Federated Media Acquires Lijit Networks.

Lijit, the advertising revenue generator for online publishers has been acquired by media advertising power house Federated Media. According to Lijit they were not in need for a sale but selected FM in order to go big;
So in May, when we were first approached by Federated Media, it was a case of mixed emotion. Lijit wasn’t for sale, we were fully funded and coming off our 6th straight month of 50% month-over-month revenue growth. Profitability was within sight and occurring on and off on a daily basis. In short, we were having FUN, AND A LOT OF IT. But, at the same time, if there was bigger play to make – an industry changing and industry leading play to make – it was with FM. It all made complete sense from that first instant of thought.
Lijit will stay where they are, Boulder Colorado and work with FM Management team to make it big!
Here is the press release by FM;

Federated Media Publishing To Acquire Lijit Networks

Combined Entity Will Power More than 77,000 Independent Publishers Across the Web Via Comprehensive Advertising, Analytics and Reader Engagement Tools

SAN FRANCISCO, October 4, 2011 – Federated Media Publishing, which powers the best of the Independent Web, today announced the acquisition of Lijit Networks, Inc. Lijit is a leading provider of advertising services, audience analytics and reader engagement tools for online publishers of all sizes. The combined entity will reach nearly 300 million global unique visitors according to Quantcast.

Lijit, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado will continue to operate independently but in conjunction with the rest of Federated Media Publishing. Lijit CEO Todd Vernon and COO Walter Knapp will take on corresponding EVP of Technology and SVP of Platform Revenue responsibilities at Federated Media Publishing and will report directly to Federated Media Publishing’s CEO, Deanna Brown. Additionally, Lijit board member Seth Levine from Foundry Group will join the Federated Media Publishing board of directors, effective immediately.

With the addition of Lijit Networks’ existing publisher relationships, Federated Media Publishing will now reach more than 77,000 online publishers and nearly 15,000 expert communities, making it one of the largest companies to power publishing on the Independent Web. The acquisition vastly expands the combined company’s inventory of sites, offering premium advertisers improved scale and reach.

Publishers Will Profit and Flourish

Lijit helps publishers more thoughtfully interact with and better understand their audience by providing analytics and engagement tools that build deeper relationships, lengthen time on site and increase page views. These robust and actionable audience analytics and reader engagement tools leverage intent, behavior and demographics to help publishers of all sizes increase revenue and better engage their readers.

Additionally, the combined advertising services provided by FM and Lijit will give publishers of all sizes a revenue stream that complements existing sales efforts and helps grow and monetize their website businesses, no matter what the size.

Advertisers Can More Easily Analyze and Engage

The combination of Federated Media Publishing’s premium online advertising and conversational marketing programs and Lijit’s proprietary data collection tools will empower advertisers to better understand user intent, contextual relevance and demographic information. And by leveraging the combined entity’s extensive publisher relationships, advertisers will have unprecedented scale on the Independent Web.

Introducing Programmatic Buying to the Independent Web

Programmatic buying is one of the fastest growing trends in digital media and the introduction of Lijit’s robust RTB exchange will equip media buyers with one of the largest platforms available. Over the next few months, Federated Media Publishing and Lijit will develop a series of private exchanges that will highlight leading independent publishers. These exchanges will allow brands to engage active, passionate consumers found in highly conversational online communities and publications, while delivering premium CPM rates via FM’s conversational marketing programs.

Quotes

“The Lijit Networks team is just as passionate and committed to powering publishers as we are at Federated Media Publishing and that was a crucial element to this decision,” said Deanna Brown, chief executive officer, Federated Media Publishing. “Our combined relationships, proprietary tools and conversational marketing services will be invaluable to publishers and advertisers alike.”

“Federated Media invented how to leverage authentic voices and engaged conversations that exist in the Independent Web,” said Todd Vernon, founder and CEO of Lijit Networks. “The combination of the two companies is a game changer in the industry that unlocks new opportunities for both companies through our combined publisher network.”

About Federated Media Publishing

Federated Media Publishing powers the best of the Independent Web. We believe that the majority of meaningful engagements across digital media occur via high-quality independent sites and services. These sites leverage top digital talent to attract influential audiences who together create meaningful dialogue. Brands benefit from improved loyalty and increased sales when they become part of this authentic experience. Learn more at www.federatedmedia.net

About Lijit Networks Inc.

Lijit Networks, Inc. was incorporated in June 2006 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. By providing innovative advertising services, audience analytics, and reader engagement tools to over 70,000 online publishers, commercial websites and content networks, Lijit helps publishers grow their website, build their business and make more money. Lijit connects publishers with premium online advertising campaigns that are highly targeted and contextually relevant to the publisher’s audience. Learn more at www.lijit.com

Federated Media Publishing on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Federated

Federated Media Publishing on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Federated_Media

Lijit Networks on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Lijit

Lijit Networks on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/lijit

Contact

Clint Bagley

415-699-8280

cbagley@federatedmedia.net

Songbird, Open Source Media Player, Browser Launched

I would say it is a media browser than a Media player as it brings together most of the media on the web. The team has released the first public version of the songbird browser, that has been in the making since 2005.
The Mashtape allows you to search and play a song and then will search the internet for media relevant to the song from places like Flickr and YouTube. I think it is an app worth looking into, if you are media inclined.
So why is this on advertising blog? There are more ways to advertise than the traditionl ways. Now go create content, related to songs, there will be millions watching your products, if SongBird is a hit!

Tags: Songbird, Advertising, Media Advertising

Knowing Your Pagerank Will Help You With Your Advertising

I wrote about a Page Rank monitoring tool, (Page Rank Viewing! Know Your Pagerank All The Time.) that is available for checking pagerank on sites that you visit. It is also useful to check the pagerank of your own sites. But now I am without the tool as it is not available for Firefox 3 (I could not wait for the big event tomorrow but I will still download the final version of Firefox 3.0 tomorrow), which I upgraded today to finish up some of my development on a another web application.
So I set out to check if there were any other tools that would help me do the same thing untill the tool get updated. Then I realized that the keyword, "know your pagerank" "knowing your pagerank" points to MyAdlets. How did I do that! So I pulled out gear I have found out that all the Google site give MyAdlets a good reference, from USA to Timbaktu.
I should have got into this SEO business. But the results shows My ADLETS, The Viral Frontier in front of the Title of the article. But I am sure this post will not get indexed that way. It will have Article title first because I followed this;
Swap Blog Name And Post Title On Blogger
Just imagine, how many times, say for last ten years, the phrases, "know your pagerank" and "know your page rank" were published and hunted for.
I am not the top result for all the Google sites but most are. You can check at following Google sites again I did not list all;

Google Japan
Google China
Google Korea
Google UK
Google Israel
Google Philippines
Google India

The Place closest to Timbuktu (Tombouctou) was Morocco!
Google Morocco
I was going to say visit Matt Cutts page to learn about Pagerank and SEO but I just remembered that I will be writing about one of Matt's advise about pagerank. So the link and advise on next article.

Please leave a comment if you see different results from your country!

Tags: Page Rank, Advertising, Knowing your Pagerank, Know your Pagerank, Timbuktu, Tombouctou

FedEX learns From BMW

First came this;

origin

Then this.

larger image

You decide!

Tags: Advertising, competitive advertising

Graduating, Moving To Ohio and Effective Advertising.

I am a member of EntreCard community and through the Community, I have come across various people and sites attached to them that would have never found via casual web surfing. Other than dropping cards, (just like you give your business card to your contacts) and receiving them (Like you accept business cards from people you come across in you working or non working days.) EC introduce you to a large array of web sites and blogs. So I have registered this blog, MyAdlets and Meddesktop at EntreCard site.

While browsing through the other sites, I came across Ohio Real Estate and Homes For Sale, and for some reason I knew I had to mark this site down. So as usual I dropped my card and bookmarked the site.
Later on I had to attend a graduation ceremony at my university as one of my colleagues has finished his PHD. After the lengthy graduation rituals we went out for celebration. Unlike those lower degree graduates, we do not have energy nor the capacity to party like it is 2999. We are already in the real world, we have to think of making jumps into corporate ladders a few rungs higher and prove that we are capable of going even higher, from the day one. So we went out for nice dance hosted by the alumni club and immediately started talking about what our plans for the future in our circle within the greater circle of graduates and alumni. I had nothing much to say because I am stuck with some research that I have to finish and I plan to be in the University for a few more years. This bring to mention my motto! "To Educate yourself, Never Graduate, (After finishing your Masters!)". The last part makes it easier to grab grants!.

Anyway the others who had better plans and motto's than mine, started talking about moving to other states, some to other countries. What their new jobs going to be and where they going to live. Buy a house now or rent, is it a good market to invest in a house etc.
Wham! I remembered why I bookmarked the site I mentioned above, one of the graduates, a friend of mine, is moving to Ohio and they were going to need a real estate agent in Ohio. So I pulled my Blackberry out retrieved my bookmark and emailed it to him right then and there. My friend had mentioned about looking for a job in Ohio months ago and that was in back of my mind some where. Seeing the real estate in Ohio site signaled myself to bookmark the site.


Seeing the Real Estate website in the right place, (there is no wrong place to advertise, if you know what you are doing!) I was able to connect my need (my friends need) to the resource presented to me through EntreCard Advertising.
So folks at the outset, you might wonder if it worth to advertise on a site that is not related to your field. But I think properly planed advertising has place on everywhere, be it online or offline.
The lesson for real estate agents, take a good look at graduates in your cities, those ones with PHDs and Masters, they have different needs and outlooks than other graduates. Now you know some of those needs. Real Estate. So next time when graduations come around, walk into University campuses and drop your Real Estate Business cards as most of these people will be looking for place to roost, and they can afford to buy a house or an apartment. If they are moving out, explain that you can put your network to get resources in any place they are planing to move. Remember, they also know it is better to own now than rent. It is always good to advertise your site on EntreCard too.

Tags: Real Estate, Advertising, EntreCard, real estate agent, MyAdlets, Meddesktop, Moving To Ohio

Quest For Marketing Lists, Second Step.

I always look to see how others are doing in marketing and advertising to pickup what ever the knowledge in this field. Because I need to bring out MyAdlets into the world as soon as possible in good footing. There has to be an Apple somewhere out there, for me to munch on, daily.
It is like the previous article about the AdAge Power 150. I learned a lot form that list. So I set out to look for more lists which are similar and Bam! I came across a list of lists, not much but five of them (but good enough to keep me busy for a while!). The lists were laid out in with information on as to why they are important and a lesson to be learned from each list. How they made it to the list. Once you realize that the underlying core is getting out there, whatever the best for you. It is the contacts you make and the people you know and it helps if you are known, does not matter which industry.
The list is made by Rohit Bhargava, and I think you will be glad that he made the 5 Great Marketing Blog Lists if you are into learning and using all those marketing knowledge. One thing I am glad about is that Todd Andrlik's AdAge Power 150 was the first on his list with this suggestion;
The Lesson: Create a truly authoritative way of measuring influence, and let others share it.

You will find this lesson and four more at Digitalmediawire.

Tags: marketing, advertising, list of marketing lists, MyAdlets

Ads Did Not Grow In 2007 But Internet Advertising Soared 15.9% to $11.3 Billion

NEW YORK Advertising expenditures barely grew in 2007 up 0.2% to $148 billion compared to 2006 spending, according to TNS Media Intelligence. In Q4 advertising expenditures were virtually flat, falling 0.1%.

"The ad market remains stalled and is being engulfed by the spreading pessimism about general economic conditions," Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS Media Intelligence, said in a statement. "Fourth quarter performance was indicative of this malaise and early figures from 2008 suggest the growth rate for measured ad spending has not appreciably changed."

Spending at newspapers fell 5.6% to $26.3 billion in 2007. Advertising on Spot TV drooped 10.2% to $15.5 billion during 2007. Internet advertising soared 15.9% to $11.3 billion last year. Spending at local radio stations declined 2.7% to $7.1 billion for the same period.
Source.

tag: Advertising, Internet advertising, TNS Media Intelligence, Advertising expenditures

Grass Get Trampled When Elephants Fight

Grass (Yahoo) Get Trampled When Elephants (Microsoft, Google) Fight, might be the outcome, Swisher at all things digital wonders.
It seems there are whirlwinds in the ad market place. Time to pay attention and learn something.

Local.com Announces Strategic Relationship with Citysearch

Allows small businesses to manage their message and extend their reach on the local web

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM), a leading local search engine, today announced a strategic partnership with Citysearch, a leading online guide and an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ:IACI).

Local.com will benefit from additional advertiser revenue and content on its site by displaying Citysearch business profile data including over one million editorial and user reviews, as well as ratings, business coupons and photos. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The agreement allows Citysearch to increase its advertiser reach on Local.com and its distribution network of over 400 regional media sites, which serve over 10 million visitors each month.

“Local.com has a proven track record in providing highly relevant local information to millions of consumers each month,” said Rob Angel, Citysearch Vice President of Media & Advertising. “This relationship allows our merchants to expand their local advertising reach and connect with more consumers, while delivering a consistent message across the local web.”

“Local.com users benefit from access to Citysearch’s extensive local content, allowing us to do an even better job of serving the millions of users each month that trust our brand to find a local business,” said Peter Hutto, Local.com Vice President, Business Development and Sales. ”We believe Citysearch advertisers will benefit from the high ROI of our search traffic, and this in turn will help drive improved monetization of our site.”