SpectatorBytes

This was a tough week for online advertising given Valueclick’s lower guidance for Q208 (see below), Google’s less than stellar performance and even eBay’s cautious outlook for Q3.

Valueclick’s Guidance - Fiscal Year 2008 Revenue by Segment

Year-Over-Year Growth

Affiliate Marketing2(excludes Search123)

+8%

Comparison Shopping and Search (includes Search123)

+19% pro-forma

Technology

+18%

Media, Total

-18%

Display advertising

Low single digit increase

Lead generation

High 20% decrease

While Valueclick’s [...]

I have written several posts about the need for offering innovative ad solutions to brand advertisers. I wanted to share a couple of solutions for brand advertisers that two companies in our portfolio have developed (obviously I have a vested interest in the success of these two companies). Nevertheless, I think that they are offering [...]

Much has been said about Web 1.0 companies struggling to adapt to the current dynamics of the Web. No need to call it Web 2.0. The Web has simply evolved and conditions changed. The list of changes is pretty evident:
- Broadband penetration has reached full scale
- Product development costs have fallen dramatically
- Infrastructure [...]

I recently attended the Under the Radar Conference at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View. I came across some interesting products and companies such as SlideRocket, Nuconomy, Orgoo, and TripIt. This was the third startup showcase in less than two weeks that I have attended. It was interesting to see next-gen product innovation [...]

The controversy around Ask.com’s new strategy to focus on optimizing their search product for a segment of their users (see Ask.com And Ye Shall Receive) has reminded me of how important is to developed products that seek to deliver a clear and well-defined payoff to consumers.
I am not saying that Ask’s strategy will [...]

Original content is king. This sentence has been said before by many media executives. However, in the age of digital media, content is not the word to focus on but rather the word original. By now, it is pretty obvious that there is a significant amount of content out there. As a result, [...]

Over the past few years, I have been amazed about how much time is spent by analysts discussing the differences between media and technology companies. Are companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon media or technology companies? What I have come to realize is that they are neither one nor the other.
Digital media companies represent [...]