Making AdSense of Landing Pages

A recent ClickZ piece suggests that much of Google's growing ad dominance -- 25% of ad revenue this year -- is dependent on AdSense. So it's no surprise that the company is working on ways to help its partners improve the experience of people responding to its ads.

AdSense helps Google partner with Web publishers interested in incorporating Google ads into their Web pages. And AdWords helps advertisers work with Google -- and its publishing partners.

Today, Google introduced the beta of a landing page optimization tool that could help its AdWords partners develop better landing pages. The move could steal business away from e-commerce consultants and Web analytics service providers.

The Brand Landscape

Earlier this week, Ad Age released a report on the top 200 brands. Ad spending has increased 9% to almost $25 billion. And the brands leading the way? Telecom and pharma. Four of the five top brands were telcos. Might that not presage a coming boom in mobile advertising?

Mickey Mouse Movement

Meanwhile, one company's broadcast strategy is going to firmly embrace mobile and Web TV. Disney is aggressively pursuing opportunities on nontraditional platforms -- and has had the key insight that "piracy is a business model."

If people are distributing your content via alternative channels -- they're doing it because you're not.

Video Viewership

Emily Steel has a solid article in today's Wall Street Journal about the audience for online TV shows. While Nielsen has traditionally measured TV viewership, there are several companies measuring online watchers, they use different techniques -- and they haven't finalized how to measure streaming video.

Industry insiders suggest that until measurement improves, online video won't grow as much as it might otherwise. And so it goes with advertising. As a step in that direction, Nielsen recently announced that it would merge its offline and online measurements.

Opening the Door for Mobile Advertising

In ClickZ today, columnist Laura Marriott considers what value mobile advertising offers people. Basically, the executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association suggests that mobile ads will allow us to access rich content and information for little or no cost because service providers are subsidized.

Personally, I'm much more interested in place-based and local advertising on my mobile, based on where I am when I'm seeking out information. And I have a better idea. If we're soon able to open our front doors with our mobiles, what happens when it doesn't work -- or when we have the wrong mobile? Maybe, just maybe, an ad for a locksmith could pop up.

Now, that would be useful.

Varying Video

PodZinger has introduced a new video ad platform that will select ads shown based on what people are searching for and what people are watching. Ads will be inserted at the entry point of clips viewed. This could be at the beginning of a video -- or elsewhere in a video, based on which relevant segment came up in search.

Also in video news, music- and fashion-related Webcasts are becoming popular opportunities for advertisers and sponsors. Companies such as Energizer, Chevrolet, and Cingular have signed on to support larger-scale Web events.

Short Code Statistics

M:Metrics reports that almost 30% of mobile phone users respond to short codes in advertisements. Spain leads the way, and the US is quite a laggard, clocking in at a scant 7%. Most short codes come from TV adverts and involve some sort of contest. Cellular-News offers more easily read charts from the study.

Meanwhile, QR codes are picking up in Japan. QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can be used to access online sites. They can be printed in ads and on fliers. People take pictures of them with their cell phones and then go to the link. Intriguing!