targets

Retail game card sales may hit $100 million this year

The tale of retail game cards is a pretty amazing one. In a recent interview Rob Goldberg, founder and CEO of GMG Entertainment, a publisher of "digital currency cards" that you see on sale at Target, Safeway and a number of other big-box shops, shed some light on how the market came to be and where it's going in the future.

According to Goldberg, sales of the game cards will be worth $75 million to $100 million this year with an expected run to $500 million by 2010. Interestingly enough, Target was the retailer that figured it out first and convinced Apple to offer iTunes cards.

GMG started in the marketing services working with retailers--specifically Target--but around the same time as that, well, it's not very well known, but it's Target who actually brought the idea of the pre-paid iTunes card to Apple and sold them on that.

The first iTunes cards were co-branded and were exclusive to Target. In terms of retailers in North America who were focused on pre-paid cards for digital entertainment, Target were ahead of the curve.

MySpace program targets small advertisers

MySpace has unveiled "MyAds," an advertising technology focused on small businesses and individuals rather than the huge brand advertisers that the News Corp.-owned social network is best known for. It's a platform in which an advertiser can allocate exactly how much to spend--between $25 ad $10,000--and target its audience using the HyperTargeting system that MySpace debuted just under a year ago.

With HyperTargeting, MySpace says that there are more than 1,100 specific ways to target an ad based on geography, demographics, interests, and other information sourced from public profile data. Advertisers can then keep … Read more

ISPs: Self-regulation best for ad privacy

Several of the nation's largest Internet service providers were called to Capitol Hill on Thursday, as lawmakers delved whether new laws are needed to protect consumers' privacy amid targeted ad campaigns.

Representatives of AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Time Warner Cable addressed the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation during a hearing on broadband provider practices and consumer privacy.

The ISPs urged committee members to forgo passing new laws to regulate the use of targeted online advertising, instead advocating for a self-regulation of the industry to keep consumers' Web surfing habits secure and private.

During … Read more

MySpace launches DIY ad-targeting site

MySpace looks to be kicking off a new do-it-yourself service for creating and placing ads on its site.

The service, called the Self-Serve Ad Service and still in beta, lets anyone capable of filling out a basic Web form promote a band or business on MySpace.com.

Users can choose to either upload their own ad or create one using MySpace's system. After selecting from a few dozen templates and uploading an image to place in the ad, users get to select their target audience: gender, age, region, city/state, and interests. For instance, you could target your ad … Read more

BuzzLogic's ad network exits beta

BuzzLogic, a start-up that tracks "influence" across the confusing blog landscape, has pushed its ad network out of beta to a full release.

The "Conversation Ad Network" debuted in beta mode in June and uses BuzzLogic's influence-tracking technology as a way to draw in both advertisers and bloggers. Advertisers are promised access to the most influential bloggers in their niches, and bloggers with that influence are offered more lucrative deals.

Prior to launching the ad network, BuzzLogic purchased ActiveWeave, manufacturer of browser plug-in BlogRovr, to shape it into a tool for clients. Then, during its … Read more

Online ad twist: Mind your own data

A stealth start-up on Monday plans to take the wraps off a new advertising data exchange designed to connect publishers and advertisers so they can target ads to Web surfers. The privacy pitch: consumers can tweak the advertising data held about them.

The start-up, Bellevue, Wash.-based BlueKai, is taking a novel approach in an otherwise crowded new market for Internet advertising technologies. Many start-ups, ad networks, and Net media giants are honing technologies to leverage vast troves of data about people online so that they can tailor ads to their behaviors, preferences, or demographics--so-called behavioral ad targeting. One targeting … Read more

Sony Reader hitting Target stores

I just got a news release from Sony that talks about how its $300 PRS-505 Reader Digital Book is slated to show up in Target stores nationwide this weekend along with its accessories. As I previously reported, Sony has a Reader event slated for October 2 as rumors of a next-generation Sony e-book continue to percolate (one CNET reader claims the new Reader will be called the PRS-700 and feature a built-in "lighting feature").

Here's what is in today's release:

This weekend, the Reader Digital Book by Sony will be available in Target stores nationwide. Beginning … Read more

Target settles with blind patrons over site accessibility

Target and an advocacy group for the blind announced Wednesday that they've settled a class action lawsuit regarding the accessibility of Target.com for the visually impaired.

The retail giant will establish a $6 million fund for settlement claims and promised to make its site fully accessible to blind visitors as part of a deal ending a class action lawsuit filed two and a half years ago.

The suit against Target was first filed in early 2006 by the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind, which claimed Target.com contained thousands of access barriers making it difficult, if not … Read more

Photobucket, Target sign photo-printing deal

Discount retailer Target has signed a deal with photo-sharing service Photobucket, adding it to the small collection of online partners for its in-store photo-printing service.

Through the partnership, members of Photobucket can directly order photos for pickup at most Target stores (presumably any Targets that don't have photo-printing stations would be the exception). Typically, the photos will be ready within an hour.

Photobucket, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, is the third current partner for the retailer; Target already has partnerships in place with Shutterfly's and Kodak's online photo services.

Last week, Photobucket announced a partnership … Read more

Ad platform Lotame nets $13 million

Lotame, a targeted-ad start-up that focuses on social sites, announced Tuesday that it has raised $13 million in a Series B venture round. The lead investor is Emergence Capital Partners, and existing investors Battery Ventures and Hill Crest Management also contributed. The money, per a release, will be used for "product enhancements, marketing, and business development efforts." Nothing surprising there.

The company's primary offering is a technology called "Crowd Control," which pinpoints discussions on social-media sites related to a particular brand or its niche, and helps that brand get its name on the relevant discussions.… Read more