According to a report (PDF) by PubMatic, display ad rates on ad networks drop slightly in the fourth quarter of 2008. The rate per thousand impressions averaged 26 cents down 3.7 percent from the third quarter. This follows a drop of 21 percent from the second to the third quarter. The rate had a year over year decline of 48 percent. Small sites (under 1 million monthly page views) averaged 61 cents, medium sites (between 1 million and 100 million) averaged 30 cents and large sites (over 100 million) averaged 17 cents. PubMatic compiles its data from a survey comprised of over 5,000 websites, approximately 85% of which are based in the US.
Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Released
Microsoft today made Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 available for public download. According to a post on the IEBlog, the release candidate should behave in the same way as the final version and that any changes between the two will be clearly communicated. The post also said that the release candidate has improved reliability, performance, and compatibility over the second beta. The release candidate is available in 25 languages for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server.
Google Universal Searches Tripled in 2008
During the Google’s fourth quarter financial conference call, Google’s Senior Vice President for Product Management Jonathan Rosenberg disclosed that the number of search queries that had displayed universal search results tripled in 2008. Universal search displays image, video, new, blog, and book results integrated with the standard website results. Rosenberg also said that Google had made 350 “search quality improvements” in 2008, with the “biggest addition” being the substantial increased size of the index. He also stated that mobile search traffic went up “substantially” during the year and peaked at the end of December. Finally, he said that ad coverage, the amount of queries that display ads and the number of ads displayed for those queries, had reached the level that it had been in the beginning of 2008 after having dipped during the year.
December U.S. Search Share Results
Nielsen Online yesterday released its rankings of U.S. search share for December. Overall search increased 19.6 percent year over year to 8.6 billion searches. Google had year over year increase of 33.5 percent and received 62.9 percent of searches. Yahoo had a year over year increase of 13.7 percent and received 16.8 percent of searches. Microsoft had a year over year decrease of 15.5 percent and received 9.8 percent of searches.
Advertising Trade Groups Developing Behavioral Targeting Guidelines
The advertising trade groups the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Direct Marketing Association, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau along with the Council of Better Business Bureau have announced that they plan to develop self-regulatory guidelines for behavioral targeting ads. The groups will focus on the areas of education and transparency, consumer notification and choice, data security, and self-regulatory enforcement; which were the areas that the Federal Trade Commission proposed be the focus of self-regulatory efforts in a December 2007 guideline. The groups also plan “to engage with policymakers, a broad cross section of business, consumers, and other important stakeholders” on the issues. Adweek reports that the timing of the groups announcement was likely an attempt to get out in front of privacy issues related to behavioral targeting before the Obama administration and new Congress have a chance weight in on the issue.
Local Business Ads Get New Features on Google Maps
Google has announced that AdWords has added new features to the local business ads that appear in Google Maps. The info window that is displayed when a listing is clicked now provides links to get directions, view a street view, and save the location to user’s My Maps. The option for the user to receive the business’s information on their phone on in an email will be added “shortly.” Advertisers will not be charge for users using these new features. Local business ads currently are available for businesses located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Spain. In addition, Google will begin to provide reporting of user interaction with local business ads ” in a few weeks.”
Yahoo Hires New CEO, President Resigns
Yahoo has announced that they have hired Carol Bartz as their new Chief Executive Officer. Bartz replaces Jerry Yang, who in mid November announced he would step down as CEO once a successor was appointed after having served in the position for 17 months. Bartz previously spent 14 years as the CEO of Autodesk, ending in 2006. Yahoo also announced that President Sue Decker would resign from the company following a “transitional period”.
Microsoft Signs Search Deal With Dell
Microsoft has signed a three-year deal with Dell to become the default search provider on a majority of the consumer and small business PCs it makes according to a post on Live Search blog. The deal, which involves PCs in 23 countries, will begin in February and also includes the installation of the Live Search powered toolbar. Dell previously had a similar deal with Google and Microsoft struck a similar deal with HP in June of last year, which went into effect this month.
Microsoft Signs Deal to Become Search Provider for Verizon Wireless
Microsoft has reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless to become the default search provider. The initially announcement was made at a Verizon Wireless investor conference, with additional details to be announced later in the day at Microsoft CEO’s keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show according to a Bloomberg report. Microsoft and Verizon Wireless had been in discussion over an agreement for some time and Verizon Wireless had also held talks with Google over a possible deal. Verizon Wireless is the last major U.S. carrier to reach an agreement for a default search carrier, both AT&T and T-Mobile have agreements with Yahoo and Sprint has an agreement with Google.
November U.S. Search Share Results
Nielsen Online today released its rankings of U.S. search share for November. Overall search increased 9.6 percent year over year to 8.1 billion searches. Google had year over year growth of 21.7 percent and received 64.1 percent of searches. Google’s percentage of searches was it’s highest reported by Nielsen Online, surpassing it previous high in April of this year when it received 62.0 percent. Yahoo had a year over year decrease of 1.4 percent and received 16.1 percent of searches. Microsoft had a year over year decrease of 16.7 percent and received 9.1 percent of searches.