Senior Editor
James covers the intersection of commerce, media and advertising technology.
AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:
James Hercher
Articles By James
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Why Verizon Shouldn’t Sell The Huffington Post Unit – And Why It Should
As the media and tech worlds absorb news of Verizon’s planned acquisition of AOL, the largest unanswered question revolves around the fate of The Huffington Post Media Group, a unit that includes the eponymous publication as well as TechCrunch, Engadget and others. While Re/code’s Kara Swisher reported “advanced discussions” for AOL to sell its flagship media […]
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Breaking Through The Attribution Canopy
One year after the acquisitions of Adometry and Convertro by Google and AOL respectively, new breeds of attribution vendors are surfacing from periods of R&D hibernation, and they’re aiming to capitalize on what they and other observers see as openings in the market. The optimism comes from the belief that advertisers won’t pay for attribution […]
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Google Declares War On Toolbar Ad Injectors
Google on Wednesday released research conducted in partnership with teams at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and other institutions that details the harm ad injections from toolbars create for consumers, publishers and advertisers. Google and its university partners identified millions of cases of ad injections by tracking the pipeline of users who have foreign software […]
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Publishers Push Into Commerce
The recent announcement from Condé Nast that Style.com, once the digital home of Vogue, will be relaunched as a pure ecommerce destination is yet another sign of the blurred lines between publishing and ecommerce. Many editorial outlets seek to tap their valuable readership beyond advertising. Monocle, which has had ecommerce offerings since its 2007 founding […]
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Blazing The Out-Of-Home Trail
When digital jukebox maker TouchTunes rolled out Attract Media (“a digital-out-of-home activation platform”) last week, the focus was predominantly on direct sales. Michael Coppola, the company’s VP of media and advertising, pointed out that while the capabilities exist for automated ad serving, “We expect a vast majority of the advertising to remain direct … with a […]
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Google Reports $17.3B In Q1 Revenue, 12% YoY Growth
Google’s Q1 2015 earnings report continued a trend that’s more than three years old: declining CPC value, offset by the rising number of total paid clicks. The number of users clicking on a Google ad was up 13% year over year, though analysts were expecting that number to be slightly higher. Google CFO Patrick Pichette, who […]
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Advanced Attribution: How IHG Became An Early Adopter
Marketers are seizing upon advanced attribution models as a way to rationalize their data and divvy up credit. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world’s largest hoteliers, is an ideal example of where and how advanced attribution methods are taking hold. David Schmitt, director of interactive marketing operations and analytics for IHG, recently partnered […]
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DC Ad Budgets: A Tempting Carrot But A Harsh Stick
In 2012, Barack Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s campaigns spent almost $80 million combined on online advertisements leading up to the election. And that total was in turn dwarfed by the amount that was channeled through digital by super PACs, whose expenditures are more difficult to track with precision. While those fundraising totals may have bowled […]
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Luxury Heritage Brands De-age With Digital
Luxury brands used to benefit from their heritage. But nowadays “you have to reach an audience that may not have inherited that sense of legacy,” said Moet Hennessy digital director Jessica Holthaus at a Tuesday panel hosted by German publisher Axel Springer, WatchTime magazine and Martini Media. Holthaus said online video is a crucial part […]
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