Google Premium Audience Network - what I know

John Chow broke the story about Google’s Premium Network. It’s been picked up now by all the usual suspects, so I’ll post what I know.

They are creating premium audiences (or “clusters” as they are calling it) for specific verticals. Within the verticals are hand-selected sites they feel are best for big brands. These sites are presumably being paid under $5 CPM to show display ads or video ads. They must be above the fold.

The advertiser can select a cluster (and a DMA if they wish), and their video/display ad will be shown only on those hand-selected sites. This is Site-Targeting the way advertisers have said they want it. There will eventually be 60+ clusters, but right now only 8 are available. These include Pop culture, movies, family, music, etc. CPMs are $5-$15. This is above remnant network ads, but below what you’d typically pay to be on most of those sites they have selected. Read the rest of this entry »

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This is an old post that was private that I decided to make public:

I was doing some domain speculating this weekend & kept running across Marchex sites everywhere. Then I read an article over at dnjournal that talks about Marchex and their $164M investment into direct navigation (domains). So I figured I’d get my hands dirty and see what they really had behind all those numbers. It kind of shocked me…

Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Garlinghouse, a senior VP at Yahoo, has allegedly sent out a “memo” that is now making the rounds. I wonder if he’ll be a part of crafting a unified vision for Yahoo or if he’ll be asking “who’s comin’ with him” next week. He’s pretty harsh and makes some good points - I’d work for him.

Yahoo’s hands really are in everything & Garlinghouse is calling for exits to some of those current silo-ed businesses. He calls for heads to roll and a staff reduction of 15-20%. Personally, I hope they focus on search again - they’re going to be beat by not only Microsoft, but also ASK if they keep on the current path. Maybe we’ll see some innovation out of them again - behavioral targeted text ads - branded rich media ads on search - anything besides buying more companies and not really doing anything with them.

And lose the 10 cent minimum bid already.

In the spirit of this year’s election I think a post on Democracy is only appropriate.

The Wife is a 2^nd grade teacher. This story takes place while we were still living in Chicago and she was teaching at Everett Elementary.

Classroom pets are a wonderful idea. I remember our two albino rats in 4^th grade very well – they were the highlight of the year. So it was with great enthusiasm that I endorsed the adopting of a rat as  a classroom pet.

With a rat comes a lot of responsibility. Who takes it home for the weekend? who cleans the cages? when are the specific playtimes? But one of the biggest responsibilities is naming it. The naming of an animal, human, inanimate object, should never be taken lightly. With parenting you don’t have a majority – thus you have names such as Rebel Snodgrass, Placenta (poor child), and 3 sons named after their dad’s favorite hobbies; Hunter, Trapper, and Fisher (I really knew these guys). But with a classroom pet, you have the benefit of a democracy - and we all know democracies always make the best choice.

So The Wife left it up to her very able 2^nd grade electorate to select the name for The Rat. Of course many names were put forth and with enough petitions they made the ballot. There were many appropriate names, including an odd one that was laughed at by others – “Nine Tails,” but after the vote, one name definitely had the majority. No hanging chads, no recounts necessary. “Steve” was the winner. The Rat was to be named “Steve.” Personally…I have never heard of a better name for a rat. They did good.

But…alas…Room 7 was about to learn a hard lesson in “democracy.”

When counting the votes at home, The Wife decided that the boy who suggested “Nine Tails” should also have his day in the sun. The election was rigged. Nine Tails was declared the winner. Nobody knew any different, no recall was called for. If only Steve could speak he may have objected…but he’ll never know now.

So, sorry kids. You’ve learned a hard lesson in democracy. Room 7…or “Classroom Florida” did end up enjoying the rat despite the name.

R.I.P NineTails “Steve”
2004-2004

9 of the top 10 listings for “business school” are .edu

8 of the top 10 listings for “music school” are .edu or .org

8 of the top 10 listings for “nursing schools” are .edu

(but #1 isn’t. maybe take a look at what they’re doing if you’re playing in the education game) It’s owned by a local Seattle company based in Fremont. I don’t think I would necessarily want to be playing in those serps, it’s pretty clear you’re at some disadvantage if you’re a .com. But like Sean Astin, it just takes a little persistance and you too can be humming that Rudy theme in your head the rest of the day.

First off, a big congratulations to Brad & Justin! They are both great representatives for the search industry whom I’ve come to know through various conferences and parties and people over the past few years.

The big news is that LocalLaunch was acquired by RHDonnelley. 

By combining these core capabilities with RHD’s existing print and local online search offerings, including the top-performing DexOnline.com site, the company is well-positioned to generate additional leads and deliver an expanded level of service to advertisers.

Does this mean I have a new competitor in eWhisper? Sure hope not Stick to the businesses Brad, there’s nothing good going on over here in people lookup land.

So here are the list of some sites of the entire relationship I’m trying to visualize:

• LocalLaunch.com : did they want them for the marketing team? the data? the yp platform? d) all of the above?
• Local Matters : tangled up in everything
• DexOnline : is this going to be the brand that comes out of it?
• RHDYP : and the lame duck relationship w/ ATT & yellowpages.com
• EMBARQYP.com and BestRedYP.com : another brand?
• Chicagob2b.com : beta…why…how….who am i again?

So is there soon to be a true IYP out of this group with both platform, data, salesforce, and marketing intellect? And is Dex going to be that brand?