surfers

Some of You Remember the Ads You See on Your Phones

Peter Kafka in Media on January 14, 2011 at 3:30 am PT

Web surfers have trained themselves to ignore the ads they see. Mobile phone users are a different story. At least according to this poll. (Guess who commissioned it?)

What Privacy Problem? Web Ad Targeter Media6Degrees Raises $17 Million

Peter Kafka in Media on December 12, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT

More money for a Web ad start-up that promises marketers it can sniff out prospective buyers by tracking their “social signature.”

Bang! Publishers Say Giant Web Ads Have "Stopping Power"

Peter Kafka in Media on November 1, 2010 at 9:01 pm PT

Bigger really is better! So say Web publishers who have been running supersized, don’t-you-dare-look-away-from-me ads for the past year. Even better, the ad sellers insist–they have scientific proof to back up their claim.

YouTube Leanback Freshens Up for Google TV's Debut

Peter Kafka in Media on October 15, 2010 at 6:00 pm PT

One of the things that Google thinks you’ll do with Google TV is watch a lot of Google video, via YouTube. That’s why the search giant introduced a “Leanback” version of the site, designed for couch-bound surfers, over the summer. And that’s why Google has freshened up Leanback for this weekend: Saturday is the first chance consumers will have to get their hands on Google TV for themselves.

Watch an Ad, Make a (Virtual) Buck

Peter Kafka in Media on September 29, 2010 at 4:00 am PT

Another way to make online advertising more tolerable for surfers, and more effective for brands: Offer bribes, in the form of credits for big Zynga games like Farmville.

Indie Radio God Nic Harcourt Gets a New Gig: Picking Videos for "The Live Buzz"

Peter Kafka in Media on September 28, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

For a certain kind of music fan, Nic Harcourt is a rock star. But the former radio DJ hasn’t had a full-time job picking and playing music in two years. So here’s his new gig: Picking and playing music videos for a new site.

Yahoo’s Pitch to Advertisers: We Sell Ginormous Ads

Peter Kafka in Media on January 11, 2010 at 8:14 am PT

Another ad from Yahoo to people who buy ads on Yahoo: Look at all the great ads people have bought on Yahoo! But this clip also works as a pretty good survey of advertising across the Web.

This Just In: YouTube Is Ginormous!

Peter Kafka in Media on September 28, 2009 at 3:02 pm PT

You already know this, but it’s always good to be reminded: In online video, there’s YouTube, and then there’s everybody else. Today’s data point: ComScore’s August video report, which shows Google’s video site generating 10 billion views and owning 39.6 percent of the market. That’s 10 billion views, and that’s just counting Web surfers from the U.S. Factor in international visitors and…it would be a lot bigger.

Another Ad You Can’t Ignore: The New York Times Serves Up Old News

Peter Kafka in Media on September 25, 2009 at 9:08 am PT

Web advertisers are trying hard to create ads you can’t look away from. But they can get a little too disruptive.

YouTube U.K. Settles Royalty Fight, Turns Music Videos Back On Again

Peter Kafka in Media on September 2, 2009 at 4:00 pm PT

Rejoice, British Web surfers! You’ll soon be able to watch your favorite music videos on YouTube again. Google has reached a settlement with a British licensing group in a dispute over royalty payments, which means that YouTube’s U.K. outpost will begin showing licensed music videos again, following a five-month outage.