TechCrunch is without a doubt one of my top sources to keep up with the latest in the greater technology world. It is highly web and software focused so it’s a great way to understand the latest technology landscape and project where traffic is going. They do a good job of covering the up and coming traffic sources as well as keep us informed of changes with the big boys like Facebook.
Today I’ve picked out my favorite articles in the last 4 months related to performance marketing, so if you don’t follow TechCrunch you’ll be able to digest the most pertinent articles for the last few months in just a few minutes. We make it so easy for you, right? Hope this gets you guys thinking about what’s coming next and maybe some new ideas.
| Date | Topic | Headline | Synopsis |
| 6/22 | Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories Are Now Running On Zynga.com, Previewing A FB Ad Network | Facebook is launching an AdSense-esque exchange that will use user data and cookies to power an offsite ad network. In its debut, it has launched both ads and Sponsored Stories on Zynga. | |
| 6/20 | Social Media’s Impact On Mobile Commerce: Visits Are Up, Conversions Are Down | Social media drives less than 1% of mobile website traffic, dominated by Facebook. Facebook conversion rates are declining, but average spending per user has gone up. | |
| 6/19 | Local | LocalResponse: Our Ad Network Has 7 Billion Impressions Per Month And Is Almost Profitable | An ad network that serves more than 7 billion impressions per month targets ads based on social network and location data. Its inventory isn’t being filled 100% or even close to it. If you get approved as an advertiser, you gain self-serve access to their direct response and retargeting platforms. |
| 6/19 | They Work! Facebook Mobile Ads Are Clicked 13X More, Earn 11X More Money Than Its Desktop Ads | Data from hundreds of millions of impressions on mobile Sponsored Stories put average CTR’s at an enormous 1.14% and $0.86 CPC. Desktop Sponsored Stories average to 0.59% CTR and $0.63 CPC. | |
| 6/15 | Search | Hitwise: Google US Search Share Down 5% In The Last Year; Bing, Yahoo Gained | Don’t count Bing out at almost 30% market share. They’ve made some really great strides in the last year with their search product. They’ve incorporated social into search and have an alliance with Facebook. Plus, they are a lot more affiliate friendly than Adwords. |
| 6/13 | Skype | Skype For Windows Now Features “Conversation Ads” | Not only will there be in-client ads in the home screen, Skype has rolled out “conversation ads”, which are display ads for free Skype users that show up during a call. To run advertising here, you will need to contact Microsoft’s Skype sales. |
| 6/2 | Mobile | Monetizing Mobile Requires More Than Just Waiting For Ad Dollars | This is a great article that explains why the money in mobile isn’t matching up to the hype it’s getting at its current infant stage. The main problem comes back to relevance and targeting. Mobile lacks cookies and GPS technology isn’t there in most phones. |
| 5/31 | Retargeting | Business-Focused Ad Startup Bizo Launches Self-Serve Retargeting | Market to a business audience using Bizo’s self-serve platform. The traffic is the type who would sign up on LinkedIn. Bizo is trusted by major brands like AMEX, AT&&T, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com. |
| 5/30 | Mobile | Mary Meeker: “Mobile Monetization Has More Going For It Than Early Desktop Monetization Had” | Global mobile Internet traffic is growing rapidly right now and has now reached about 10% of all Internet traffic, but only 1% of all ad spend is mobile. Mobile ad spend is going to skyrocket once technology improves in the next couple of years. |
| 5/10 | Retargeting | Kleiner Perkins And Sequoia Fund $6.5M Round For Cross-Device Ad Targeter Drawbridge | Started by a veteran of AdMob, Drawbridge aims to identify the same person as he or she uses multiple devices so that ads can be targeted toward the same person seamlessly. |
| 5/3 | Facebook’s “Offers” News Feed Coupons Launch In Self-Serve Beta For Local U.S. Businesses | If you have a Facebook fan page, you can advertise coupons through Facebook Offers that appear in News Feed. It’s meant for local small businesses so you have to establish yourself that way for whatever you’re promoting, but then it’s free to run offers. | |
| 4/18 | Internet Ad Revenue Reaches $31B In 2011, Mobile Up 149 Percent (IAB Report) | Internet ad revenue grew 22% in 2011 to an all-time high of $31 billion. This means this industry continues to grow year after year. The final 3 months were also the all-time best quarter at $9 billion, with mobile growing the fastest. | |
| 4/11 | Mobile | Adfonic Announces TV-Style Mobile Ad Units | Popular mobile ad network Adfonic launches its first video ad units. The videos begin via a display banner and traffic isn’t rerouted to YouTube or anywhere else. The video takes over the whole screen. Each ad unit is recommended to be 15-30 seconds. |
| 3/26 | Twitter Launches Advertising Program For Small Business In Partnership With American Express | Twitter launches Promoted Tweets. With Promoted Accounts you pay per follow ($0.50-$1.25 per follow), and with Promoted Tweets, you pay per click. Twitter recommends a maximum bid of at least $0.75. The tweets still come from the single twitter account that is associated with the ad account, so it’s really meant for small businesses, but this could be the beginning. | |
| 3/22 | Mobile | Kiip, The Mobile Ad Rewards Network, Rumored To Raise Another $8-10M To Conquer Games And Beyond | Kiip is a platform that replaces straight display ads with real life redeemable rewards. It has launched a self-serve platform in March 2012. It now has inventory from 140 apps (with 100 in the pipeline) reaching 30 million users. |
| 3/6 | Mobile | Jumptap: Android, iOS Now 91% Of All Mobile Ad Traffic, Kindle Fire 33% Of All Tablet Use | Android and iOS completely dominate mobile ad traffic, claiming 91% market share. If you are marketing on mobile, this is where you should focus if you want volume. Feature phones will be gone soon and this is where the future is. |
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