ContextWeb, Inc. is proud to announce that it has developed and implemented “next generation” algorithms that have resulted in deeper, niche classification of the millions of Web pages that are part of the ADSDAQ Exchange. The new algorithms, developed and tested by in-house ADSDAQ mathematicians and software engineers, have produced the following achievements:

1. Automatically discovers additional keywords for existing exchange content categories, which increases the number of keywords for categorization by tenfold. This enables the ADSDAQ exchange to be able to discern niche subcategories more efficiently.
2. Automatically discovers keywords to define new categories chosen specifically by advertisers as those content topics become relevant. This will allow advertisers to use hot topics to continually target their audience for maximum engagement.
3. Provides a platform that is language-independent; allowing the discovery of keywords and phrases in real time across content in every language.

With the new approach, the system can learn to categorize automatically with no human management. Results of new algorithm performance across the more than 7,000 sites on the ADSDAQ exchange show huge gains in category refinement.

Our new algorithms open up millions of pages of additional ad inventory in very targeted, niche categories. This is great news for brand advertisers who want assurance that their ads will appear in appropriate context and on brand-safe content that supports their messages. For performance advertisers, getting their offers in front of the right audience allows them to meet their performance metrics. This will also help publishers to more effectively monetize Web pages deep within their sites.

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about “Web 2.0,” on July 23rd, ibreakfast held the “Media Buying 2.0” event. With over 50 attendees, the event was held at the CresaPartners building in Midtown Manhattan. The panel focused on how emerging technologies are evolving online marketing and advertising strategies.

We’ve posted video clips from the event as well as a copy of Adam Broitman’s (Morpheus Media) and Robert Davidson’s (EarthQuake Media) presentations that focused on how media agencies are using technology to promote their client’s messaging in new and innovative ways. Check out photos of the event.

The event featured:

• Adam Broitman, Director of Emerging and Creative Strategy, Morpheus Media
• Rebecca Coleman, SVP Client Services, WhittmanHart
• Robert Davidman , Chairman & CEO, EarthQuake Media
• Ben Ezrick, Senior Strategist of Digital Innovation, Ogilvy
• Jay Sears, EVP Strategic Products & Business Development, ContextWeb , Inc.

The panel discussion provided insights on how agencies can utilize new Web technologies and develop successful online marketing and advertising campaigns. Attendees were able to ask questions and network with the panelists and sponsors. Just a few of the highlights included: Adam Broitman, Morpheus Media, focused his discussion on audience engagement and the creativity required to produce effective online marketing campaigns. During his presentation, he said, “There are more tools of engagement than even before and devising ways to use thses tools effectively requires creative thinking, not just quantitative strategy.” Robert Davidson, EarthQuake Media, focused his presentation on mobile marketing and conveyed that ads on mobile devices, such as the iPhone, should be integrated into the applications hosting them. View Adam Broitman’s (Morpheus Media) and Robert Davidman’s (EarthQuake Media) presentations.

ContextWeb’s Jay Sears kicked the panel off. He discussed media fragmentation and other current industry trends. View Jay Sears’s presentation.

Watch the video footage of the event and the Q&A with the panel.
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ContextWeb was in Chicago last Thursday October 18th to talk about ad exchanges and ad networks for a Chicago Interactive Marketing Association’s (CIMA) breakfastBYTE panel discussion.

An audience of 150+ attended to hear moderator Jen Brady, the CEO and President of Innovative Marketing coax, cajole and keep her esteemed panel focused.

The panelists were:
Keith Kaplan, President, Adconion
Pete Gombert, CEO, Balihoo
Nicole Haygood, VP Interactive Media Director, Draftfcb
John Ardis, VP Corporate Strategy, ValueClick
Jay Sears, SVP Strategic Products, Context Web’s ADSDAQ Ad Exchange

A big thanks to Jen, Lydia Gomez of Beliefnet and everyone at CIMA for hosting all of us.

(PHOTO, Above): John Ardis, Pete Gombert, Jay Sears, Keith Kaplan and Nicole Haygood at the CIMA breakfastBYTE

With the launch of Silverlight, Microsoft has made web application development exciting again. I feel like a Hollywood gossip columnist when I say this but Web 2.0 has not been aging well. The first Web 2.0 conference was held 3 years ago. Jesse James Garrett coined the term for Web 2.0’s enabling technology, AJAX, 2 years ago. Counted in Internet time these events are ancient history.

Our ADSDAQ portal is a state of the art Web 2.0 application using AJAX to bring you the best user experience possible in a browser. But the ugly little secret of Web 2.0 user interfaces is that they are a pain to develop and maintain. AJAX isn’t so much a technology as it is a collection of cleaver hacks and workarounds. Our web designers and programmers put a tremendous amount of effort into compatibility and consistency. Sure, there are a couple of AJAX code libraries out there but they are not integrated with our development and testing tools. This lack of coherent tools is the main reason why today’s web apps often don’t work very well. When Digg tried to update its comment system with AJAX the result was universally panned–Not because the Digg programmers don’t know what they are doing but because AJAX makes the easy hard and the hard even more difficult.

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One of the very best things Terry Semel ever did at Yahoo! was hire Wenda Harris Millard in October of 2001.

With projections showing display advertising now growing faster than search ads, Martha Stewart should be having a house party to celebrate Millard’s arrival at the eponymous Martha Stewart Omnimedia as President of Media. Her new employee does not bake cookies. Instead, she is a widely acknowledged rock star on Madison Avenue.

From her regular table at the Four Seasons, Millard is credited with the building of Yahoo! display ad business that drove the company from $717 million in revenue to $6.4 billion in 2006. When she arrived in 2001, Yahoo! had burned its bridges with Madison Avenue, showing them “the hand” in favor of going direct to clients for .com mega deals.

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