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Monday, October 20, 2008
Layoffs at Heavy.com - Now at 57 employees
By Rafat Ali - Fri 17 Oct 2008 12:08 PM PST
Heavy.com, the NYC-based online video site aimed at young men, has laid off about 20 more employees, after doing a round of cuts in June, when it laid off 25 employees. Back then it had about 80 employees after the cuts then...now, with some attrition since then, they are down to around 57, the company tells me. The news comes as the company has recently spun off the online video ad network division Husky Media into a separate company. The troubles of Heavy have been brewing for a while, as it has tried to distinguish itself from the slew of other video players-- both new and bigger media companies-- in the market...some other players in the market have also questioned its traffic acquisition tactics over the years. The company has raised at least five rounds of funding before, including a $20 million round from Polaris last year.
The company’s official statement on the new layoffs: “Given the current economic downturn and related uncertainty in its industry, Heavy today reduced its staff by 14%. With its premium Heavy Men’s Network platform serving 23M young men per month in the US alone, and profitable International operations in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, Heavy is strongly positioned for any dip in the advertising market.”
The news was first reported by SAI.
Posted in: Broadband, Social Media
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Clearspring Gets $18M to Make Smarter Widget Ads (Mashable Post)
Clearspring Gets $18M to Make Smarter Widget Ads
May 20, 2008 — 11:19 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole —
Clearspring, the widget company that has broken into the advertising and distributed media realm, has raised $18 million in a Series C round of funding, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Novak Biddle Venture Partners, with existing investors also participating in the round.
Harry Weller, a partner at NEA, will be joining the Clearspring Board of Directors, as will Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, Ted Leonsis, AOLs Vice Chairman Emeritus (who is now Clearspring’s Chairman), Miles Gilburne, and Nigel Morris, co-founder of Capital One, who also has a great deal of experience in helping companies go public. That’s a lot of new board members to go along with the hefty round of funding, and a pretty powerful set of newcomers.
Clearspring Looking for an Exit, or an IPO?
Aside from wondering what Clearspring would be doing with the $18 million in funding, I also wondered if bringing such high level business veterans onto the team could be an indication of Clearspring hoping to go public or possibly sell. I asked Clearspring founder Hooman Radfar is this was the case, and he told me that he’s out to “build a really big company, and we’re not really looking for an exit. We don’t believe you can build a company for an exit. It’s better to build according to your vision.”
Plans for Putting $18 Million to Good Use: Standardize & Make Smarter Widget Ads
So with $18 in Series C, has Clearspring joined the ranks of Ning, Slide, and the rest? I’d say so. With standards for widget distribution, a platform available for publishers to create, distribute and track their own widgets, a developing advertising network and other tools for widgetizing and monetizing web content, Clearspring is among the most prominent widget platforms out there.
And Clearspring is only going to get bigger. The funding will be used for three main aspects of the company: expanding Clearspring in the ad space, cultivating its data collection and reporting services, and growing its sales team. On aspect of this growth plan that was of particular interest to me was the data collection and reporting services.
As most other widget companies have done for the past couple of years, Clearspring has been gathering demographic information on its users, advertisers, an methods of distribution. While such a sprawled, consumer-driven technique hasn’t become fully standardized for monetization purposes, the space is getting there.
Clearspring is hoping to help provide that standard by further developing its tracking tools. In doing so, widgets and advertisements, whether they be in-widget ads or full widget ads, can be placed on sites more effectively. This improved execution for ad placement is a common goal for online advertising companies, and in my experience, widget companies with advertising components are well equipped to offer a set of metrics that’s useful towards this end.
Next Stop for Clearspring: More Social
So for the future of Clearspring? Radfar hinted that the company’s widgets will become more social, through increased interaction across networks and open platforms, as well as partnerships with other social media companies. We’ll be seeing more details about this plan in the coming year.
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Clearspring Raises $18m | Mobilitee
2008-05-21 06:24:24
Clearspring Raises $18 Million « Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp’s Web 2.0 blog
2008-05-21 08:50:28
Marc’s Voice » Blog Archive » Another day, even more blogging
2008-05-21 14:20:15
4 Comments »
Brad
2008-05-21 09:24:01
We at Animoto are huge fans (and an early customer) of Hooman and the Clearspring team. We wouldn't be where we are without them. Can't wait to see where this funding takes them.
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News about Popsause Ad Network and Netvibes' New CEO
Zvue Launches Popsauce Ad Network
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 8:00 AM ET
CEO of ZVUE Jeff OscodarPublicly traded digital entertainment company Zvue is redoubling its efforts in the hot arena of ad networks with popsauce--a "pop culture" ad network of video sites targeting 18- to-34-year-old influencers.
The popsauce network, set to debut today, represents a mixture of user-generated-content and licensed professional media from SonyBMG, Showtime, Warner Music, National Lampoon, and Disney-ABC Television Group's Stage 9 Digital Media, among others, Zvue CEO Jeff Oscodar tells Online Media Daily.
"Popsauce delivers on a promise to reach the most valuable consumers online," Oscodar said.
Late last year, Zvue dropped its old name, HandHeld Entertainment, and launched an online video ad network to monetize its library of professional and CGM content.
In April, however, Zvue received a letter of warning from Nasdaq to get its stock price up. If, by October, Zvue fails to raise the bid price for its common stock--which had closed below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days--the company could be delisted from the exchange.
"It's a capital issue, not a business issue," Oscodar said. "We were given six months to show that the stock price can rise above a dollar, and I'm not worried about that."
The bulk of the San Francisco-based company's revenue still comes from the sale of MP3 players. Yet it has increasingly focused on the operation of its network of sites, including holylemon.com, dorks.com and funmansion.com.
With possession of the popular video-sharing network eBaum's World, Zvue Networks currently projects nearly 3.5 billion page views and video streams served annually.
The popsauce network also recently signed distribution agreements with Next New Networks--to feature some of its content, including the popular "Obama Girl" videos--and Stage 9, Disney-ABC Television Group's new digital studio.
The network offers advertisers pre- and post-roll video advertisements, in-stream flash overlay advertisements, and banner and other alternative rich media advertisements.
Zvue Networks also provides advertisers with access to specific psychographics and includes vertical categories such as music, entertainment, and video games.
Gavin O'Malley can be reached at gavin@mediapost.com
Update on 5/29/08
Freddy Mini as Netvibes’ Chief Executive Officer
Netvibes Founder to Remain on Board of Directors as Strategic Advisor
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Netvibes, the pioneer of the personalized homepage and leading universal widget platform, today announced that it has appointed Freddy Mini as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Netvibes founder Tariq Krim will remain on the Board of Directors as a key adviser to the executive team on its creative product and strategic growth initiatives.
Freddy Mini commented, “Tariq is a true visionary who not only pioneered the concept of the widget economy, but helped prove it by creating a universal widget platform that’s currently used by more than 1,000 leading media and technology companies. By painting such a compelling picture for the future of the personalized, widgetized Web, Tariq has also attracted a very large and truly international community of dedicated users. I am grateful for his continued support as a member of the Board and key strategic advisor as we enter our next stage of growth as a global media company for the emerging widget economy.”
Tariq Krim founded Netvibes in 2005 and as CEO oversaw the original development of the Netvibes super-personalized homepage and its adoption by millions of users across the world. Krim established the first models for today’s emergent widget economy by creating the Netvibes Ecosystem, sponsored widget model and universal widget platform that have enabled major media companies and developers to monetize distribute widgets across leading platforms including Yahoo, Google, Apple and Microsoft simultaneously.
“As Chief Operating Officer, Freddy has continually proven himself as an invaluable partner in building Netvibes’ core business operations and global media partnerships,” said Netvibes founder Tariq Krim. “His experience in establishing major online media companies and rapidly scaling operations and infrastructure for global enterprises uniquely qualifies him as the best choice to drive Netvibes’ next chapter of growth as we continue to accelerate as a global media distribution powerhouse for widgets.”
Since 2006, Freddy Mini has served as Netvibes COO, establishing the company’s US operations and leading international business development with hundreds of major media and technology companies, such as CBS, USA Today, Le Figaro, New York Times and MIVA. Mini was also in charge of creating and managing the company’s new marketing initiatives, sponsorships and revenue streams. Previously, Mini served as Senior VP and Managing Director of CNET Networks Europe, where he was responsible for creating and building their operations to more than 200 people while exceeding all profitability goals, and CEO of Ziff-Davis France. Before that, Freddy had also led the music search engine startup musicMe, AltaVista’s worldwide marketing efforts and Lotus Development Corp’s word processing business.
About Netvibes(http://www.netvibes.com)
Founded in 2005, Netvibes pioneered the personalized homepage as alternative to traditional web portals. Today, Netvibes is a global community of users who are taking control of their digital lives by personalizing their web experience. Netvibes lets individuals assemble all in one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.
Netvibes has established the leading universal widget platform that is used by thousands of publishers around the world. Netvibes has offices in Paris, London and San Francisco.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Press Release about Widgets as Ads
CLEARSPRING TO SERVE WIDGETS AS ADS
New Ad Format Extends Advertisers' Relationship with its Audience
NEW YORK, NY, ad:tech New York (Nov. 7, 2007) — Clearspring Technologies, the market leader in widget syndication and tracking, today announced the launch of Clearspring for Advertisers, a new service that delivers widgets as online ads. The new ad-served format enables marketers to replace standard-sized online banner ads with interactive, portable widgets.
Unlike banner ads, widgets are shareable Web applications or components that consumers can easily grab and post to their social networking site, personal start page or blog of their choice. Posted widgets retain their viral capability and can be shared time and again. This allows for the advertiser's message to spread across the Web, creates a direct channel for marketers to engage in continuous conversations with their audience and lets end users establish themselves as advocates for their favorite products, movies, TV shows and brands. Sony Pictures Entertainment, The CW Television Network, Comedy Central, DreamWorks Animation, and Warner Bros. have all recently used Clearspring for Advertisers.
Sony Pictures Entertainment was Clearspring's first partner to use ad widgets for two movie releases this year - Superbad and Resident Evil: Extinction. "By using ad widgets instead of standard-sized banners, we were able to extend our time with the consumer and their network of friends, as they made our ad widget part of their personal pages," said Dwight Caines, executive vice president, Worldwide Digital Marketing, Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The CW Television Network, also used Clearspring for Advertisers to launch an ad-widget campaign this year to build buzz among teens about the fall season premier of the Gossip Girl TV series. The day before the show premiered, thousands of fans had posted the Gossip Girl widget on their personal pages. These fans continue to promote Gossip Girl to their friends. The CW's use of ad widgets instead of standard-sized banners on sites such as People.com and MySpace, generated more than 65 million widget views during the campaign launch period, and continues to receive impressions.
Clearspring for Advertisers is fully integrated with the top ad-serving systems including DoubleClick and Mediaplex. Clearspring also offers a full set of analytics and reporting tools so advertisers can monitor activity as ad widgets traverse the Web and repurpose media placements in response to each widget's viral performance.
Clearspring publishes widgets that can be shared on multiple social networking sites, start pages and blogs like Friendster, TypePad, Blogger, iGoogle, Windows Live, Netvibes, Pageflakes, Webwag, and Freewebs, as well as on Facebook and MySpace. Clearspring provides advertisers the ability to convert ad widgets into fully compatible Facebook applications.
According to Hooman Radfar, founder and chief executive officer of Clearspring, "With Clearspring for Advertisers, everybody wins. Marketers can make one media buy and have the potential to increase impressions and get more bang for their media buck. Creative directors and producers unleash their ideas on a new platform for innovation, and the advertiser sustains a dialogue with the end user, who becomes an advocate for the brand."
Built for mission-critical campaigns, Clearspring's widget distribution service is used by the world's largest media companies and brand advertisers, including NBC Universal, Time Warner and the NBA. Clearspring for Advertisers is a scalable, reliable and fault- tolerant service, with its servers geographically distributed to support the world's most successful campaigns. For more information go to http://www.clearspring.com/advertising
About Clearspring
Clearspring is the market's leading widget syndication and tracking service, used by the world's largest media companies and advertisers, and independent widget developers. Clearspring helps publishers and marketers extend their reach to the leading social networks, start pages and blogs and to respond to growing consumer demand for a more personalized desktop, Web, and mobile experience. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., Clearspring offers a comprehensive set of widget creation, distribution, management and monetization services. For more information about Clearspring Technologies and how to use widgets in your business or to join the Clearspring developer community, please visit www.clearspring.com.
- Clearspring To Serve Widgets As Ads
November 7, 2007 - Clearspring Announces Launchpad to Empower Developers
October 29, 2007 - Clearspring and Freewebs Create Partnership
July 18, 2007 - Clearspring and RockYou Create Partnership
July 10, 2007 - NBC Universal Launches Widgets to Expand Distribution of Content on Digital Platforms
June 6, 2007 - Clearspring Widgets Hit 3 Billion Mark
May 2, 2007 - Clearspring Introduces Widget Syndication Services
November 6, 2006
- Tear Down This Wall: Clearspring Blurs the Line Between Facebook and the Widget Ecosystem
Sexy Widget - MySpace Widget Explosion: Clearspring, MyCityMate, Pikipimp
Mashable - 8 Startups to Watch out for in 2007
StartupSquad - ClearSpring enters the widget space with a developer focus
Read/WriteWeb - Most Interesting Web 2.0 Company?
VCMike's Blog - Wrap-Up from Widgets Live
GigaOM - Clearspring to Track Widgets Across Netvibes, MySpace and More
Mashable
Clearspring PR
© 2008 Clearspring Technologies, Inc.
AOL unveils Spot Marketplace
By David Kaplan - Wed 23 Apr 2008 09:01 PM PST
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-aols-platform-a-answers-spray-and-pray-ad-sales-with-spot-market-system/
AOL’s (NYSE: TWX) Platform-A is unveiling Spot Marketplace, a service that aims to give advertisers a bit more selectivity when it comes to online placements, the company tells us. The new service is intended as a complement to its recently launched PubAccess inventory management tool for publishers in the Advertising.com network. Platform-A also hopes the new spot-buying service will help to separate the company from the “spray and pray” placement description that remnant ads sales are often derided by, since most advertisers have little choice over where their ads wind up in these systems. While this doesn’t offer the kind of specificity ad buys get on vertical ad networks, Spot Marketplace looks like it could narrow the field a bit for online marketers. Advertisers can use the new spot marketplace to choose inventory on a performance basis - either cost-per-click or cost-per-action - across such AOL-branded sites like Moviefone, as well as the publisher sites in the Ad.com network.
* AOL’s Platform-A Makes Its Pitch To Small Publishers With Advertising.com PubAccess Service
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Social media news and information for April 22, 2008
Community ad program opens in beta: Separately, MySpace is testing a program designed to help advertisers create communities around their brands. Dubbed the Community Builder platform, the program has two tiers: Self-Service and Full-Service. Both versions give advertisers instant community updates via blogs and bulletins, as well as Hitbox analytics designed to tell them how effective the campaign is. Self-Service is basically aimed at advertisers who are familiar with MySpace and who have advanced design coding skills and can maintain their own site. Community Builder is powered by Brooklyn, NY-based web shop Deep Focus. Release
of producing a hit movie or TV show.
-- Reuters: Filmaka is aiming for global reach and is developing a local language site for India; it might create a similar site for Japan as well.
Posted in: Broadband, Entertainment, Media, Social Media
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The Gold Rush For Ad Nets is On; But Crowded Space Brings An End To Remnants Low Prices
By David Kaplan - Mon 21 Apr 2008 01:46 PM PST
A prolonged economic downturn could turn out to be a upturn for advertising networks, at least in the short term. But, as the space gets more crowded with companies selling remnant, or unsold inventory, the fortunes for many such ad nets could change. As the NYT illustrates, many ad networks that focus on remnant ad space charge as little as $4 CPMs versus the average $40 CPMs commanded by portals like Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) or MSN. Meanwhile, the suddenly trendy vertical ad nets offered by major media publishers dont offer the promise of cheap prices; instead, promising greater placement on top sites and like-minded affiliates.
The following CEOs will be speaking at EconSM:
Come listen to them at our EconSM conference on April 29th, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Dalton Caldwell, Founder and CEO, imeem
Seth Goldstein, Co-founder and CEO, SocialMedia Networks
Keith Richman, Co-founder and CEO, Break.com
Kevin Rose, Founder and Chief Architect, Digg
Toni Schneider, CEO, Automattic
Moderator: Shawn Gold, CEO, Social Approach
Four prominent analysts in the internet / social media space:
Jeff Lindsay, Bernstein
Ross Sandler, RBC
Mark Mahaney, Citi
Mark May, Needham
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Clearspring in the News
AOL's Kevin Conroy has emphasized the need for compelling ad delivery. (By Rick Maiman -- Bloomberg News)
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 31, 2007; Page D01
The rise of social networks such as Facebook and wireless gadgets such as the iPhone has set off a small stampede of companies hoping to build on or replicate their success. Many are counting on advertising to pay the bills.
But will it work?
That's one of the big questions for 2008, local technology gurus say. Advertisers want results.
"Everyone thinks they're going to support their business with the advertising model," said Phil Bronner, a venture capitalist at Bethesda's Novak Biddle. "What people don't know about is how effective those things are."
So far, the best known local players have been busy building their platforms in anticipation that advertising dollars will follow.
Silver Spring-based Freewebs and McLean-based Clearspring, both makers of the little applications that sit on top of Web sites, are among the farthest along in the local Web 2.0 space. They're followed by a few smaller companies with experienced management, such as McLean's Mixx, a social news site founded by the former general manager of Yahoo News, and Columbia's CollectiveX, a site where people can create social networks.
Full text available at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123001769.html?sub=new&sid=ST2007123100485
