Semantic Advertising

Vertical Search Works has launched a new semantic search and advertising platform for foodies, VS4Food – a search widget for publishers. The Ardent Epicure is among several food websites that are already using the widget. According to the release, “VS4Food is a vertical search engine that resides on a publisher’s site.  Users can enter a query without leaving the site through a toolbar, and the search engine returns results from both the publisher and from other web sites relevant to the query. VS4Food automatically organizes results into facets, relevant categories associated with the query. For example, searching for ‘sirloin steak’ will classify documents in categories about grilling recipes and wine pairings. Similarly, a search for ‘Emeril dessert’ will return categories such as cooking show, dessert recipe and cookbooks.” Read more

Semantic advertising web service ADmantX has announced a partnership with adBrite, “the largest independent ad exchange, to offer brand safety, greater ad engagement and page-level, cookie-less targeting to advertisers and publishers.” The article states, “In today’s complex and rapidly evolving online advertising landscape, audience targeting is at the heart of any attempt to maximize online ad effectiveness. Semantic-based analysis and dynamic categorization provided by ADmantX will now be available through adBrite, allowing them to leverage the combination of emotional intelligence and contextual and semantic targeting in real time.” Read more

Kevin Fitchard recently asked the question, “Is Google scared of Siri? Is Yelp? Is Facebook? If they aren’t they should be, as should any mobile website, service or app that depends on advertising for revenues. Siri is just the beginning of a new wave of user interfaces (UIs) that will gradually shift our attention away from our phones’ screens, allowing us to interact with our devices in ways that don’t involve tapping keys and staring at pixels.” Read more

A new article reports, “VigLink, which turns outbound links on published stories into monetization opportunities, has expanded on its service by automating the insertion of links on keywords that could become a revenue generator for publishers… VigLink will hyperlink keywords in the content and will direct the reader to a place where they can buy a product. So, if you’re writing about the Apple iPhone or a book on Amazon, the word ‘iPhone,’ or the book title, would be automatically hyperlinked to Apple or Amazon, whereby a reader can buy a product. VigLink takes roughly 25% of the affiliate fee paid out by partners, Apple or Amazon, and the publisher gets the remainder. Typically, Amazon pays Viglink about 8.5% of products sold vs. 4.5% paid out to sites with low traffic.” Read more

Networked Insights has launched Audience Sync, a new platform that “uncovers actionable insights in real-time data to sync with consumers and optimize marketing.” The article elaborates, “Given the widespread adoption of social media as a means to communicate preference and interests, the challenge for brand marketers today is no longer finding consumer data, it’s uncovering actionable insights in that data. To address this growing need, Networked Insights is launching Audience Sync, a new service platform that uses advanced semantic-based analytics to synchronize real-time consumer feedback and translate it into actionable marketing insights.” Read more

Skimlinks has released the latest version of its in-text monetization solution: “SkimWords 2.0 is the first real-time, fully automated content monetization solution to feature in-text product and price comparison across multiple verticals – including consumer electronics, fashion, beauty, mothering, automotive, and lifestyle categories.  With SkimWords 2.0, publishers earn incremental revenues, consumers are directed to the optimal retail site to make their purchases, and advertisers receive highly qualified traffic.” Read more

According to a new article, “Federated Media Publishing, which in conjunction with recently acquired Lijit Networks, Inc. powers the Independent Web, announced an agreement with Automattic to provide advertising representation rights to the WordPress.com community of more than 24 million blogging sites.” Read more

Online media company BuzzLogic today upgrades its brand-advertising customers to the next release of its system for delivering ads to audiences who are emotionally primed to receive them. (BuzzLogic, which The Semantic Web Blog first covered here, earlier this year also raised $7.8 million in Series  C funding.) With its new Spectrum platform, the company says it is providing an end-to-end system for page-level, real-time delivery of emotive-based ads with performance analytics tied to campaign relevancy goals rather than just generic measurements.

“Our application of cognitive analysis derives from our assumption that pages never have absolute but only relative value,” says CEO Dave Hills.

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Five months after raising $10 million in fifth round funding, Lijit Networks has been acquired by blog network Federated Media for an undisclosed amount. According to the article, “The Boulder, CO-based search tools provider will keep its name and headquarters. Lijit CEO Todd Vernon will become EVP of Technology and Lijit COO Walter Knapp will become SVP of Platform Revenue at Federated Media Publishing and will report directly to FM’s CEO, Deanna Brown. The deal comes a year after FM has been quiet on the acquisition front, in comparison to 2010, when it bought three companies—gourmand-focused blog aggregator FoodBuzz, parenting portal BigTent and semantic search technology from TextDigger—in quick succession.” Read more

A new article looks at a developing trend of not just tagging television shows by episode but by the content of individual scenes. The article states, “Historically, TV Metadata has been used to supply Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) and therefore has been adequate for description at a show level. But what about at the scene level? And why is scene level metadata — or Tagging TV — the new oil? It’s now all about applying metadata not just to a whole piece of content, but
individual chunks within it, such as a movie scene or song. Of course, this can be relevant both for production and search/discovery… but the real value lies in providing contextual data on the second screen — whether that be curated or automated, factual or commercial.” Read more