Ari Levy says, “In the world of Internet startups, taking on Google’s main business has been a fool’s errand. The graveyard of failed search engines is long and deep, and while there are still challengers promising safer or more relevant results, Google’s market share only goes in one direction: Up. But when it comes to mobile, the market is playing out very differently (a topic to be explored at Re/code’s Code/Mobile conference next month). At least that’s the wager that youthful companies such as URX, Deeplink and Branch Metrics are making. They’re all operating with a fairly simple... [...]

Jason Del Rey says, “As of Tuesday afternoon, investors are valuing China’s Alibaba at $215 billion. That’s more than Amazon. That’s more than eBay. And it’s about as much as both of them combined. That might surprise people who look at the size of the companies. Alibaba recorded revenue of $8.46 billion in its last fiscal year, compared with Amazon’s $74.45 billion and eBay’s $16.04 billion. But there’s more to the Alibaba story beyond sales. The following three charts, when taken together, help explain why investors are so excited about Alibaba”. Why Alibaba Is Worth More... [...]

Ryan Skinne says, “Here, advertising content had no life independent of its placement. Print ads, TV ads and radio ads lived only on the servers of the ad companies who created them, and then the media who carried them, for however long they carried them. Here it’s a question of identifying content for promotion that’s already in the wild, on a blog, in a discussion forum, uploaded to YouTube, and then paying to drive more eyeballs to it, because it supports your brand, or it converts interested communities into customers”. The Rise Of Dial-Up, Dial-Down Advertising The Forrester... [...]

Katie Richards says, “The rise of programmatic advertising, the automated buying and selling of ads online, has sparked a number of concerns from brands, publishers, and advertisers alike about wasted ad dollars and fraud. From the quality of ad inventory to fraudulent traffic, ad fraud can cost brands and advertisers millions each year. The Interactive Advertising Bureau released a new set of “Anti-Fraud Principles” on Tuesday, hoping to provide a set of guidelines to “root poor-quality ad traffic out of the system once and for all,” according to a press release from... [...]

Kara Swisher says, “What would you say about an Internet company that is now sitting on upward of $35 billion in cash and relatively liquid assets that still has one of the largest audiences in the Web? And what would you say if that core business were now worth only about $6 billion? To put it in context, that is a fraction of LinkedIn’s $26 billion market cap, Netflix’s $27.5 billion valuation and just a little bigger than much tinier players like Groupon ($4.7 billion) and Yelp ($5.5 billion). And what would you say if that company’s value was slashed in half in a single day, as noted... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “One of the hardest decisions you’ll face as an email marketer is when to remove inactive or unengaged recipients from your communications. As email has matured as a channel, so has the way people interact with it. Although unsubscribe rates are usually low (for example, less than 0.1% per campaign), there can be upwards of 50% of a list who are ‘emotionally unsubscribed’. These are recipients that are actually subscribed, but rarely open or click, which may suggest that email is not an effective communications channel for them”. Email marketing: managing the... [...]

Kurt Wagner says, “In early 2013, a group of Facebook engineers visited Africa to test its mobile app in poor network environments. The results were predictable, and frustrating for Facebook. The app crashed regularly, photos wouldn’t load, and one engineer used his entire data plan simply downloading and updating the app from the app store. Simply stated: “Our apps basically sucked,” said Jay Parikh, Facebook’s global head of engineering, onstage at the company’s first @Scale engineering conference Monday”. Facebook Will Never Perfect Mobile — And That’s Okay Re/code  [...]

Ornaith Killen says, “According to the Econsultancy / Responsys Marketing Budgets 2014 report, content marketing is the area in which companies are most likely to be increasing investment in the coming year, with 74% of companies indicating that they will spend more on this in the future. These stats were reiterated during the Content Marketing and Native Advertising roundtable hosted at the Econsultancy office this week. The attendees came from a wide range of companies and roles within the industry, and I wanted to share the key takeaways with you, along with some interesting statistics I... [...]

Kara Swisher says, “In a few weeks, at the beginning of October, a new content effort called California Sunday Magazine will debut aimed at publishing, “thoughtful, reported features and beautiful photography and illustrations set in California, the West, Asia, and Latin America, for a national audience,” of a demographic of 25- to 45-year-olds. Starting a general-interest publication, offline or online, is not for the faint of heart, although the effort has attracted several million dollars in investment from a range of angel funders”. Can Print and Online Content Just Get Along?... [...]

Re/code team says, “Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to close its IPO order book early after it received enough orders to sell all the shares in the record-breaking offering, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The company, which launched its IPO on Monday, is expected to price the deal on Sept. 18 and will start trading a day later. U.S.-based bookrunners are expected to stop taking orders from investors on Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters”. Alibaba Plans to Close IPO Order Book Early Re/code  [...]