January 16, 2006

No Page Reload Required: See Sponsored Ads in Various Categories on Yahoo Movies Pages

Is Yahoo testing something new with sponsored links on some pages found on Yahoo Movies?

Allow me to explain.

Sponsored links on Yahoo Movie pages for thousands of films and actors are found at the very bottom of the page in a box labeled "sponsored links." Here's an example using one the page for one of the best (IMHO) films of 2005, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Once at the bottom of the page you should see the ad box.

What's interesting (and possibly new) is that instead of seeing actual ads and links, you should spot links to various ad categories. For example, George Clooney (the director of GNGL, he also acts in it), Satellite television, Movie posters, Movie by mail, etc.

So where are the actual ads?

Click on any ad category and a new box should open below with the actual ads and links. To view ads in a different category, the user can simply select another category and a new box with new ads will immediately appear. In other words, the user can look at a variety of ad categories without having to reload the page. Interesting.

If for some reason you're unable to see these ads, I've posted screen caps here, here, and here.

I'm checking with Yahoo to see if this is something they're just testing or a new feature. Also, will ask if are they're doing this on other Yahoo sites?

Postscript from Danny: See also Interactive & graphical enhanced ad units from Yahoo's ContentMatch at JenSense for similar units elsewhere.

Want to discuss? Here's an SEW Forums thread.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:25 PM | Permalink

January 6, 2006

Yahoo Go Puts Yahoo Services Into Cell Phones, TV & PCs

Yahoo has launched Yahoo Go (link via PaidContent), a suite of products designed to let people reach information whether they're on their PCs, phones or using TV. The suite will be formally announced by Yahoo CEO Terry Semel at CES keynote today

Yahoo Go Mobile currently works only for Nokia Series 60 phones. It will allow you to sync your contacts, photos and mail with Yahoo. Yahoo says that in the near future, Yahoo Go Mobile will be preinstalled on the Nokia 6682 from Cingular Wireless. Beyond Yahoo Go Mobile, plain old Yahoo Mobile has a wide range of services, some of which involve no special software at all.

Yahoo Go TV is a coming application for Windows XP machines that allows you to see photo slide shows, listen to internet radio stations, search for movie info and clips and find video from the web. What's the TV part, then? It will work with a PC-enabled TV, News.com reports. Or, I suspect, a PC that displays TV in addition to a PC desktop, such as the Windows Media Center does. This application looks to tap into existing Yahoo products but perhaps make them easier for users to be aware of through a more customized software interface.

Yahoo Go Desktop / PC is another coming application that looks incredibly similar to the Google Sidebar. It allows you to apparently tap into and sync more easily with existing Yahoo services such as Flickr photo sharing, blogging on Yahoo 360 and Yahoo Mail. A new "social browser" is also promised, though this seems to be the sidebar or dashboard-like application I mentioned. From various reports, Yahoo Go Dashboard appears to be the name of this.

Yahoo To Launch Go Initiative; Mobile, Connected TVs & Desktop Access over at PaidContent has a nice summary, and v ia Russell Beattie, a number of articles have some additional details.

Yahoo goes mobile over at News.com says Yahoo Go Mobile will work in 10 different countries (I suspect this actually means it will work with 10 different Yahoo country specific editions, such as Yahoo US versus Yahoo UK). Yahoo Go TV is promised for download before April and remote recording of TV shows is planned.

Yahoo Launches Content Service for Phones from the AP covers Yahoo working with Motorola to bring Yahoo Go into its phones, though Google still looks to be the preferred search provider for Motorola, given its deal announced today.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:33 AM | Permalink

October 31, 2005

The Yahoo Media Content Beat: Harry Potter Exclusive Video Clip and New Content from "The Week"

A couple of quick items from the Yahoo media content beat.

First, Yahoo is the exclusive home of a new video clip from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire film.

Second, The Week will produce, "a daily roundup of print and online business news" for Yahoo Finance, according to Crain's NY Business.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:20 PM | Permalink

May 25, 2005

Searching for a Good Flick? Ask Yahoo Movies

Amazon popularized the idea of a recommendation service, suggesting books and other products based on what you and other people have purchased. Yahoo today launched a movie recommendation engine that offers personalized suggestions for films showing in theaters, on TV or on DVD and video that's remarkably good, right off the bat. I've got a more complete look at the service in today's SearchDay article, Yahoo Launches Personalized Movie Recommendations.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 9:26 AM | Permalink

March 2, 2005

Yahoo! Now Recommends Movies (Beta)

Greg Linden tells us about a new movie recommendation service (beta) from Yahoo! Movies.

It appears that the recommendation engine is provided by ChoiceStream. ChoiceStream uses a content-based algorithm (matching metadata about the movies) that they call "Attributized Bayesian Choice Modeling".

Greg also points out that ChoiceSteam offers a television recommendation service called MyBestBets.

Another web-based movie recommender system (this one utilizes collaborative filtering) is called MovieLens. It comes from the GroupLens Research Project at the University of Minnesota and has been online for several years.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:29 AM | Permalink

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