Many of those folks work at Trendrr, one of several start-ups trying to make a go of the “social TV” boom. A dozen of the company’s 20 employees will spend the day monitoring the broadcast, as well as the red carpet run-up to the show and the post-event recaps.

But Trendrr did its heaviest lifting last week, when it had to figure out exactly how it was going to track Twitter’s Oscar conversation. (Like its peers, Trendrr also keeps tabs on Facebook and other social outfits, but Twitter provides it with the most complete data stream.)

Some of you will go out of your way to help Trendrr and its competitors, like Bluefin and Socialguide, by explicitly labeling your Oscar tweets via hashtags like “#oscars.”

But many of you may simply type something about “The Descendants” at some point during ABC’s broadcast. And some of you may leave out the space between the two words, or the “The” altogether. How to account for all of that?

A combination of art and science, says Trendrr CEO Mark Ghuneim. His team spent the week going through the list of award categories and nominees that will be televised, as well as any presenters expected to be on stage, etc.

That yielded around 200 search terms that his computers will use to search the Twitter stream. And each search term will contain multiple queries — not just “The Artist,” for instance, but “TheArtist.” (You can see some of the list, pictured left.)

Some of the other stuff is trickier to account for, and Trendrr will need to make some decisions about some of the tweets on the fly. If it sees a spike in tweets about “Drive,” for instance, it will need to figure out if people are talking about tooling around in a Toyota, or a sound-editing award.

All of which make for interesting data points after the event, some of which I’ll happy to write up here. (Spoiler alert: Just like the Super Bowl and the Grammys, the Oscars will generate a big year-over-year increase in Twitter activity.)

The long-term question is what kind of value all of this data will provide for programmers and advertisers.

Even if it turns out that Twitter (and Facebook, and every other social service) is directing more eyeballs toward TV — a narrative that pleases both the old- and new-media folks — how is it helpful to know that “George Clooney” was a popular term on Twitter last night?

“This is a swarm event,” Ghuneim says. “And when you have a swarm event, that’s when the action is most actionable.”

That sounds smart, though I’m a little skeptical that the ad world is anything close to nimble enough to do a lot with the data right now. Still, lots of marketing folks seem interested in this stuff in the present tense — if you visit Interpublic Group’s Media Lab, for instance, you’ll see Trendrr data displayed prominently. And always better to have more data than less, right?

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my preshow Melissa McCarthy appreciation exercises.

*If I had to bet, I’d go along with the conventional wisdom that gives “The Artist” an armful of statues. And if you haven’t seen it, I’d say this: It’s fun! You should go! But if you don’t see it in a theater, and end up watching at home, you’re going to be underwhelmed. Can’t watch this one with a remote or an iPhone in your hand.

Mr. Armstrong announced last week that Mr. Brody would replace Jeff Levick as president of AOL advertising and will become chief revenue officer, too. Mr. Brody previously oversaw AOL’s advertising and publishing technologies, a role in which he rarely met with major advertisers. The move was part of a broader shake-up at the company, which has been struggling to grow its ad business for years.

Many senior digital-ad executives said they hadn’t heard Mr. Brody’s name until last week. “I didn’t know him at all. He’s a new face,” said Quentin George, chief digital officer at Interpublic Group of Cos. media-buying unit Mediabrands.

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Google is reportedly spending $1.9 billion to buy the New York City office building where it rents 500,000 square feet. And since the enormous property covers nearly three million square feet, that means Google is going to be cashing rent checks from all sorts of interesting tenants.

Barnes & Noble.com rents a big chunk of the building, which occupies an entire city block in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. So does Interpublic Group’s. Deutsch ad agency. And Sprint. And Nike.

And if Google ever wants to get a deal done with Spotify, the European music service that hasn’t made it to the U.S. yet, it won’t have to look hard to find the company: Spotify has a small outpost in the building, too.

Meanwhile, if you want to see Spotify founder Daniel Ek yourself, check out our D: Dive into Mobile conference next Tuesday, where I’ll be interviewing him onstage.

But for a certain slice of the advertising technology world, there’s no debate: They believe advertisers and publishers are going to consume increasing amounts of personal data to make advertising more targeted and more effective. End of story.

Add the investors betting on eXelate into that group. Carmel Ventures and Menlo Ventures are putting $15 million into the company, which brags that it runs the “the first and largest open marketplace for audience targeting data.” The Israeli company had previously raised $4 million.

Data marketplaces like eXelate, Blue Kai and Magnetic are supposed to help advertisers and publishers fine-tune their products; they work hand-in-hand with display advertising exchanges like Google’s (GOOG) AdX.

But while some parts of the ad technology ecosystem appear threatening to the status quo, eXelate has made a point of reaching out the establishment: The company recently added New York Times (NYT) digital boss Martin Nisenholtz and Interpublic Group (IPG) venture head Matt Freeman to its board of directors.

Even though they are two of the Internet’s largest advertising businesses, both Yahoo and Microsoft are without top execs to lead those units.

Worse, both are just entering a complex online ad sales and search partnership together, which will require a lot of management firepower.

Last week, BoomTown reported the departure of Yahoo’s head for the key North American market, Joanne Bradford, for a new job at social media start-up Demand Media. She starts there Monday.

It was a move that sent reverberations throughout the online ad market.

Less known, though, is that Microsoft (MSFT) has also been looking for almost a year for someone to head up its online ad sales force globally.

Yahoo (YHOO) is just starting its search to replace Bradford–with her boss, U.S. head Hilary Schneider, taking over on an interim basis.

In fact, even Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is pitching in, giving Bradford’s staff a talking to earlier this week about the need to press on.

Both Yahoo execs said the company will be looking at both internal and external candidates.

Until then, said a Yahoo spokeswoman, in the boringest quote ever uttered: “Yahoo! has leadership bench strength and we continue to be committed in delivering wow experiences to both users and advertisers.”

Not to worry about obfuscation, as BoomTown has the scoop!

Internally, the key execs being eyeballed include 11-year Yahoo veteran Mitch Spolan, VP of North American sales, and Seth Dallaire, a former Microsoft exec whom Bradford brought to the company last fall as VP of mid-market sales, a newly-created role responsible for all mid-market sales efforts across search and display advertising.

Another former Microsoft exec, Erika Nardini, VP of brand packaging, is also mentioned a lot as a possibility and is well-liked by the sales force at Yahoo.

Still, many feel that with the exodus of such a high-profile exec as Bradford, Yahoo has to attract another big name to replace her.

But externally, the pickings are much slimmer, with only two key names popping up as top choices.

One is a former Yahoo, Jacki Kelley, a longtime online ad exec who is now North American president of Universal McCann, a unit of the Interpublic Group (IPG) agency. Besides Yahoo, Kelley has worked at Gannett’s (GCI) USA Today and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO).

The second is Kathy Kayse, a well-regarded former AOL (AOL) ad exec, who now is in charge of digital ad sales at Discovery Communications (DISCA). Kayse also had a long career at Time Warner (TWX).

(Both are pictured here, Kelley at left and Kayse on the right.)

Microsoft is a dicier proposition, with exactly zero internal candidates considered qualified to lead the online ad sales effort, a job that would report directly into Corporate VP for Consumer & Online Darren Huston.

Microsoft has been searching for a long time now, with feelers all over the industry. A variety of names pops up, from new MySpace ad head Nada Stirratt to Bradford–also a former Microsoftie–herself.

In fact, the paucity of experienced execs to handle these complex jobs–which include the need to understand premium, network and search ad sales, as well as highly technical systems–is clear.

“Neither of these jobs are easy and, in many ways, a giant nightmare,” joked one online ad sales exec.

BoomTown’s week began onstage in front of thousands of chanting women. No, Kara wasn’t filling in for Oprah; she was doing something much cooler. She got snagged to moderate a panel entitled “Changing the World Through the Web” at Maria Shriver’s six-year-strong Women’s Conference. Kara’s panel included a group of VIPs from Facebook, Kiva, Blue State Digital–and the Twitterific Ashton Kutcher. With “Mission: Kutcher” accomplished, Kara followed up with the complicated world of MicroHoo and offered analysis on the still-pending search deal. Moral of the story: Commentators should give it time, and Carol Bartz should quit with the Jerry Yang jabs. BoomTown rounded out the week at TEDMED. The conference covered the scalpel’s edge of med tech. And yes, in case you were wondering, synthetic skin feels gross.

Digital Daily covered the real-time search war early in the week when Microsoft’s Bing search folks announced a nonexclusive deal with Twitter to feed on its data stream. The deal did put Bing out front for once, but no one knows if the new info source will turn into profits for either search group. In a post foreshadowing a grisly murder, John reported results from a ChangeWave research study that placed the iPhone within striking distance of overtaking the Blackberry from Research in Motion (RIMM) in the smart-phone market. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that grisly, but it’s Halloween. Digital Daily rounded out the week by adding the iPhone to the pantheon of cat, dragon, rat and rooster that occupies the rim of your Chinese restaurant placemat. Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone officially made it to China this week, though without its signature Wi-Fi, and at a much heftier price point.

Peter Kafka lives at the crossroads of media and tech, and that’s exactly where he was almost run down by the Windows 7 “Family Guy” episode. Microsoft (MSFT) apparently bailed out of the deal when it took a closer look at what was actually inside. From the “not so fast” files, Peter covered a report from Interpublic Group (IPG) noting that ad revenue isn’t quite as sunny as some have suggested. Grim economic times caught up to AllThingsD’s big brother late in the week when The Wall Street Journal closed its Boston bureau. The move resulted in nine job losses, despite significant resources being poured into the paper by parent News Corp. (NWS).

The leaves are changing color over at Personal Technology, and Walt sensed that chill in the air meant it was time for his annual fall computer-buying guide. Operating-system choice was a big discussion; but he also touched on the latest must-haves in the memory, graphics, processor and form-factor categories. With a cup of Earl Grey tea to fend off the autumn chill, Walt trudged out to Mossberg’s Mailbox this week and came back with a fistful of letters. He dutifully replied to a question about migrating Microsoft files to a Mac running windows, offered clarification on the Windows 7 upgrade process, and weighed in on the rumor of a pending Apple device below a laptop but above an iPhone.

Katie finished it all off with a deep dive on the two latest netbooks. The HP (HP) Mini 31 and the Nokia (NOK) Booklet 3G both offer high style compared with their competitors, and each boast much higher screen resolutions than previous models. Though she came down on the side of the Nokia, Katie remarked that neither option would disappoint.

Bundle up as you head out for tricking and treating, and learn from Weekend Update’s mistakes. Remember to check and make sure that scary face is actually a mask before you bring that new friend home.

The company’s organic growth–sales after netting out acquisitions and currency fluctuations–dropped 14.2 percent, just barely better than the 14.5 percent it posted the previous quarter.

That is “less sequential progress in the quarter than we hope to see,” CEO Michael Roth deadpanned. On the plus side, his agencies are having nice chats:

However, it’s fair to say that the tone of our conversations with clients concerning the economy is improving. However, we’ve not seen this yet converted to consistent commitments to new or existing projects. Therefore, it looks as if the pace of the recovery will be gradual and that significantly improving organic revenue performance for the whole of 2009 compared to the first nine months performance will be challenging.

In the end, Roth gave more or less the same report that we’ve seen most other places that aren’t in the search ad business dominated by Google (GOOG): He argued that “the worst is over,” but he thinks any significant improvement won’t show up until 2010.

Alas, that kind of muted hopefulness isn’t nearly enough to save any jobs during this fall’s media layoff season, which kicked off this week as my former employers at Forbes took an ax–yet again–to that company’s payroll. On the schedule: Cuts at the New York Times (NYT), Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc. and at Bloomberg’s newly acquired BusinessWeek.

Yesterday, for instance, Omnicom (OMC) reported that “organic revenue”–an accounting term that factors out wildcards like currency fluctuation and acquisitions–dropped 6.6 percent in the last quarter.

Today we hear from heavyweights Interpublic Group (IPG) and WPP, which have similar tales to tell. Interpublic reports a 5.6% decline in organic revenue; WPP says 5.8 percent.

Not mentioned in WPP’s three-month update: Any info about its sensational lawsuit against ad start-up Spot Runner, which it accuses of being a privately held pump-and-dump scheme. While the Spot Runner imbroglio is sexy, it has no impact on the company’s top or bottom lines.

But Omnicom management made hopeful noises yesterday about a recovery that might appear by the end of the year, and WPP has the same supercautious optimism: “The first half of 2009 will clearly be very difficult, with the second half, although continuing to be tough, likely to improve relatively. Any recovery, of sorts, will probably come in 2010.” Small comfort, but I’ll take it.

As everyone knows by this morning, Spot Runner–the heavily-funded and once-hyped online-offline advertising agency–is being sued by one of its more prominent investors.

Ad behemoth WPP, which is making a variety of harsh allegations in a lawsuit filed about two weeks ago, is saying it is still not too big to be snookered by the start-up’s top execs and some of its other investors.

WPP (WPPGY), which has been quite active in making digital ad investments over the last several years, is alleging that Spot Runner sold over $54 million in “secondary” shares to line its own pockets without telling WPP much, all while losing money, running out of funding and not building a sustainable business.

The lawsuit essentially paints an ugly picture of Spot Runner as the Bernie Madoff of Web 2.0.

In its strongest phrasing, the lawsuit alleges:

“Rather than working to make Spot Runner a successful and profitable venture, they perpetuated a ‘pump-and dump’ scheme in which they aggressively promoted the Company to new investors (often by promoting that WPP was an investor in and supported of the Company) and then sold new investors large quantities of their own secondary shares at ever-increasing valuations. Such secondary sales were accomplished surreptitiously and without disclosures to Investors required by the controlling Investor agreements or federal and state securities laws.”

Those named in the suit include: Spot Runner CEO and co-founder Nick Grouf, CTO and co-founder David Waxman, venture investors Battery Ventures and Index Ventures, and board members, such as former AOL exec Robert Pittman.

This is obviously a bad turn of events for Spot Runner, which is currently reeling from the advertising downturn too.

Before that, it had gotten over $100 million in funding from a strong slate of investing luminaries.

Investors included international media giants Daily Mail and General Trust and Grupo Televisa, investment company Legg Mason Capital Management (LM) and luxury conglomerate Groupe Arnault/LVMH.

Spot Runner’s previous investors are Allen & Company, Battery Ventures, Comerica Bank (CMA), Lachlan Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, Capital Research and Management, CBS (CBS), Index Ventures, Interpublic Group (IPG), Tudor Investment Corporation and WPP.

All that money had, when times were good, given Spot Runner an eye-popping valuation upward of $500 million.

And that’s the very kind of bubble economics that apparently allowed some at the company to make those lucrative secondary sales the lawsuit alleges, with lots of demand to get in to the latest hot start-up.

To be clear, such sales are not uncommon at tech start-ups in Silicon Valley, often done to allow entrepreneurs to take some money off the table, especially if there is no clear path to liquidation.

But the scope of the sales alleged is quite unusual, with Grouf getting half the proceeds of the transactions, which were made from early 2006 to early 2008.

That said, WPP–which is seeking $11.5 million in damages, as well as legal fees, after investing $10 million–leaves itself open to its own tsk-tsking, since it finally got to participate some in the sales too, dumping $900,000 worth of shares in the last one.

That makes it seem like WPP is just miffed that it did not get enough while the getting was good, which is underscored by the small amount of money being asked for in the lawsuit, in comparison to the large and loud accusations.

Worse still, perhaps, for everyone involved, is the suit’s revelation that Spot Runner was not the revenue geyser it had touted itself as being–which should not come as a huge shock to anyone who has followed any Web 2.0 company in an even cursory way.

Very few, including the star, Facebook, make money, as BoomTown and others have pointed out a lot to little interest.

The lawsuit says the profit-free Spot Runner had $5 million in revenue in 2007 and $9 million in 2008. It alleges too that the company only has $20 million left of its funding and is spending $35 million to $45 million a year.

That’s because Spot Runner was trying to create a new online ad system, which was essentially a do-it-yourself model that tries to iron out inefficiencies in the buying and selling of advertising and bridge the gap between the traditional and online ad markets. It has since changed its strategy and is working on other products, such as a digital-media buying platform called Project Malibu.

Other than Spot Runner’s statement that it would defend itself vigorously, there were mostly no comments all around.

“This situation is unfortunate; we had hoped that we would have had a long relationship with WPP. We believe the claims are without merit and we will vigorously defend against them, including taking all necessary legal action to protect Spot Runner’s reputation,” said a Spot Runner spokeswoman in a statement.

But one source close to the Spot Runner side, while not addressing the specific allegations, noted in an interview with me that what looks bad now did not then:

“These are different times and things look differently.”

You can say that again. And again after that.

As point of that fact, check out a video I did, below, with Grouf last July at Spot Runner offices in Los Angeles, right after it had gotten one of its giant piles of money. (Grouf is pictured here.)

This video took place right after a lot of the transactions that the lawsuit alleges, which makes sense since Spot Runner was the hot start-up at that moment and many would have been trying to get into the action.

I met Grouf many years ago when he–along with Waxman–founded PeoplePC and Firefly Networks.

Grouf sold the struggling PeoplePC–which hawked computers bundled with an online service–to Earthlink (ELNK) in 2002 for $10 million and assumption of $35 million in liabilities, in a Web 1.0 meltdown deal that followed a disastrous IPO.

But with a hot new start-up, everything looked pretty again, perhaps too pretty, for Grouf.

As I wrote at the time about the hype, which including rumors of Spot Runner being sold for big bucks to Google (GOOG) or Microsoft (MSFT):

“This is its biggest burden, I think, setting expectations very high for what is still a little start-up…Who knows whether the company will be able to overcome its hype, but time (and money) will tell.”

Obviously, we can tell a lot more now.

Here’s the Grouf video (the full lawsuit text and a memo Spot Runner sent to employees about it are also below):

Here is the full lawsuit (click on + button to zoom in):

And, finally, here is the letter Spot Runner sent to employees, who have suffered from layoffs, about the lawsuit:

Team,

As you may have heard, WPP, a minority shareholder (less than 3%) in Spot Runner since 2006, filed a lawsuit against the company and its board members primarily related to the sale of Spot Runner stock and Spot Runner’s communications with WPP. This situation is unfortunate, as we appreciate and value the relationships we have with all of our investors and we had hoped for a long and supportive relationship with WPP. We believe these claims are without merit and we will vigorously defend against them, including taking all necessary legal action to protect Spot Runner’s reputation.

We feel strongly that WPP’s complaint contains many baseless accusations and we want to give you a broader perspective on the matter. This lawsuit is unrelated to our products and services–it is centered on legal agreements entered into with WPP, a sophisticated investor, regarding the way that shareholder stock sales were handled. WPP alleges that Spot Runner’s board members failed to disclose to WPP the stock sales by shareholders, allegedly in violation of the board’s obligations to stockholders, among other things.

We are confident that Spot Runner complied with all of its obligations under the various shareholder agreements. When these sales occurred, there was overwhelming demand for Spot Runner stock and the company did not want to dilute existing shareholders by issuing new shares. Therefore, the founders (in 2006) and the board members and other preferred shareholders (in 2007 and early 2008) agreed to make room for important, new investors and respond to their desire to invest in Spot Runner by selling their own shares. In 2007 and 2008, WPP and other preferred shareholders were given notice that the sales were occurring and they had the opportunity to participate in the sales. In fact, WPP signed various documents acknowledging this opportunity.

Spot Runner and all of its employees conduct business with the utmost integrity. Our team, technologies, and products and services are core assets of which we can all be proud. It is because of your hard work that we have come this far. To that end, we continue to drive hard toward successfully launching Project Malibu and realizing its full potential. You also should know that our board members remain majority shareholders in Spot Runner–a concrete sign of their commitment to and confidence in the business.

Our outside counsel will work with the board and management team to develop a formal reply, which ultimately will be filed with the court. These legal proceedings should not affect our day-to-day operations.

We are grateful that we can count on you to remain focused on serving our clients and partners to the best of your abilities.

Thank you again for all that you do for Spot Runner.

The third-quarter earnings results of ginormous advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group are out, and they’re really not that bad, considering that both the overall economy and the ad business have been sinking for most of the year.

All the key metrics, including organic revenue–that is, revenue it earned without the benefits of mergers and acquisitions–are up nicely.

How’d that happen? In part, it’s because IPG doesn’t just do advertising (it also tackles marketing, PR and other related endeavors), and in part it’s because IPG’s business is spread out worldwide, so it benefits from international growth markets that haven’t been hit as hard as the U.S. Yet.

Alas, that may be the last decent quarter that IPG or most other ad-related businesses see for a while. That’s not a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention, but since IPG is a public company it has to go ahead and spell it out, anyway.

Here’s CEO Michael Roth, via the company’s earnings release:

During the past few weeks, it has become clear that the global financial situation has begun to weigh on marketers spending plans for both the fourth quarter and 2009. As such, we will continue to monitor broader economic developments and to focus on meeting the needs of our clients and managing our margins. While we believe that with our strong performance year to date we remain positioned to achieve our financial objectives for 2008, the impact of an increasingly unsettled and volatile business environment on our sector is not yet clear and creates a risk to meeting our stated goals.”

Translation: Buckle up.

[Image Credit: Robyn Gallagher]

On one of my many trips to Los Angeles (what can I say? I like to hang where LoRo* hangs), I dropped in to see Nick Grouf of Spot Runner.

As many might know, Spot Runner is an online-offline ad agency play that has gotten big funding and even bigger hype of late.

We’ll see how that goes. But Spot Runner actually seems to be tackling an underserved (and unexciting) market of local and national clients in need of cheap online ad solutions married to more traditional marketing venues to boost revenue.

Here’s my video interview with Grouf at Spot Runner’s offices on Wilshire Boulevard:

I met Grouf many years ago when he–along with Spot Runner partner David Waxman–founded PeoplePC and Firefly Networks.

Grouf sold the struggling PeoplePC–which hawked computers bundled with an online service–to Earthlink (ELNK) in 2002 for $10 million and assumption of $35 million in liabilities, in a Web 1.0 meltdown deal that followed a disastrous IPO.

He then started working for the Presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry, helping figure out how to best and most cheaply place critical television ads–crunching all sorts of data about lots and lots of neighborhoods and towns and cities nationwide to figure it out.

What Grouf figured out, though, was that a system for doing so was nonexistent.

That experience turned into Spot Runner, which is essentially a do-it-yourself model that tries to iron out inefficiencies in the buying and selling of advertising and bridge the gap between the traditional and online ad markets.

Offering cheap ad templates, clients can make and place low-cost television and radio ads for small and national businesses, as well as political campaigns, and get analytics about the impact of the ads. Some ads cost as low as $500.

Spot Runner got a pile of cash to try to do that better, recently nabbing $51 million in funding to add to the $60 million already raised.

Investors include international media giants Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT.L) and Grupo Televisa (TV), investment company Legg Mason Capital Management (LM) and luxury conglomerate Groupe Arnault/LVMH (MC.PA).

Spot Runner’s previous investors are Allen & Company, Battery Ventures, Comerica Bank (CMA), Lachlan Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, Capital Research and Management, CBS (CBS), Index Ventures, Interpublic Group (IPG), Tudor Investment Corporation and WPP.

Its board includes Index’s Danny Rimer and former AOL exec Bob Pittman.

All that money has given Spot Runner an eye-popping valuation upwards of $500 million.

This is its biggest burden, I think, setting expectations very high for what is still a little start-up.

And while there are rumors of both Microsoft and Google, as well as Comcast, being interested in acquiring the company, Grouf dismisses the speculation.

He says Spot Runner is more intent on using the money raised to buy companies and improve its offerings.

For example, it recently bought Weblistic, a local search listings creator, and hired former Microsoft exec Joanne Bradford.

Bradford, who was a VP and chief media officer of MSN Media Network, is executive vice president of National Marketing Services at Spot Runner, focusing on getting national advertisers to also think small and targeted.

Who knows whether the company will be able to overcome its hype, but time (and money) will tell.

(*And a free D6 bag for anyone who correctly identifies who I am referring to here, either by sending in a comment or an email to me at kara@allthingsd.com.)

Spot Runner, the online ad agency, delivered yet another Web 2.0 miracle today, raising another $51 million in funding from a diverse group of investors.

Among other services, Spot Runner makes and places low-cost television and radio ads for small businesses and is trying to bridge the gap between the traditional and online ad market.

In this round, those stepping up to invest in the Los Angeles-based start-up include international media giants Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT.L) and Grupo Televisa (TV), investment company Legg Mason Capital Management (LM) and, curiously, luxury conglomerate Groupe Arnault/LVMH (MC.PA).

This group, along with existing investors, forked over the $51 million to add to the $60 million already raised. This appears to give it a massive valuation of upward of $500 million.

Well, at least in the land of Web 2.0 it does. In the real world, it still remains to be seen. But that has not stopped the nonstop investment party of late for Web 2.0 start-ups.

Web-based instant messaging company Meebo recently raised another $25 million at a reported $250 million valuation, while widgeteer Slide got $50 million for a $550 million valuation.

Of course, the champ of them all has been the social-networking site Facebook, which now has a $15 billion valuation.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Or maybe not so much, but obviously no one in Silicon Valley is listening to BoomTown at this Kool-Aid carnival.

Spot Runner’s previous investors are: Allen & Company, Battery Ventures, Comerica Bank (CMA), Lachlan Murdoch, Vivi Nevo, Capital Research and Management, CBS (CBS), Index Ventures, Interpublic Group, Tudor Investment Corporation and WPP.

So far, this group has invested $60 million in Spot Runner. Its board includes Index’s Danny Rimer and former AOL exec Bob Pittman.

“We want to use the investment to make a real penetration in the market,” said Nick Grouf, chairman and CEO of Spot Runner. “We want to expand both organically and through acquisitions, as well as expand our staff, and these strategic investors will help us do that.”

Spot Runner has already been doing that. For example, it recently bought Weblistic, a local search listings creator, and hired former Microsoft exec Joanne Bradford.

The Daily Mail is a large media company based in the United Kingdom, with newspapers, online and radio assets, while Grupo Televisa is one of the largest media conglomerates in the Spanish-speaking world.

Groupe Arnault/LVMH owns some of the world’s toniest brands, including Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy.

Grouf, again along with partner David Waxman, also previously founded PeoplePC and Firefly Networks.

In the spirit of the funding, here’s one of my favorite Kool-Aid commercials: