in Arkansas gave his final approval to a click fraud settlement that Google has reached in a closely watched class-action lawsuit.

According to the settlement, and under terms of its conditions, Google will provide up to $60 million in credit to affected advertisers dating back to four years ago.

Reportedly, another $30 million from Google's settlement will go to pay attorneys' fees.

The lawsuit was among the most highly profiled of the litigation wave against Google and other top search engines, underlying the growing problem of click fraud.

Broadly defined, click fraud takes advantage of how Google and other search engines offer advertisements on specific Web sites.

Each engine charges advertisers a fee, ranging from pennies to a few dollars, every time one of their ads gets a click. Click fraud occurs when an Internet advertisement is clicked on in bad faith, either by someone looking for financial gain, or to force the company placing the ad to pay additional fees.

The scope of the problem is subject to much debate. Some advertisers think click fraud is extensive, saying that as much as 30 percent or more of all clicks are invalid and forcing advertisers to pay Google and others more than $1.3 billion extra each year.

But search engines and other entities distributing Internet ads say the effect is vastly exxagerated. According to them, the percentage of fraudulent clicks is only in the low single digits.

By approving the settlement Thursday, Miller County Judge Joe Griffin effectively ends Google's participation in the class-action lawsuit, which was filed by two Arkansas businesses and Internet advertisers Lane's Gifts and Collectibles and Caulfield Investigations in February of last year.

However, it won't necessarily end the case, which has ballooned in scope into a class action and represents tens of thousands of Google advertisers. The settlement's being contested in another lawsuit filed in California that's still pending.

Posted on Businessblog™

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