Tacoda, the well-known ad network company which offers relatively high rates to publishers to place advertisements automatically on their Web pages, is officially shutting down.
The entity, recently bought by AOL, is instead being folded into AOL’s Ad.com/Platform A division. This is a shocking move for some, because Ad.com doesn’t target much at all, and offers ads of $1 or less per a thousand views — and is generally considered a “bottom-feeder” by some in the industry. The company apparently hasn’t communicated very well about what sort of targeting technology Ad.com will offer to the affected customers (see memo below).
[Update: We found it difficult Friday to reach someone at AOL for comment, but PaidContent's David Kaplan has reached Platform A's Lynda Clarizo, and she says Ad.com will be using Tacoda's technology. She says Ad.com was targeting the same way Tacoda was, and thus the implication is that Ad.com was paying as much. But that's not what we've heard from sources. Only time will tell.]
Tacoda became popular because it offered an industry high rate of $2 to $6 per a thousand views (CPM). True, other advertisers often offer far more than that, but not without selling to a Web publisher’s more expensive display ad space — and requiring interactions with live sales people. Tacoda, all automated, paid rates well above other comparable “remnant” networks. It did so by working hard to target behavior of Web users. By knowing what pages users visited online, Tacoda’s technology allowed advertisers to fork out more money, in the knowledge that their ads were reaching the right people.
Valueclick, another player in the area that is similar to Ad.com, announced anemic flat growth yesterday, its shares fell by up to 11 percent as it became clear customers are spending less. Aside from the economic downturn, the pressure may also be due to the realization that low-end ad networks don’t offer a very differentiated product anymore.
The shuttering of Tacoda comes after another move by AOL that raised eyebrows: AOL bought Bebo $850 million, a price many observers considered to be twice or three times what it was really worth, and then let the founder Michael Birch leave — though some considered him one of the company’s crown jewels.
The action is also significant because AOL has been the second largest online advertising player, behind Google.
From what we hear, the Tacoda transition isn’t going very smoothly. Only 35 employees remain at Tacoda’s division, down from 97, apparently because some sales people were unhappy about moving to Ad.com. A letter sent out by Tacoda today suggests publishers will have to sign new contracts, and will have to change tags on their web pages. Letter below.
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[...] year AOL paid $275 million to buy Tacoda. Now, according to Venture Beat, AOL “is instead being folded into AOL’s Ad.com/Platform A division. This is a shocking [...]
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AOL to shut Tacoda down, fold users into Ad.com | Gaffney3.com said:
[...] that they will have to sign new contracts and change tags on their sites. Matt Marshall has a copy of the AOL letter to Tacoda customers on VentureBeat. For many publishers who choose to re-up their contract they will see their cost per [...]
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AOL Closes Tacoda; Merges Customers Into Advertising.com »TechAddress said:
[...] Marshall at VentureBeat is reporting that AOL is closing their Tacoda behavioral targeting division and merging the customers into [...]
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[...] thought of Dave Morgan, Tacoda’s founder, when I saw the announcements today about AOL integrated Tacoda into their platforms and, in effect, shutting it down (or folding [...]
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[...] Matt Marshall goes on a VentureBeat rampage with some slam dunk reporting that I feel compelled to discuss. I will try to note where I am simply applying common sense and [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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AOL Shuts Tacoda and Move Everything into Advertising.com said:
[...] year AOL paid $275 million for Tacoda. Now, according to Venture Beat, AOL is dropping the brand and rolling the technology into Platform A’s Ad.com unit. This is a [...]
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[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently began [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently began [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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AOL Sheds Tacoda, Launches Third-Party Mobile Ads, Buys SocialThing | SEO Tips Blog said:
[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently [...]
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[...] Tacoda, la red de publicidad online que coloca automáticamente anuncios en las páginas web de sus editores, ha cerrado definitivamente. [...]
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[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com which is a brand new part of AOL’s ad division. The division [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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The Cost of Consolidation | about ICT said:
[...] that they would shortly be moved to Advertising.com, AOL’s giant high-volume ad network, and AOL got it. The premier pioneer of behavioral targeting, Tacoda was purchased by AOL a year ago for $275 [...]
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AOL Sheds Tacoda, Launches Third-Party Mobile Ads, Buys SocialThing | Media News: Internet Marketing & Online Advertisng said:
[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently [...]
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[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
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Time Warner Ready To Unload AOL In Pieces. But At What Price? · ordaso.com said:
[...] And many of those Platform-A ads, especially those from Advertising.com, are remnant ads sold at less than $1 CPMs (so volume is [...]
7:35 am
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[...] Ad.com/Platform A division. This is a shocking move for some, because Ad.com doesn??t target muchhttp://venturebeat.com/2008/08/01/aol-shutters-tacoda-mergers-customers-into-low-end-adcom/Home Plastore? Plastore, Inc A leading supplier of volumetric and …Plastore, Inc designs and [...]
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AOL Sheds Tacoda, Launches Third-Party Mobile Ads, Buys SocialThing | Purple Penguin Media said:
[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently [...]
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AOL Sheds Tacoda, Launches Third-Party Mobile Ads, Buys SocialThing | Search Engine Optimization for better search rankings said:
[...] up, AOL is shedding Tacoda and folding it into Ad.com, part of Platform-A, AOL’s ad division. The division recently [...]