IgnitionOne, a global marketing cloud provider, released its Q1 2016 Digital Marketing Report, demonstrating both steady trends and surprising changes in digital advertising metrics. Q1 marked a drop in U.S. paid search spend for the first time in six years, down 5% year over year (YoY). Mobile continues to be the star of search, demonstrating the largest jump in impressions in several years at 19% year over year. Programmatic display is up 10% YoY, with Facebook dominating Google in growth, up 51%.
Posted Apr 12, 2016
Limelight Networks, Inc., a global leader in digital content delivery, unveiled the results of its annual State of Digital Downloads report, the latest in its studies of consumer perceptions and behaviors around digital content. The study found nearly half (45%) of consumers are more likely to download digital content of all types than they were a year ago. And the devices to which they are saving movies, television programs, songs, and games may surprise you.
Posted Apr 12, 2016
In January, the global ad automation firm Kiosked released early insights from research that suggests that brands are pulling their programmatic and creative agency expertise inside. This is with an aim toward assuming more control of what's happening with this increasingly important element of their branding and marketing efforts.
Posted Apr 11, 2016
SaleHoo is an online wholesale directory and community for online traders, eBay sellers, and traditional retailers that is owned by Doubledot Media. In her role as SaleHoo content editor, Melissa Johnson says, "The goal is to educate our customers and help them build a thriving business for themselves. You can't do that without high-quality content."
Posted Apr 08, 2016
The Atlantic's CityLab has introduced CityLab Latino, a Spanish-language version of the English-language CityLab you've already come to know. It's also the result of a new partnership with Univision Digital. You can find the site, which is also accessible at Univision.com, at citylablatino.com.
Posted Apr 07, 2016
This past weekend, I found myself in a Barnes and Noble in midtown Manhattan, strolling up and down the Self-Help aisle, browsing through hundreds of book titles. No, I wasn't looking for myself (although some of the books seemed really quite interesting), I was doing trend research for my day job (book publishing), trying to pinpoint which titles were attracting shoppers and which were getting overlooked. As you can imagine, the Self-Help shelf is a mix of topics ranging from relationships to mental health to inspiration. But there was one word that stuck out time and again, no matter the subject matter: mindfulness.
Posted Apr 07, 2016
You probably read Medium, but you may not know it. The blogging platform (of sorts) is the brainchild of Twitter co-founder Ev Williams. Up until now, it has focused on giving anyone the free and easy-to-use tools needed to publish to the web--only without the pressure of maintaining and regularly posting to a blog. It also promotes interactivity from readers-letting them highlight passages, and become a part of the conversation in the comments. Now, though, Medium is taking aim at Wordpress-and other WCM systems--and trying to entice publishers to its service.
Posted Apr 06, 2016
Technical content developers have begun to dip their toes in the pool of dynamic publishing systems, for at least a small part of their content, but relatively few are utilizing the Cloud as a means to deliver and manage it. These are some of the key findings in the fourth annual "Following the Trends - Is Your Content Ready" survey, jointly conducted by Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) and the Center for Information Development Management (CIDM).
Posted Apr 05, 2016
Monetate, an experience marketing platform for brands worldwide, announced the release of its latest global Ecommerce Quarterly report (EQ4 2015). The report explores the age old ecommerce conundrum--do marketers focus on finding new visitors or new ways to keep their existing ones? The Monetate EQ4 2015 looks to answer this question with real-world examples from leading brands Graham & Brown, Ballard Designs, Calendars.com, and Waitrose, as well as best practices for driving both acquisition and retention.
Posted Apr 05, 2016
At this point, almost everyone has heard that Internet pioneer, Yahoo, is in trouble. The company has allowed itself to become completely distracted by a lot of activities that had little to do with the foundational elements of the company, and has, instead, turned its attention to attempting to unlock shareholder returns relative to its stake in Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. As a result of the shortcomings of its well-intentioned, but poorly executed acquisition strategy, along with some controversial management decisions, the company is now exploring "strategic alternatives" for the "core" of its business. The play it is pursuing now is essentially the only one it has that makes sense to save what remains of what most people know of as Yahoo -- or at least package it for a potential acquirer (a public strategic or private equity buyer).
Posted Apr 01, 2016
A COLLOQUY nationwide survey of 1,060 American consumers shows that 63% say wearable devices are too expensive. Just over one out of every two Americans, 52%, say they don't know enough about wearables and don't understand them.
Posted Mar 31, 2016
Publishing Technology has announced that it will change its name to Ingenta, with immediate effect, as part of a comprehensive rebrand and unification of its business. The Ingenta name will bring together the company's products and services under one brand umbrella, enabling its clients to more easily realize the benefits of its complementary offerings, while giving the business a clear identity and strong personality.
Posted Mar 31, 2016
Consumer technology publisher DigitalTrends.com has begun using Header Bidding technology to allow for improved access and functionality to the publisher's ad sales inventory. It was announced by Andrew Budkofsky, EVP of sales and partnerships for Digital Trends. Header Bidding, which the company recently moved out of Beta testing, replaces the need for ad exchanges and streamlines the buying and selling process by making available inventory more accessible to advertisers and in a more timely fashion.
Posted Mar 29, 2016
Distil Networks, Inc., a provider of bot detection and mitigation, published, "The 2016 Bad Bot Landscape Report: The Rise of Advanced Persistent Bots," an annual report that identifies statistically significant data on global bot traffic. Bad bots are used by competitors, hackers, and fraudsters and are the key culprits behind web scraping, brute force attacks, competitive data mining, online fraud, account hijacking, data theft, unauthorized vulnerability scans, spam, man-in-the-middle attacks, digital ad fraud, and downtime.
Posted Mar 29, 2016
You can now enter to win an advance copy of Inside Content Marketing the new book from EContent editor, Theresa Cramer. The book is available for preorder, but you can enter to win a copy now.
Posted Mar 24, 2016
Even if you missed the Time Magazine cover article last August, weren't able to attend CES 2016, or have overlooked the countless headlines, posts and tweets about it over the past several months, it's hard to ignore the facts: Virtual reality is a reality, and VR technology has captured the awe and imagination of consumers hungry for a disbelief-suspending computer-rendered simulation of the real and the fantastic. And the exciting prospect for digital publishers and electronic content providers both large and small? VR offers viable, affordable content possibilities beyond gaming and simulated thrill experiences, which is where a lot of the early tech investment dollars have been funneled. In fact, it's VR's capacity to seriously infiltrate into offbeat and unexpected niches that has a lot of industry experts paying closer attention.
Posted Mar 23, 2016
We have heard about the perils of technology suites-as opposed to best-of-breed point solutions-from experts for years. Now, SDL is realizing just how hard it is to compete with the big products suites. CMSWire reported that SDL is selling its social intelligence, campaign management, and e-commerce optimization platforms--which the company says have struggled to compete with giants like Adobe and Sitecore.
Posted Mar 22, 2016
YouTube hasn't had it easy in the copyright department as of late. In February 2016, a few well-known creators posted videos about their struggles with rights holders issuing takedown claims against their content. These creators claimed their videos were covered under fair use terms, and that YouTube's video claiming and copyright policies are so biased towards claimants that some of these creators no longer feel safe posting videos.
Posted Mar 17, 2016
A recent Scottish League Cup Final, presented by Utilita, between Hibernian and Ross County was not only played out on the pitch but also in virtual reality thanks to San Francisco-headquartered technology company, Virtually Live. The SPFL has facilitated Virtually Live to test a live football broadcast in virtual reality at Scotland's National Stadium Hampden Park in Glasgow during the showpiece national cup final. It was the latest in an eight-game trial which will include two more Queens Park F.C. games.
Posted Mar 15, 2016
We've been hearing about hyperlocal news for years, but in spite of many attempts at a platform play, nothing has really stuck. Just when you think a trend is pretty much doomed, someone comes along with investment capital and a new twist. Such is the case with The Tab, a U.K.-based variation on the hyperlocal theme that uses journalism students as unpaid writers, concentrates on university communities, and distributes the stories via social media.
Posted Mar 15, 2016
Turner Sports and Snapchat are joining forces for a multi-year content deal that leverages Snapchat's Live Story product with the goal of enhancing fans' storytelling and viewing experiences through Snapchat's coverage of major sporting events, including year-round NCAA Championships. The partnership will debut during NCAA March Madness.
Posted Mar 14, 2016
A large chunk of ad spending is already being done programmatically. eMarketer predicts programmatic will make up 67% of total digital display ad spending, or $21.55 billion, in 2016. That's up from 2015, when it accounted for 59% of spending, or $15.43 billion, according to the researchers. The figures include programmatic buying for banners, rich media, video, sponsorship, and additional ad units showing on desktops, tablets, mobile, and other internet-connected devices. Programmatic advertising is creeping into more forms of media too, including television and radio.
Posted Mar 14, 2016
The right tools are an integral part of getting any job done. In the world of digital content tools are plentiful, so finding the right one for you can be tricky. That's why we ask the experts what tools they use to get their jobs done. In this month's installment, we talk to James Stout, senior manager, technology and developer evangelist, Episerver.
Posted Mar 11, 2016
The theme for this year's Digital Book World (DBW) conference, the self-described preeminent conference on digital content and digital publishing strategies, was transformation. It's a hefty word, one that conjurs thoughts of hope, opportunity, and for many of us, paralyzing fear. Don't be ashamed. Personally, I hate change. It's uncomfortable and difficult, but it's an essential component in keeping any industry--especially one that has encountered as many recent obstacles as publishing--moving forward.
Posted Mar 10, 2016
In celebration of International Women's Day, Episerver, a leading provider of digital marketing, content management and digital commerce solutions, announced the launch of the "Digital Ninety-Nines," a new initiative that showcases the body of work and viewpoints of women in the areas of information technology and digital marketing.
Posted Mar 10, 2016