June 4, 2008

Google, Amazon Survive Rest Fade Away, Analyst Claims!

There is a 310-page report that basically sees only two major internet companies surviving in the future, "U.S. Internet: The End of the Beginning" will be available to buy Tuesday - am guessing Amazon will have it. Amazon and Google were singled out to continue dominance, Reuters reported.

Read it but think how all industries offline have a group of competitors of varying sizes. The report was written before MicroHoo split, talks of IAC and Ebay being broken up - one happening when written, the other a suggestion by the Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay.

I don't think I will be the only one thinking many of his arguments will not come to pass. This is a strong controversial stance that will see many who have their own argument make comment.... will Google see it as link bait? No, but Ask and Yahoo should,

Guess EBay CEO Meg Whitman can run for the Democrats now - heard her as a possible VP candidate. Lindsay sees auction model dying... guess he has never seen the attendance at off line auctions.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 10, 2008

eMarketer Releases Mobile and Online Advertising Projections

If you love advertising projections, then have we got some numbers for you. eMarketer has released new projections for both mobile advertising and online advertising.

This year, US mobile ad spending is expected to reach $1.7 billion, up from $878 million last year. By 2012, it will reach $6.5 billion in the US, but it's the Asia-Pacific market that's expected to dominate the mobile landscape by then, with the middle class in China and India making up the bulk of that demographic. Worldwide, mobile ad spending is projected to reach $19 billion by 2012.

Meanwhile, online spending is expected to continue growing, the the rate at which the growth will occur will decline, at least for a few years.

In 2008, eMarketer projects online ad spend to reach $25.9 billion, a 23% increase over 2007 spending. It's slightly lower than their previous 2008 projection set at $27.5 billion, released in October 2007.

But in 2009, expect to see the growth rate drop to 15.8%, followed by 16.7% in 2010 and 17.1% in 2011. Things start to look robust again in 2012, when a recovered economy is projected to boost the online ad spend up by 24.4% and reaching a whopping $51 billion.

Related Reading: Report: Online Ad Growth Slowing The Offline Benefits of Online Advertising Google + DoubleClick = 69% of Online Advertising Market How Search Will Save Online Advertising... Again!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:56 AM | Permalink

January 10, 2008

Will Newspapers Compete with SEOs and SEMs?

The Kelsey Group analysts get Search. Today their analyst team published 2008 Local Search trends and developments. Breaking news you can use in your search engine strategies all year long. Highlights:

Rise of Vertical Sellers : vertical sales will saturate big ad spend categories.

What does that mean for SEOs and SEMs?

Newspaper groups will offer SEO/SEM solutions.

That's right. Imagine competing with The New York Times for search marketing clients. Internet and vertical resellers will target auto and real estate via SEO/SEM. Lots of new start-ups will announce plans to enter these categories.

In the real estate vertical: MLS listings will start creeping into non-Realtor.com sites.

Expect rapid dev in real estate and auto verticals online, expansion of local search inventory. The move toward search on specialized devices grows. UGC (user-generated content) will make an evolutionary leap in consumer decision-making

Matt Booth, Kelsey's SVP of Interactive Local Media, had a stellar track record for 2007 predictions -- perhaps an even better batting average than Battelle. And that's saying alot.

Booth and his Interactive Local Media analyst team (including SEW Expert Mike Boland) also predict:

1. print Yellow Pages advertising products will feature call-tracking numbers 2. call tracking numbers will enable variable pricing 3. merchants and call tracking online and offline to increase call volume

That's news CEOs will love: proven ROI online and offline.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:11 PM | Permalink

January 2, 2007

Collected Predictions for 2007

It's a new year, full of new hope, new opportunities, and new predictions. For those of you interested in such annual prognostications, here are a few that we've collected from search and social media bloggers:

John Battelle, FM Publishing Tim Converse until recently of Yahoo, now of Powerset Mark Kingdon, of Organic

Several more are part of a new "blog tag" meme started by Pete Cashmore at Mashable: Andy Beal Kim Krause Berg Avinash Kaushik Todd Malicoat/stuntdbl Michael Gray/Graywolf Cameron Olthuis

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:42 PM | Permalink

December 12, 2006

White paper says vertical search will hit $1 billion by 2009

Kate Maddox of B2BOnline reports today on a new white paper by Slack Barshinger and SearchChannel that projects revenue from B2B vertical search engines will reach $1 billion by 2009.

Entitled “The Emerging Opportunity in Vertical Search,” the white paper analyzes 38 B2B vertical search engines serving two dozen industries, including Business.com, SearchFinance, ThomasNet and Zibb.

According to the report, the number of B2B vertical search engines grew by 26% in the past six months.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 10:20 AM | Permalink

December 5, 2006

Avenue A | Razorfish Releases "Actionable Analytics" Report

Avenue A | Razorfish released a new report today which addresses the connection between Analytics and future Search Marketing success. Yes I do work with AA|RF, but I feel that the report has excellent information that can be of use to any marketer engaged in the online space.

The report discusses in detail the topics of media analytics as well as web site analytics and CRM issues. The media analytics section suggests “measurements and analyses that allow you to determine challenges ranging from allocating marketing spend across media to creating the right mix of brand and direct response marketing."

It includes sections about brand versus direct response and developing advanced attribution models. The web analytics section claims that many current tools are “flawed if used as holistic media measurement solution, and should be augmented with purpose-built media analytics tools.”

The CRM section includes a case study of a project for Alaska Airlines. It recommends methodologies to create a seamless customer experience, and describes how to extend segmentation and personalization to email and direct mail. Lastly, it suggests how to plug online media into an e-CRM solution.

The report is available free via registration here. I will go to Search Engine Watch forums later today to start a thread to the findings presented, and will add a link here then.

Posted by Chris Boggs at 10:07 AM | Permalink

August 23, 2006

Aug. 23, 2006 Search News Forecast: Mostly Sunny!

It's mellow. Techmeme's mellow, my feeds are mellow, the search news feels calm. The Google-Brazil thing is getting more chatter, and the Microsoft-Facebook deal's also getting chatter, and I'm sure some other items will come up. But I cautiously predict it will be mostly sunny in terms of search news. Go ahead, start those vacation and holiday plans early.

Remember, predicting search news is never perfectly accurate, and search weather can change unexpectedly. Stay tuned to the Search Engine Watch Blog, and we'll keep you updated on weather changes throughout the day. Icon still borrowed from Yahoo Weather, until we finally get our own going.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:36 AM | Permalink

August 22, 2006

Aug. 22, 2006 Search News Forecast: Mostly Sunny!

Techmeme seems calm, my feeds are calm, I feel calm -- plus people are already heading off on that final summer vacation. So after spitting into the wind, tugging on Superman's cape and pulling the mask off the ole Lone Ranger, I cautiously declare it mostly sunny in terms of search news.

Remember, predicting search news is never perfectly accurate, and search weather can change unexpectedly. Stay tuned to the Search Engine Watch Blog, and we'll keep you updated on weather changes throughout the day. Icon still borrowed from Yahoo Weather, until we finally get our own going.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:49 AM | Permalink

August 21, 2006

Aug. 21, 2006 Search News Forecast: Cloudy!

Techmeme remains quiet, but I see stormclouds after scanning my over 100 feeds in RSS Bandit. Expect search news to close in and cloud those sunny skies of last week.

The comScore declaration of Yahoo finally gaining share after months of saying they were down will buzz a ton of clouds across the sky. I'll be doing more on that later today on the blog.

Google as the new evil Microsoft that stomps on small companies is old news, but the "Kiko Affair" where a small calendaring start up pulls out has people like Paul Graham bringing the idea back. Watch it spread further today, as it hit over at John Battelle already. We're skipping a deeper look, ourselves.

Farecast finally expands with data for more than Seattle and Boston, and that's already getting buzz such as here.

Google Base is now providing listings statistics, which we'll look at more today, and that's sure to fuel up the look out eBay crowd.

Hey, you can also now see me on video doing a Q&A with Eric Schmidt at SES earlier this month at Google Video here or transcript here.

That's just some of the news so far. Overall, there should be no major downpour of serious search news but more likely cloudy commentary on the industry that will vie for your attention.

Remember, predicting search news is never perfectly accurate, and search weather can change unexpectedly. Stay tuned to the Search Engine Watch Blog, and we'll keep you updated on weather changes throughout the day. Icon borrowed from Yahoo Weather, until we finally get our own going.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:58 AM | Permalink

August 18, 2006

Aug. 18, 2006 Search News Forecast: Sunny!

After reviewing Techmeme, scanning over 100 feeds and consulting with Barry Schwartz on search forums activity, the official Search Engine Watch Blog forecast for search news today is sunny.

Sunny means things are about as calm in the search world as you can hope for. Go ahead, take the day off. You'll need it. After yesterday's mostly sunny forecast, you can expect heavy search rain to start falling sometime next week. The good weather has to break sometime.

Remember, predicting search news is never perfectly accurate, and search weather can change unexpectedly. Stay tuned to the Search Engine Watch Blog, and we'll keep you updated on weather changes throughout the day. Icon borrowed from Yahoo Weather, until we finally get our own going.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:38 AM | Permalink

August 17, 2006

Aug. 17, 2006 Search News Forecast: Mostly Sunny

Today, a new feature, our daily search news forecast. I can't say we'll do this everyday, but we thought it might be fun. After reviewing Techmeme, scanning my over 100 feeds and consulting with Barry Schwartz on search forums activity, the official Search Engine Watch Blog forecast for search news today is mostly sunny.

Mostly sunny means that you can expect some news, but probably nothing major and a downpour of items is unlikely. In other words, it's a good day to go outside or get actual work done, rather than reading about search.

Remember, predicting search news is never perfectly accurate, and search weather can change unexpectedly. Stay tuned to the Search Engine Watch Blog, and we'll keep you updated on weather changes throughout the day. Icon borrowed from Yahoo Weather, with hopes a link to them will make them happy.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:43 AM | Permalink