Brand advertising’s focus on cross-platform media measurement has grown dramatically in the past five years. Within the next 36 months cross-platform digital video advertising will standardize, driven by the shift in media dollars to online viewing and the adoption of the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The purpose of the on-screen guide has shifted. By connecting the guide to content-recommendation engines and advertising platforms, service providers and connected-TV device manufacturers are using the EPG as an access point for understanding consumers and reaching out to them to own the living room. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s new CEO, made her first acquisition: Stamped, a mobile recommendation app. The details were not released but it appears this was a talent acquisition. The Stamped employees will form a new mobile product team for Yahoo. Read more »
Social media technologies continue to permeate marketing and enterprise collaboration, even if investors felt let down in the third quarter by their consumer-facing businesses like Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga. So B2B technology offerings in support of marketing and collaboration will soon steal all the social tech attention. This quarterly wrap-up analyzes these events, and provides a near-term outlook for trends, technologies and companies to watch in the next 18 to 24 months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. Other developments included the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Commission on Presidential Debates is partnering with three online media companies to stream debates and educate voters. The platforms will also give the companies a way to showcase their other content. Read more »
App developers are the cornerstones of the multibillion-dollar app market, but the overall community remains largely unknown. As app downloads increase, organizations that can bring tools, resources, and a collective voice to this group will be an important factor in the evolution of mobile-app development. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Would Google chairman Eric Schmidt like his company’s search engine to replace Microsoft Bing as the default search in Yahoo.com? Do you really have to ask? If so, the answer is yes, according to reports out of Japan. Read more »
I spent two days last week watching experts on big data and data science discuss how their companies are building businesses around data, or at least rethinking how they do business. Although most came from the web, these five ideas should matter across industries. Read more »
Yahoo fired its former Washington bureau chief on Wednesday for a joking comment he made during a video broadcast from the Republican convention. Isn’t it about time we admitted that journalists have emotions and opinions, rather than expecting them to be impartial robots? Read more »
Ever since Facebook stumbled with its IPO, there has been a constant drumbeat of criticism saying Mark Zuckerberg should step down as CEO — but Silicon Valley is devoted to the idea of strong founders retaining control of their companies. Will that be Facebook’s undoing? Read more »
The software-defined networking (SDN) market is expected to soar in size to $2 billion by 2016, according to IDC. Growth this fast may very well signify that SDN is the third epoch of computer networking, creating vendor discontinuities and a new IT order. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Media head Ross Levinsohn is leaving Yahoo after being passed over for CEO in favor of Marissa Mayer. The Google vet’s hiring despite Levinsohn’s solid performance as interim CEO signaled a choice of tech over media. Where will he go and who stays from his team? Read more at paidContent »
Companies doing business on the web and in the cloud must spend a lot on infrastructure to stay running and to support new services. Here’s what Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Zynga spent in the recent quarter, and what it might mean. Read more »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Meteor Development, the hot startup that aims to remake enterprise software development, picked up some pretty impressive coin in a $11.2 million Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with contributions from Matrix Partners. Rod Johnson will join Meteor’s board. Read more »
Organizations are coping with the challenge of processing unprecedented volumes of data. However, the processes involved with using a large cluster to run applications like Hadoop are error-prone. So IT managers are turning to cluster-management solutions to automate tasks associated with cluster creation, management and maintenance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
For all of Microsoft’s huge investment in the Windows Azure cloud computing platform, there was very little mention of the multi-billion-effort on Thursday’s Q4 and FY 2012 earnings call. Microsoft CFO touted major updates for Windows, Windows Phone, Office and Windows Server in the coming year. Read more »
Marissa Mayer’s base pay as Yahoo CEO is $1 million a year. But that’s just a small part of a package potentially worth more than $60 million in cash, restricted stock units and stock options if she outlasts her predecessors. Read more at paidContent »
Yahoo signs more than a dozen sponsors to back what might be its most ambitious event coverage ever. Over two weeks, Yahoo hopes to reach 700 million viewers across more than 200 countries. Read more at paidContent »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Former Google executive Marissa Mayer looks to some like the savior Yahoo and its shareholders have been waiting for. But her focus in the past has been on technology and product development, and that may not be what a media company like Yahoo really needs. Read more »
Social TV is any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Startups in this space hope to combine ubiquitous second-screen technology with well-established audience behavior to drive new value around shows. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Yahoo’s drawn-out search for a CEO has taken an unexpected turn with the company stealing away Marissa Mayer, Google’s first female engineer and the head of its location and local services, as its new chief Yahoo. Mayer takes over as president and CEO Tuesday. Read more at paidContent »
In a widely expected move, Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to put aside a ruinous lawsuit that would have locked the two Silicon Valley giants into a lengthy patent throwdown. Read more »
Yahoo’s latest deal with an entrenched traditional media brand will bring digital radio station portal iHeartRadio into its fold. Yahoo and Clear Channel will also cross-promote each other’s content, as well as partner on live events. Read more at paidContent »
Yes, the business of promoting other people’s content has become a major audience driver, as the trailer for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 generates more than a quarter of Yahoo Movies’ monthly traffic in a single day. Read more at paidContent »
Discussions about the cloud now involve more than just the IT department. New developments in hardware architectures, more-energy-efficient data centers, regulatory concerns and simplifying analytics are all discussions currently circling through the industry. Here’s what to consider when thinking about your business in the cloud. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Here’s a weird bit of energy data courtesy of energy software startup Opower: people that use Yahoo email spend $110 more a year on electricity — or 11 percent more — than Gmail users. Why? Read more »
One year after launching into the Hadoop market with much anticipation, Yahoo spinoff Hortonworks finally has a product available. The company announced version 1.0 of its flagship Hortonworks Data Platform on Tuesday, as well as a High Availability version designed with new partner VMware. Read more »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Changes in the power market are rippling through the Internet industry, altering both the location of data centers and their sources of power. There are many factors in picking a data center location beyond the geographic location, such as how to procure energy and green-energy models. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
According to some researchers, web companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook are doing the research world a disservice because they won’t make their datasets available for peer review. These researchers have a point, but privacy concerns might always trump openness where openness matters at all. Read more »
Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Todd Juenger doesn’t believe digital media companies like YouTube, Yahoo and AOL can entice advertisers into committing huge portions of dollars all in one buying session, a la TV’s traditional upfront market. Read more at paidContent »
Yahoo launched its new Axis mobile browser for iOS devices and it’s surprisingly good. In fact, Yahoo’s peers could learn a thing or two from this fresh take on user interfaces: Axis is swipe-friendly and a fast way to get at search or other web information. Read more »
In this busy new world of multiple social networks and recommendations tools, the discovery process itself is being disrupted by innovation and by the changing ways in which consumers now interact online. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mike Moritz, arguably one of the few super VCs has been diagnosed with a rare, incurable medical condition and has decided to take a step back from active daily duties at Sequoia Capital. He still intends to continue making investments and work with younger partners. Read more »
Aggressive investments into professional-grade (and semi-professional-grade) video content have dramatically increased the average amount of time viewers on YouTube and Yahoo spend watching shows each month. The competition, meanwhile, has seen its usage decline in a big way. We crunch the comScore video numbers. Read more at paidContent »
Two weeks after the digital media giants stormed Madison Avenue with their Newfront blitz, television’s indigenous programmers showed up in Manhattan to defend their turf. For now, their share of ad dollars appears to be safe. Read more at paidContent »
Brad Garlinghouse, who once headed up AOL’s Silicon Valley operations, is now CEO of YouSendIt, a provider of file sharing, sync, storage and collaboration software for businesses. Garlinghouse replaces Ivan Koon who is leaving the company after six years. Read more »
