Emily Steel

AOL Defends Strategy Amid Investor Criticism

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 22, 2011 at 1:20 pm PT

AOL Inc. rebuffed an activist investor’s call for “immediate action” to address the Internet company’s “money-losing growth initiatives,” but analysts said the investor’s complaint reflects broader dissatisfaction among AOL shareholders.

A Rare Apple Compromise

Emily Steel and Jessica E. Vascellaro, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 13, 2011 at 3:04 am PT

Facing challenges winning over customers for its iAd mobile advertising service, Apple is softening its approach as it loses ground to Google Inc. in the fast-growing mobile-ad market.

Buzz, Viewers Diverge

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Media on November 17, 2011 at 5:30 am PT

A new television show that generates a lot of online buzz before it airs won’t necessarily draw a host of viewers, according to a new study, which found little or no correlation between the amount of such buzz and the size of the audience that ultimately tunes in.

Big Brands Like Facebook, But They Don’t Like to Pay

Emily Steel and Geoffrey A. Fowler, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in Social on November 2, 2011 at 5:30 am PT

Everybody wants to be liked. The question for Facebook Inc. is how much advertisers are willing to pay for the opportunity.

The Long Haul to Capitalizing on Web Trends

Geoffrey A. Fowler and Emily Steel, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 2, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

Web companies often upend industries. But they can labor for years to fully make money on their revolutions.

AOL Plays Mobile Catch-Up

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Mobile on October 31, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

If there’s one market where AOL Inc.’s share of advertising is smaller than the traditional Web market, it is mobile. Now AOL is trying to fix that.

Visa’s Blueprint for Targeted Advertising

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Commerce on October 25, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

Visa has filed several patent applications that provide a blueprint for using credit-card transaction data to target digital ads and personalize other content, such as search results.

Excerpts From the MasterCard Documents

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Commerce on October 25, 2011 at 12:00 am PT

MasterCard shared a presentation, “MasterCard Advisors Targeted Advertising Services,” with at least four companies earlier this year that outlines the idea of linking Internet users to information about actual purchase behaviors for ad targeting.

Facebook’s Brand of Loyalty

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Social on October 3, 2011 at 4:30 am PT

Companies have spent the past few years trying to amass Facebook fans for their products and services. Now they’re trying to figure out how to squeeze value out of them.

Rival Ad-Tech Firms to Become One

Emily Steel, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in Media on September 26, 2011 at 4:00 am PT

Rival ad-technology companies Donovan Data Systems Inc. and MediaBank LLC are merging to create a new company called MediaOcean, in a bid to head off competition from Google Inc. and bolster their efforts to transition into the digital age.