After Omniture’s acquisition surge last year, the web analytics industry has just been made even smaller by Yahoo’s acquisition of IndexTools. What does it mean when a relatively high-end tool like IndexTools is turned into a free offering like Google had done for Urchin?

Mostly, it means that Yahoo will be able to compete head-on with Google and Microsoft as they offer measured proof that advertising on their properties is a good investment. But how does this shrinking vendor landscape play against growing customer demand?

In these rocky economic times, upper management wants to know that a dollar spent online will result in two dollars earned. The online budget is not getting cut, but it is getting scrutinized like never before. They are looking for all the tools and best practices they can lay their hands on.

As free tools get better, the pay-for-play tools do as well. I look to Omniture, Coremetrics and WebTrends to step up to the challenge and help their high-end clients with even more systems, methods and consulting services. They are incorporating multi-campaign attribution in their tools so more of their clients are learning the ropes. Soon, there will be case studies and best practices.

Until then, I turn to people like Jim Novo and his post on Marketing Attribution Models. I look to Eric Peterson and Avinash Kaushik to keep holding up the lamp so the rest of us can see. I look to the Web Analytics Association to be the collective wisdom of the industry and for the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit to be the gathering place, where we can all learn from each other.

Will Google, Microsoft and Yahoo want to play at the enterprise end of the spectrum? Things move fast in this industry. Don’t blink!

Jim Sterne is president of Target Marketing and Chairman of the Web Analytics Association

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

That is to say, after a 50 plus-year reign of supremacy, has broadcast media begun to slide down a slippery slope to be consigned to history with the telegraph and Morse code? More and more evidence seems to be mounting that broadcast is facing troubled times. First, the market was segmented when cable came of age. The “Big three” were suddenly faced with actual competition and they lost significant numbers of eyeballs. This didn’t do a lot for programming initially, the song “500 Channels and Nothing on” sort of summed up the early cable landscape (with the possible exception of MTV, in the early days). But eventually, the industry found its footing and went the way of the magazine industry with channels dedicated to niche markets—think the History Channel for old men, the Food Network for people who like to eat, the Travel Channel for people who want to see the world without leaving their house, and Animal Planet for people who can sit through six hours of Ron Reagan commentating the riveting action of a dog show.

And while radio has always been a bit of a wild-west environment, the world reacted to the homogenization of content with satellite radio and our friends (soon to be friend) XM and Sirius (maybe Xirius, quick run out and register that URL). Once again we have channels that are designed to appeal to a much narrower demographic based on the inescapable logic that there may not be enough of an audience to make a radio station devoted entirely to the delta blues genre in any one metropolitan area, but if you take all of the people from all of the metropolitan areas in the country and add in the smattering of people in between those places, suddenly you have a potential audience that rivals the legions of Britney Spears fans that used to exist. And Clear Channel had to go running to a judge to make sure its leveraged buyout isn’t plagued by nit picky questions from a lot of bean counting bankers.

So, we see the broadcast universe moving to a model of medium-casting, with content appealing on different channels to smaller groups of people. But where do we go from here? (more…)

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Earlier today while “Facebooking,” I saw that my friend Savannah had posted a YouTube video on my friend Emily’s wall. The video was a teaser/preview for an upcoming string of new episodes for MTV’s widely popular “The Hills.” Although the show is completely ridiculous, it is a mindless, guilty pleasure nonetheless. I quickly copied the link and placed it into e-mail to shoot out to a few friends, jokingly telling them to mark their calendars for March 24th when the show returns. Although I’m slightly embarrassed, executives at MTV should be thrilled that this viral transgression of its content happened. Moreover, it was my friend’s response to my e-mail that I found most interesting.

“Sorry bro, I can’t tube at work,” Boris said. It was at that moment that I realized ERA’s keynote speaker at the upcoming eRetailer Summit in Miami on Monday had truly made the map. Like its parent Google before it, YouTube has become an action verb! Join me in Miami on Monday to hear YouTube’s Brian Cusack discuss the promises and challenges of video in advertising.

Click on the video if you’d like a peak at the senseless L.A. drama.

Hopefully, I’ll see you in Miami where we can discuss issues that actually matter, involving not only your bottom line, but also your company’s future.

Pat Cauley, eMedia editor, Electronic Retailer Magazine

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Let’s face it, Washington is not known for being hip, but last night’s party held at Google’s D.C. office was very cool. They were celebrating the opening of their Government Affairs office and I was thrilled to be invited. U.S. Representatives, FCC Commissioners, business leaders and a sea of 30-somethings bent on improving the world sipped on “YouTubes” (a cocktail concoction) and munched on sushi, while Xbox games played on walls throughout the office draped with dramatic colors and distinctive furniture.

How nice it was to hear from Google’s president, Eric Schmidt, that Google understands the importance of working within the system to affect change. He was talking about Net Neutrality—a battle ERA members share with Google. It’s always a pleasure to hear a CEO who “gets it” and makes the commitment to be an active player.

However, perhaps the biggest thrill of the evening for me was meeting the “father” of the Internet—no not Al Gore, but the inventor himself —Vint Serf! I was pleasantly surprised by how gracious and humble he was in light of his tremendous contribution to society.

It was a great evening. As I headed to my car, I was heartened to feel the energy and excitement surround not the party itself, but rather the spirit of the industry. The future is indeed very bright.

Barbara Tulipane is ERA’s president and CEO

Bookmark It

Hide Sites