Yahoo, the aging Internet giant, still has a lot of catching up to do.
While
the company's mobile ad revenues rose to $254 million last quarter,
accounting for 20% of its total revenues, Yahoo still trails behind
Facebook and Twitter, which generate well over half their revenues from
mobile ad sales, too.
To
help turn the tide, Yahoo on Thursday is throwing its first-ever mobile
developers conference. For Mayer and other Yahoo executives, it's a
day-long, in-person campaign to convince developers to use Yahoo's
mobile development tools. If Yahoo Gemini and Brightroll let app-makers
respectively create display and video ads, the analytics firm Flurry
promises better ad targeting and insights into user engagement.
In
some ways, Mayer's turnaround strategy is working. Mobile ad revenues
climbed significantly for the first time last year, and the total number
of mobile visitors to Yahoo properties rose to 575 million the previous
quarter.
But
an ad network is only good if there is compelling content and services
to match — Mayer has known that since becoming Yahoo CEO nearly three
years ago. Which is likely why she spearheaded a long string of pricey
acquisitions, like $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, and splashy hires
like broadcast journalist Katie Couric.
Still,
this is where Yahoo lags. Its quest to find the “next big thing" has
yielded some solid software — like a slick weather app — but nothing
that keeps users entertained a la Facebook's time-sucking mobile
software.
Meanwhile,
competition from Google and Facebook is only getting fiercer. Last
quarter, revenues for Yahoo's display advertising — its core business —
dipped nearly 5%. Yahoo is technically selling more ads, but the prices
of those ads are dropping, in part due to advertisers who are banking
less these days on Yahoo eyeballs.
That
presents a sort of "chicken and egg" scenario for Yahoo. User
engagement won't significantly increase without more innovative
products, and developers remain cautious about investing in the tech
giant's slow-growing user base. But perhaps Yahoo's conference on
Thursday will convince some app-makers to take the plunge.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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