Industry Updates: 1/21/2014
RE: 'Paid Search Ads Don't Always Pay Off' Â - A common argument against the value of branded keyword advertising gets new data in support from EBay SEM. Â While interesting, it's important to be mindful that ebay is a unique flower in the garden of online retail. Few retailers command the recognition and lack the competition.
In other Advertising news, the comScore top destinations are out, YHOO has topped GOOG for the six month in a row, of note...YHOO numbers don't include Tumblr.Â
Advertising:
Internet Advertising: Paid Search Ads Don't Always Pay Off, Study Finds  -  Just how effective are paid search ads? Using data from eBayâs SEM, economist Steven Tadelis at UC Berkeley's B-School compared whether consumers are more likely to click on paid ads than on free, generic search results and found that advertisers may not be getting their money's worth.  Iâd suggest diving into the full paper if youâve got time, get it here.
Quick Points: âBranded Keywords are ineffective & the effectiveness of non-brand keywords is limitedâ-- This is an on-going argument and really is only true for a limited # of advertisers, essentially those web properties that also double as starting places for consumers, i.e. Amazon, ebay, walmart). Thereâs an additional point about the informative view of SEM that is worth consideringâŚbut again, eBay is a unique property, Iâd be much more interested in seeing the results for a retailer like Staples, Target or Lowes. Finally, if you look at the test parameters thereâs a lot of reference to DMAs, this in combo w/the unique nature of eBay should throw red flags given the challenging nature of DMA targeting.
comScore: Yahoo beats Google as top Web property in the US for six months straight - Itâs safe to say that Yahooâs gold medal is now a trend â an impressive feat given that Yahooâs numbers exclude Tumblr, which is ranked at #30.
Look Out, Television: Google Goes For The Biggest Advertising Prize Of All - envisions an operating system for advertising that can connect search, display, YouTube and branded content, and bundle it all up into campaigns that span computers, smartphones, tablets, connected TVs andâwho knows?âmaybe Google Glass. (read the full interview w/Susan Wojcicki âthe most important woman in advertisingâ here)
 Marketplaces:
Lucrative Role as Middleman Puts Amazon in Tough Spot â Focus is on the conflicting priorities in Amazon's increasingly important business of third-party sales. Amazon said it logged more than two million sellers and a billion products shipped world-wide last year. Some analysts believe third-party sales account for nearly half of all merchandise sold by volume on Amazon.com and eventually will eclipse direct sales of goods by the company.
Amazon Just Patented Shipping Items Before They're Even Ordered - Late last month, Amazon patented a process they've termed "anticipatory package shipping," in which products would be sent to fulfillment centers near the customers most likely to purchase them, before customers even order them.
Wal-Mart Aims To Match Amazon's Service Offerings - "Wal-Mart was the Internet before the Internet came along," Mr. Ashe said. "Value, access, transparency and efficiency are what the Internet asks of companies to survive. And the ethos of our company is very aligned with what customers are asking us to do." â This is the week of awesome quotes I suspect, Wal-Mart remains dedicated to taking Amazon downâŚin ~2yrs.
 Social:
Pinterest CEO Lays Out Growth Plan, Sees Revenue in 2014Â â A number of interesting points, but one of my favorites is: think there are other types of advertisers. Pinterest from the beginning was not meant to be a shopping service. It was meant to be a service about your future and your interests. Obviously, products and services are a subset of that. But that's not the full scope of it. There are a lot of really interesting examples ranging from things like travelâpeople planning their vacationsâto brands that might advertise a product using a recipe.
Point: Facebook could fade out like a disease, math model says - 'Facebook is like an infectious disease...according to US researchers who claim the social network will lose 80 percent of users by 2017.' Counterpoint: Facebook Bashes Princeton For Flawed Study, Gleefully Predicts Its Demise - As data scientists, we wanted to give a fun reminder that not all research is created equal â and some methods of analysis lead to pretty crazy conclusions," Develin wrote. Â
 International:
Online cross-border trade seen growing fivefold by 2020-study - The value of online exports in six of the top e-commerce markets will grow fivefold to $130 billion by 2020, with Britain currently generating the biggest online trade surplus by selling more goods abroad. Â
China's online shopping up 42%, drop from 66% growth rate - CHINAâS spending on online shopping grew by 42 percent last year to 1.85 trillion yuan (US$303 billion) â slower than the 66 percent growth rate in 2012, a recent industry report showed.
