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Automatic Video Ads (With SOUND?) Coming To Your Facebook Feed
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5969497/report-automatic-video-ads-with-sound-coming-to-your-facebook-feed
If you think the auto-play commercials on sites like ours are annoying, get ready to have it in your face times a billion: Ad Age says video ads are hitting Facebook.
The transition, which AdAge’s anonymous industry sources say will begin in the first half of 2013, will stick video commercials in your browser, tablet, and phone. Annoying, right? But what could be even worse is that there’s no play button:
In what’s sure to be a controversial move, the visual component of the Facebook video ads will start playing automatically — a dynamic known as “autoplay” — according to two of the executives.
This means an ad for Bacardi (if you’re targeted as a drinker) will show up upon your arrival at The Book and start flashing without any intervention—”Facebook is still debating whether to have the audio component of the ads activated automatically as well,” says AdAge. That latter part seems unthinkable, given how universally-despised audio ads are. A total web faux pas. Unlike obscure, opaque image sub-licensing, automatically playing a cereal jingle when you go to Facebook seems like the kind of thing that actually drive people away from using Facebook. At least as regularly.
Yes, Facebook is free. And yes, ads on Facebook are only going to multiply and advance. But that doesn’t mean we can’t challenge auto-play video commercials with spontaneous sound as idiotic and obnoxious. But for now, this is just a rumor—keep your eyes and ears peeled. In the meantime, we’ve reached out to Facebook for comment. [Ad Age]
How Restoration Hardware Made ‘Showrooming’ An Asset Instead Of An Enemy
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/restoration-hardware-uses-showrooms-2012-12
Many retailers are terrified of turning into a showroom. They fear consumers will come only to test out the products they’ll later buy online.
Furniture store Restoration Hardware decided to approach “showrooming” differently by accepting and encouraging it, reports Joan Solsman at The Wall Street Journal.
Many stores, including Restoration Hardware’s rival Pottery Barn, fought showrooming by “rushing to lower prices,” Solsman writes.
But Restoration Hardware decreased its number of physical stores and used the remaining ones as showrooms. Sofas, tables, rugs and other decor were meticulously arranged with an emphasis on the aesthetic. Customers could find even more merchandise online or in catalogues while shopping in the stores.
The tactic is working. Direct-to-consumer now makes up half of Restoration Hardware’s business, and the retailer has reported double-digit sales growth for 10 quarters, according to Solsman.
Restoration Hardware’s model probably wouldn’t work for Best Buy, the most prolific victim of “showrooming,” Solsman cautions.
“Furniture and decor, unlike consumer electronics and other items, aren’t easily searchable by specifications,” Solsman writes. “A highly fragmented market, home furnishings sellers benefit from many players having proprietary merchandise, which stunts online competitive threats.”
DON’T MISS: The Fabulous Life Of The Mysterious Billionaire Behind Zara >
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‘The Sad Moment Has Arrived’
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/tina-brown-daily-beast-firings-2012-12
Newsweek is cutting a chunk of its editorial staff.
We still don’t know exactly how many in the Newsweek/Daily Beast newsroom will be losing their jobs, but an anonymous source tells The New York Observer that it’s a “bloodbath” that could annihilate half the jobs in editorial.
The Observer acquired the somber memo editor-in-chief Tina Brown and CEO Baba Shetty sent out to the staff.
Here it is:
To: All Staff
From: Tina Brown / Baba Shetty
The sad moment has arrived when we must go forth with the editorial staff reductions that we discussed in person with all of you several weeks ago. Employees in the affected positions will be notified today. Much of this has already happened on the business side, and today we will be letting staff on the editorial side know where we will be eliminating positions. This is a very difficult day, and one that we approach with enormous regret.
Anyone whose job (or job category) is affected will meet today with a senior member of the editorial team. No one will be asked to leave before December 31st (and many will stay at least into mid-January). Managers will be getting in touch later this afternoon with groups of affected employees to let them know when and where their particular meeting will take place. After the meetings with management, you should feel free to speak with Holly Antiuk or Lauren Strada for more specifics on all aspects of this transition. We are working to ensure that the process is handled as sensitively as possible.
Tina & Baba
S EE ALSO: The Most Iconic And Controversial Newsweek Covers Ever >
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Google Is Bigger Than The U.S. Print Ad Business (GOOG, NYT, NWS, GCI)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-google-ad-revenue-2012-11
Here’s a look at how Google has been swallowing up the print business. Its ad revenues in the first half of this year were greater than the ad revenues of newspapers and U.S. magazines, according to German statistics site Statista (via Slate).
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YouTube Axing 60 Percent of Its Original Content Channels
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5959691/youtube-axing-60-percent-of-its-original-content-channels
Back in January, YouTube announced that it was launching around 160 channels of fresh, original content, that it would invest in to help it compete with traditional cable and network programming. Less than a year on, it’s axing over half of them.
YouTube injected $200 million into the project, which includes channels like The Onion and Jay-Z’s Life and Times. Seems the rewards haven’t been as forthcoming as they’d like: 60 percent are being axed, and YouTube will cream off 100 percent of incoming revenue from the ones that aren’t renewed.
As for what will and won’t make the cut, All Things D reports that it’s not revenue that’s the deciding factor, but watch time of the channels instead. [All Things D via Verge]
Image by Rego – d4u.hu under Creative Commons license
Actually, You Only Get To Use About Half The Storage On The Cheapest Surface Tablet (MSFT)
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-storage-2012-11
The cheapest model of Microsoft’s new Surface tablet comes with 32 GB storage, twice that of the cheapest iPad.
But here’s why: According to Microsoft, the Surface’s operating system takes up nearly half that space, leaving you with only 16 GB to play around with. In contrast, Apple’s iOS operating system only takes up about 1 GB of space.
Here’s the full breakdown from Microsoft, which we originally saw on TNW:
In a Reddit AMA session a few weeks ago, Microsoft’s Surface team said that the 32 GB model would have about 20 GB of free space. It looks like you actually get a bit less than that.
So while 32 GB sounds like a good deal, keep in mind you’re only getting a bit more storage than you would get on a similarly-priced iPad.
Facebook Posts Get Half Their Reach Within 30 Minutes of Being Published
A Facebook brand post will get half of its reach in the 30 minutes after it is published, according to updated data provided to MarketingCharts by Socialbakers. Socialbakers analyzed a select group of brand posts published on October 31st, finding that an average of one-third of post reach was obtained in just the first 10 […]
Early Shoppers Prefer Mass Merchants
Source: http://blog.compete.com/2012/11/01/early-shoppers-prefer-mass-merchants/
Image from: Holiday Shopping / Shutterstock
As we reach the end of October, more consumers are focusing their sights on December. As of October 21, about half the consumers surveyed in the Compete Holiday Intelligence™ survey had already begun shopping for the holidays, up 5 percent in 2 weeks. In fact, almost 1 out of 10 consumers had already finished half of their holiday shopping.
While more consumers got into the holiday spirit last week, they did not favor any one particular category. Shopping was up across almost all product categories. One of the most noticeable changes that occurred over the past few weeks was the decrease in gift card shopping and the increase in photo gift shopping. Perhaps consumers shop for generic stocking stuffers early and are now focusing on more personalized gifts.
Mass merchants continue to be the preferred destination for early holiday shoppers. Both in store and online shopping at these retailers increased last week compared to the first week of October. It is interesting to note that while Walmart in store purchases increased more than Target in store purchases, the opposite is true online. Target.com purchasing increased 150 percent whereas Walmart.com shopping only increased 58 percent.
The Compete Holiday Intelligence™ survey is your source for holiday insights. Be sure to check back in the coming months as we continue to track consumer shopping.
tablet shipments up 6.7 percent in Q3 2012, Apple’s market share drops to 50.4 percent
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/05/idc-tablet-shipments-Q3-2012/
Samsung may dominate Apple in smartphone market share, but the opposite is true for tablets. Third quarter figures from IDC suggest the tablet market grew by 6.7 percent during those three months, and 49.5 percent since the same period last year. Apple was responsible for over half of the 27.8 million shipments worldwide, but lost a significant amount of market share, dropping to 50.4 percent from 65.5 percent in the second quarter. IDC attributes this to consumers holding off for the iPad mini, but expects some of these procrastinators will choose Android tablets due to the relatively high entry price of $329 for the mini. Samsung was second on the leaderboard, shipping over five million tablets and increasing its market share to 18.4 percent, mainly driven by Galaxy Tab and Note 10.1 sales. Amazon and ASUS also had a solid quarter thanks to the Kindle Fires and Nexus 7, respectively, shipping around 2.5 million tablets a piece. Lenovo’s presence in
Filed under: Tablets, Apple, Samsung, ASUS, Amazon, Lenovo
IDC: tablet shipments up 6.7 percent in Q3 2012, Apple’s market share drops to 50.4 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Why Moms Recommend Brands
Source: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/interactive/why-moms-recommend-brands-and-why-it-matters-24256/
7 in 10 American mothers with children up to 12 years old make recommendations about brands, products and services to other mothers at least monthly, according to [download page] a study released October 2012 by The 360PR MomSquad and Mom It Forward. Fully half make brand recommendations daily. But what motivates them to recommend? Some […]
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Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
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