When the Burger King "The King" got wildly popular last Halloween and, while moving some stuff around the house today, I came by the mask and found out what the real Whopper Freak out is. (By the way, if you haven't seen the Whopper Freak out commercials - they are hysterical)
Videos after the jump
It can't be a good thing when AMC is forced to put a sign warning movie-goers that they are likely to get ill while watching Cloverfield... I opted for Rambo IV today and it must rank as the bloodiest, most action-filled movie ever. The entire theater applauded when it ended (I certainly didn't expect that):
Last night, I installed Mint (http://haveamint.com/) on RyanSpoon.com and am wildly impressed. It got me thinking about web analytics and my usage of various (and numerous) applications:
1) I use Google Analytics on every website... but I always find myself mildly unimpressed. The UI is pretty, but is too busy and complicated. Most importantly, it isn't real-time. And in the world of search traffic, linking, etc - real-time is critical. Analytics is unique, however, in two important capacities: being able to set activity goals and being able to integrate with AdSense. Unless you are using expensive systems like Mediaplex or Omniture - action-based tracking is quite valuable.
2) I install the wordpress plugin SlimStat on all of my wordpress-based sites (which is more than traditional blogs). SlimStat is terrific because it is shows every incoming click, referral, domain, etc. It is fascinating. I can press refresh and entertain myself for hours. It also is immensely helpful (particularly for SEO experts and/or serious bloggers). SlimStat has some serious problems though: it doesn't scale well at all. Under 25,000 pageviews a day and it hums... Anything more and it is a memory suck that takes seconds to load (suddenly making real-time not so real-time). SlimStat also doesn't archive data. So it's a great snapshot of what's happening now - but not what's happened overtime.
3) I turn Quantcast on for all of my sites. In terms of basic traffic statistics, Quantcast makes things remarkably simple, enables easy comparisons between sites, and gives an accurate third-party / public representation of your data (which can be quite important).
I've never personally paid for an analytics application because I haven't had a need to. Between Analytics, SlimStat and Quantcast - all of my needs have been served.
But for some reason I paid $30 for Mint last night and am thankful I did. Although I'm not going to turn off those three other accounts, I will be checking Google and SlimStat with far less regularity. Mint does 95% of the total job - but it does that portion extremely well. And the best part - it's customizable, lightweight and the code is flexible enough to enable third-party apps and plugins.
I'm addicted. Already encouraged numerous people to give it a try.
I have a friend who operates about five websites - from real estate to sports news to social gossip. He has been talking up Pay Per Media for *weeks* and is super excited to exploit the high CPMs that they promise ($10.00-$20.00 CPMs).
My gut reaction is the same as TechCrunch's -
1) why did it take so long for someone to try this? 2) more importantly, this is going to be wildly annoying 3) what happens if your computer is on mute? I have to imagine that most office computers are defaulted to mute or have headphones plugged in...?
But here is a one take on it:
My friend's point is pretty simple: shouldn't it be pretty simple to exploit Pay Per Media pretty clearly through arbitrage?
* Buy traffic at minimal CPC rates * Have Pay Per Media always turn on (who cares if they never return - this is purely for arbitrage) * The landing page will additionally have content and some AdSense or CPM banners... any traditional advertising is gravy at that point
"The movie does have its own kind of blockheaded poetry." Read the full NY Times review here - but what else would you need to know?!
Did I mention that I will be seeing this? Did I mention that is gorier than all other Rambos *combined*?
Interesting post by Techcrunch and Erik Schnofeld today about the widget world and how tracking within this space is difficult. The trouble is that: 1) there isn't a standard widget format / type - Widgetbox, for example, offers both javascript and flash versions of widgets.
2) many widgets use multiple services for installers, analytics, etc - causing double counting among some providers.
3) it's a new, quickly growing frontier (which always presents challenges). This will get clearer over time.
Who rules the world of widgets? It is difficult to measure, but comScore takes a stab at it with a new ranking of widget providers as measured by viewing audience... It seems like Meebo should be in there, with a reach of about 19 million, which would put it right after iGoogle. Who else is missing?...
Erik then updated the post with the following message (kudos for doing so):
Update: WidgetBox claims 25 million monthly uniques for their widgets, but says they don’t all get counted by comScore because they use Javascript. Another problem with this list is that there might be double-counting. Clearspring, for instance, puts a tracking embed code in RockYou’s widgets. Like I said, these things are difficult to measure.
Full Comscore release is here. Update: VentureBeat has now covered the Comscore data but without much mention of tracking complexities.
Comscore released their December search engine statistics and, among the usual information, there is some very interesting data. A couple thoughts: - Across the board, December traffic is lower than November (due to the holidays) - While that makes sense for informational sites, Amazon surged +20% - Craigslist (another highly 'transactional' site) was also +6% - In the social worlds, Youtube grew nearly 8% while Facebook dropped 14% and MySpace nearly reached 20%... but Youtube is more reliant on the search box than Facebook or MySpace - but that really shouldn't change that drastically on a monthly basis. - Mapquest is dying. Who uses Mapquest anymore?
Full chart after the jump...
|
comScore Expanded Search Query Report Source: comScore qSearch 2.0 |
||||
|
Expanded Search Entity |
Search Queries (MM) |
|||
|
Nov-07 |
Dec-07 |
Percent Change Dec-07 vs. Nov-07 |
||
|
Total Expanded Search |
13,907 |
13,523 |
-2.8% |
|
|
Google Sites |
7,326 |
7,165 |
-2.2% |
|
|
|
5,923 |
5,651 |
-4.6% |
|
|
YouTube/All Other |
1,403 |
1,514 |
7.9% |
|
|
Yahoo! Sites |
2,395 |
2,363 |
-1.3% |
|
|
Yahoo! |
2,358 |
2,326 |
-1.4% |
|
|
All Other |
37 |
37 |
0.0% |
|
|
Microsoft Sites |
984 |
963 |
-2.1% |
|
|
MSN-Windows Live |
947 |
927 |
-2.1% |
|
|
Microsoft/All Other |
37 |
36 |
-2.7% |
|
|
Time Warner Network |
838 |
784 |
-6.4% |
|
|
AOL |
445 |
434 |
-2.5% |
|
|
MapQuest/All Other |
393 |
350 |
-10.9% |
|
|
eBay |
489 |
508 |
3.9% |
|
|
Ask Network |
464 |
416 |
-10.3% |
|
|
Ask.com |
263 |
238 |
-9.5% |
|
|
MyWebSearch.com/ All Other |
201 |
178 |
-11.4% |
|
|
Fox Interactive Media |
436 |
350 |
-19.7% |
|
|
MySpace |
427 |
342 |
-19.9% |
|
|
All Other |
9 |
8 |
-11.1% |
|
|
Craigslist.org |
207 |
220 |
6.3% |
|
|
Amazon Sites |
178 |
215 |
20.8% |
|
|
Facebook.com |
119 |
102 |
-14.3% |
|
To request more information on comScore qSearch 2.0, please visit http://www.comscore.com/contact
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the
digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of
more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to
confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including
online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey
research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through
its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad
spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep
knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful
marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore
services are used by more than 800 clients, including global leaders such as
AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom,
Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox
Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service,
Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please
visit www.comscore.com
Smaato is a mobile-advertising company that recently took a 3.5mm investment round.Engadget is one of the biggest tech toys blogs on the web - often focusing on the mobile world.
The similarities extend to their logo... it isn't just me right?!
[tpbc_list]
Fascinating look at the big three sports leagues and their online traffic. A couple quick thoughts: 1. MLB.com is widely considered the leader in web strategies. Their MLB.tv site is brilliant, well worth the $99 subscription and makes significant money for the league.
2. The NFL's web traffic is clearly based on their dominant brand. Look how steady and cyclical the traffic is: floats between 1mm and 2.5mm depending on the day of the week.
3. If the NFL was a major player in fantasy football, they'd be far larger and far steadier.
4. NBA.com is surprisingly strong, doesn't suffer from day-to-day swings, and has a much-improved, highly interactive website.
5. None of these sites know anything about SEO or Internet Marketing. That lack of understanding allows sites like SportsWrap and MLBTradeRumors to thrive. If Bud, David or Roger want some advice - I'm glad to make myself available!
Blue: NFL.com Red: MLB.com Green: NBA.com