901am

New Media News Every Morning

News Corp.’s Fox takes majority stake in online video network utarget

By

.FOX Networks, an international ad network operated by News Corporation’s Fox International Channels, has acquired a majority stake in utarget, a European ad network that specializes in high-impact formats such as online video and subsites.

The unit, which will be rebranded utarget.Fox, owns the UK’s premium video advertising network of 630+ top-tier UK websites.

The new unit will work with the Fox Interactive Media Audience Network to pursue network advertising relationships with News Corp. sites and other third parties, further bolstering News Corporation’s efforts in the online advertising space, it said.

It added that the acquisition will enable .FOX Networks to provide News Corp.-owned sites, third party publishers and advertisers additional opportunities for video ads of any length, targeted demographically or contextually.

utarget’s video products will be offered by .FOX and Fox International Channels’ online and television sales teams in 33 offices in Europe, Latin America and Asia, on a global, regional, multi-territory or local basis.

No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

Originally posted on April 8, 2008 @ 12:34 pm

Internet Brands acquires five websites

By

ibrands.pngInternet Brands, Inc. has acquired five leisure-related websites in its consumer Internet division, extending the company’s strategy of targeting high value, high growth vertical markets. All five sites feature deep vertical content and high user involvement.

The largest of the sites, FitDay.com, is a global leader in the online dieting and fitness segment. Three other sites target rapidly growing consumer interest in high-definition home entertainment, while the fifth site, VetInfo.com, features extensive content related to pet health.

With these acquisitions on a full-month basis, Internet Brands’ unique monthly visitors climbed to 34 million in March 2008, while monthly page views increased to 458 million in the same period.

The full list of acquisitions includes:

• FitDay.com, a free online fitness journal and calorie counter with more than 2 million registered users that helps dieters and fitness enthusiasts achieve and maintain their fitness goals.

• HighDefForums.com, a thriving community website that hosts discussions related to all aspects of the next-generation HDTV format, including topics about HD televisions, receivers, camcorders, and other hardware; cable and satellite HD programming providers; and Blu-ray and HD-DVD movie discs.

• HighDefDigest.com, a site dedicated exclusively to high-definition movie discs, including reviews of thousands of Blu-ray and HD-DVD titles.

• AVRev.com (Audio Video Revolution), a comprehensive home theater resource featuring professional and user-generated audio/video equipment reviews and ratings, as well as the latest home theater product news.

• VetInfo.com, a leading provider of pet health content that helps pet owners understand diseases, disorders, and health maintenance requirements of their animals.

Originally posted on April 8, 2008 @ 8:51 am

Media General complete purchase of DealTaker.com

By

Media General has completed the purchase of DealTaker.com, an online social shopping portal that attracts nearly 500,000 unique visitors per month who are seeking shopping bargains.

DealTaker.com is profitable with a robust double-digit profit margin and the transaction is expected to be accretive to Media General’s 2008 earnings. While the specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed, it is an asset purchase made at a mid-single-digit multiple.

Originally posted on March 30, 2008 @ 9:20 pm

Microsoft to acquire Rapt

By

Microsoft Corp. is planning to acquire Rapt Inc., provider of advertising yield management solutions for digital media publishers. Rapt’s technology, along with its information and advisory services offerings, will become key components of the Atlas Publisher Suite, part of Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. With the inclusion of Rapt, the Atlas Publisher Suite allows Microsoft to provide its customers with integrated asset and inventory management, forecasting, yield and sales management, and ad delivery and operations.

A key product that will emerge from the marriage of Rapt’s planning capabilities and Atlas’ campaign management capabilities is an integrated publisher sales workflow solution. This solution will improve upon the existing industry offerings for publishers’ sales teams when used with Rapt’s existing pricing analytics, inventory management and business intelligence products on top of Atlas’ ad serving platform.

Originally posted on March 14, 2008 @ 8:20 am

Google CEO claims Microhoo deal a big threat to the Internet world

By

erich-schmidt.gifWell, what exactly do you think Google CEO Eric Schmidt will say when asked about Microsoft – Yahoo deal? A match made in heaven? No way! Of course he will paint a really gloomy picture craftily hidden in powerful words and compelling statistics.

Here’s an example quoted by Conde Nast Portfolio and posted at AHN.

“It’s an unstable condition. But the theoretical issue is the concentration of Microsoft’s resources and its history, combined with the very large share that it would have in certain applications – like instant messaging and email – that could be used essentially to break the internet and diminish choice.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real reason why Google is helping Yahoo! It’s not for profit or any vested interests. I know it’s hard to believe but yes it’s really hard to believe! Microhoo deal is a big threat to Google, maybe not in search but in the mobile Internet. So, it’s very likely Google will do anything in its capacity to thwart that deal.

Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 11:23 am