901am

New Media News Every Morning

Google tops comScore’s June U.S. search engine rankings

By

comScore today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines. In June 2007, Google Sites maintained its spot atop the rankings with 49.5 percent of the U.S. search market. Yahoo! Sites captured second place with 25.1 percent of U.S. searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (13.2 percent), Ask Network (5.0 percent) and Time Warner Network (4.2 percent).

search_june.jpg

Other key findings include:

Americans conducted 8.0 billion searches online in June, up 6 percent versus May and up 26 percent versus June 2006.

Google Sites led the pack with 4.0 billion search queries performed, followed by Yahoo Sites (2.0 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.1 billion), Ask Network (403 million), and Time Warner Network (341 million). Despite declining in search market share in June, both Google Sites and Yahoo! Sites enjoyed increases in search query volume.

Microsoft Sites experienced a significant increase in search query volume (up 36 percent) and search market share (up 2.9 share points) in June, due in large part to Live Search Club, a program launched by Microsoft in late May to engage and reward users of Live Search.

Originally posted on July 16, 2007 @ 5:11 pm

Mobile video advertisers missing opportunities to connect with willing consumers

By

Four in five consumers who watch mobile video say they are willing to view mobile advertising if the reward is free content but less than 30% feel that mobile ads are relevant to them. These are among the findings from a new Knowledge Networks/SRI report, How People Use Mobile Video 2007.

How People Use Mobile Video 2007 details mobile video usage and interest among those with video iPods, video-capable cellphones, and laptop computers, making distinctions between those who actually use mobile video functions and those who do not. The report also offers trends for 2006 versus 2007; for example, use of iPods and cell phones to view video has doubled in the past year.

The new report also shows that: the proportion of users paying for mobile video dropped notably in the past year among both video iPod users (from 81% to 61%) and among video cell phone users (from 64% to 50%); the average viewing session is quite different for video cell phones (46% of users report an average session of 5 minutes or less) compared with video iPods or laptops (53% of these users report an average session of 30 minutes or more); and viewing of movies has risen dramatically among those use who use the video functions on iPods (from 1% to 54%) and laptops (2% to 34%).

Originally posted on July 13, 2007 @ 1:23 pm

adap.tv secures $10 million in funding to expand product offerings

By

adap.tv, an online video advertising platform that allows publishers and advertisers to match relevant advertising with online video content, announced that it has closed a Series A funding round of $10 million from new investor Redpoint Ventures and existing investor Gemini Israel Funds, to enhance and expand the company’s product offerings, broaden recruitment efforts, and grow operations.

adap.tv’s advertising platform unlocks the value of the entire video by offering viewer-friendly advertising and message placement functionality that extends beyond pre- and post-roll advertising spots. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms that not only analyze video content and determine the most relevant ad, the company’s technology adapts in real time to viewer behavior, thereby increasing the success rates for publishers and advertisers alike.

“Securing funding from two of the finest investment firms validates the potential of our business,” said adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi, formerly the co-founder and CTO of Shopping.com. “The validation and support we have received from the investment community is critical to building out adap.tv’s business and securing our leadership role in the online video advertising market.”

Originally posted on July 13, 2007 @ 10:15 am

Guy Kawasaki joins JesusCentral.com Board of Governors

By

guykawasaki.jpgJesusCentral.com, an educational site for people who want to learn about Jesus, announced that Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, has joined the company’s Board of Governors. Kawasaki catapulted to fame during his tenure as an “evangelist” for Apple Computer Inc. He is a renowned venture capitalist and co-founder of Truemors, as well as an accomplished author and speaker.

“My passion is for people and companies whose underlying purpose is to set new standards of innovation and change the world,” Kawasaki said. “I believe that the world will one day recognize JesusCentral.com as the best place on the Web to learn and share about Jesus.”

“Guy brings an inimitable set of marketing skills to his role as advisor to JesusCentral.com. Having worked with Guy for years on another board, I have seen firsthand how he encourages innovation and change, as well as sets the foundation for growth,” said Vip Patel, founder and president of JesusCentral.com. Patel is also the founder of eHealth, Inc., the parent company of eHealthInsurance, an online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses.

Originally posted on July 11, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

Filed Under: Web

Knibble.com takes a bite out of online casual gaming

By

KnibbleInteractive Media Technology Inc. announced its new gaming flagship product Knibble.com, an easy-to-use directory and search engine for online casual games. Game enthusiasts can browse over 10,000 free Flash-based games and thanks to social networking components, participants can share with friends, comment on the latest game tips and tricks and embed their favorite games in personal sites like MySpace.com.

Using web-based crawling technology, Knibble.com continually adds the best casual games available by perusing existing sites for top ranked games. Additionally, Knibble.com allows users to play all games without registration. Currently, the top online casual games are solitaire, chess, checkers, poker, bridge, air hockey and pinball.

As part of the social networking functionality of Knibble.com, games that become top ranked by users will be moved to the top of the site for improved visibility. The interactive community experience coupled with virtually thousands of casual games has primed Knibble.com to become the leading authority in online gaming.

Originally posted on July 12, 2007 @ 2:37 pm