Christopher Saunders

Netcentives Looking for Cash Online incentive marketer Netcentives reported second quarter results showing a narrowed pro forma loss, but dwindling cash reserves. The San Francisco-based firm reported a pro forma loss of $11.4 million, or $0.26 per share, on revenue of $15 million — beating the Street’s estimates of a $0.30 loss, according to Thomson […]

Media titans Vivendi Universal and AOL Time Warner are strengthening their bonds through an expanded agreement to market movies across the New York-based AOL’s Web and TV properties. Through the deal, which expands on an earlier arrangement, AOL Time Warner will promote motion picture releases from Vivendi-owned Universal Pictures on its online and on-air media. […]

Executives at San Francisco-based interactive agency Organic said Wednesday that efforts at deep cost-cutting are at last having their intended effect. As a result, while quarterly revenues decreased 4 percent to $13.8 million, Organic saw a pro forma net loss of $8.7 million — 60 percent below last quarter. Now, the company is expecting that […]

AOL is aiming to boost its presence in Canada through an in-store and online cross-marketing deal with electronics retailer InterTAN. Through the three-year alliance with Toronto-based InterTAN — which owns electronics retailer RadioShack in Canada — AOL Canada will become a “preferred” marketer in the retail chain’s stores, meaning that the online service will receive […]

Phase2Media Files Chapter 11 Online ad representative Phase2Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, shedding more light on the fate of one of the industry’s most vocal leaders. The company represented a number of high-flying sports Web sites, several of which appear as creditors in the petition, which Phase2Media filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy […]

Online finance site SmartMoney.com is debuting a new print advertising campaign, designed to promote the Dow Jones-owned Web content play’s suite of specialized market tools. Creatives designed by New York-based Digital Pulp will run in fellow Dow Jones publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Smart Money magazine. (Hearst Communications also owns a stake […]

While many are predicting the domestic ad market will continue to see weakness until mid-2002, two new studies suggest that Europe and Asia will see modest expansion after a brief difficult period. According to research group IDC, traditional marketers will fuel an upswing in the Asian-Pacific online ad market, helping the industry to see year-over-year […]

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is looking to emerging media for a new marketing push, tapping New York City-based Gemstar-TV Guide for interactive program guide advertising. Through a 12-month agreement, Sears will advertise on Gemstar’s TV Guide Interactive program guide beginning in fourth quarter. Ads will appear most often during peak sales periods during the next […]

New research is lending more support to the idea of the Web as a branding medium, with the NPD Group and Jupiter Media Metrix both publishing studies this week that conclude that consumers’ offline purchase decisions are informed by Web information. The Port Washington, New York-based retail research firm NPD Group, which drew its findings […]

E-business consultancy eSynergies will snatch up the remains of bankrupt interactive shop Worldwide Xceed Group, ending months of speculation over the firm’s eventual fate. Through the purchase, which was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Chicago-based Xceed’s Web strategy, application development and interactive sales and marketing practices will be […]

A deal orchestrated to keep AdForce afloat as a subsidiary of New York-based Thin Portal Networks has gone south, resulting in the ad server’s termination of services. According to sources close to Cupertino, Calif.-based AdForce, the company shut down all operations on Friday — after its owner, Internet holding company CMGI, cut off funding in […]

Despite persistent questions about Web ads’ branding power, and in spite of negative consumer reaction to ads like X10’s “pop-under,” Internet users in general actually find Web and wireless ads useful, according to a study conducted in Europe by Datamonitor. After polling 4,260 European residents who remembered having seen or received an online or wireless […]