Tag: Yahoo

Singapore – Yahoo has announced the acquisition of Commonstock, a broker-agnostic social and community-based platform that drives insights for retail investors.

The acquisition advances the power of community for Yahoo Finance and accelerates the brand’s strategy to deliver unparalleled retail investing resources, solutions and experiences to investors of all skill sets and levels.

Through this acquisition, Commonstock will be effectively joining the Yahoo Finance organisation, reinforcing the unique capabilities of Yahoo Finance which is home to one of the largest and most active financial communities on the web, with over 150 million global monthly users.

Commenting on the acquisition, David McDonough, CEO and founder of Commonstock, said, “Joining Yahoo Finance is a tremendous opportunity to build community and products on the largest consumer finance stage, which will positively impact millions of loyal users. This acquisition will allow us to accelerate our mission at scale, emphasising community-driven knowledge and ensuring the amplification of quality insights to separate signal from noise.”

“For me, it’s personal. Yahoo Finance changed my career trajectory during the financial crisis over a decade ago. I was able to teach myself about the stock market and learned from other investors on the Yahoo Finance message boards. The unique blend of Yahoo’s reach and Commonstock’s expertise in creating retail investment communities is an incredibly powerful combination,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Tapan Bhat, president of Yahoo Finance, said, “Our platform caters to every stage of the investment process – from providing pre-trade market news and analysis, facilitating engaging pre- and post- trade conversations within our community of like-minded investors, to offering effective self-directed portfolio management tools and insights. Acquiring Commonstock reinforces this vision.”

“The Commonstock team has built a trusted community, sharing high- quality insights and knowledge that help everyday investors create wealth. Together, Yahoo and Commonstock will further empower investors of all skills and levels through a one-stop shop for smart financial decisions,” added Bhat. 

Singapore – With many Singaporeans following international leagues such as the English Premier League, a majority indicated they could also be encouraged to watch local football, given the right motivation. This was revealed in a recent survey from Yahoo and YouGov, conducted as part of the Season 2 launch of Yahoo’s Footballing Weekly.

While this is a widely held belief amongst Singaporeans (40%) in the study with 40% remaining neutral, there are slight differences amongst generations with older cohorts such as baby boomers (45%) and Gen X (43%) particularly standing tall as advocates of football’s significance, believing that football is important and influential to the culture and identity of Singapore. 

Meanwhile, younger generations such as millennials (35%) and Gen Z (37%) trail slightly behind their older counterparts in this sentiment.

The study also revealed that while only 35% say they currently support local football clubs or the national team, 70% would be encouraged to support a local football club or the national team if at least one of their criteria was fulfilled; the top three criteria identified were talented and skilled players (35%), their hobby or interest (30%); and a strong team spirit (28%).

Moreover, while existing support for local football is equal across generations (Gen Z 36%; Millennials 35%; Gen X 26%; Baby Boomers 34%), younger generations may be key to further fuelling the flames of the country’s passion towards the sport. Gen Z (80%) and Millennials (72%) lead the pack, above the national average (70%), in being potentially interested in local football, citing personal interest as the top criteria.

The survey also showed that Singaporeans who support the national team or local clubs are more optimistic about the country’s aspirations for the Unleash the Roar! project – a bid to develop a national squad that could qualify for the 2034 World Cup. Local football fans (39%) believe that Singapore will be represented at the world’s biggest sporting event within the next 10 years, while only 9% of those who identify as non-supporters agree. 

Fans who indicated their support for the Singapore Premier League (SPL) have a different take: 45% of SPL supporters believe that their partner, spouse, or family should support the same football team, compared to fans of other leagues such as Serie A (35%), UEFA Europa League (34%), Bundesliga (31%), UEFA Champions League (29%), La Liga (29%), and EPL (26%).

Aligning with this sentiment that football, especially local football, is a friends and family affair, respondents indicated that strong community engagements (26%), friend and family support (21%), and a strong team spirit (28%) are amongst the factors that will encourage them to support the local football scene.

Despite their love for the beautiful game, fans are split when it comes to paying to attend live matches. Nearly half (45%) of Singaporeans will not want to attend a live match if they have to pay, whether it involves a top European football club or the Singapore national team at the Singapore National Stadium.

Out of those that were willing to pay to attend a match, respondents were willing to pay more to attend a match involving a top European football club as compared to the Singapore national team: 16% would be willing to pay more than $100 for a top European football club, while only 7% would be willing to pay the same price for the Singapore national team.

The study also revealed that Singaporeans are mixed when it comes to catching the action away from the sidelines: 45% said they tune in to watch live matches online or on TV, with almost a third of respondents (32%) spending up to three hours a week catching up on the game and reliving each important aspect. Meanwhile, 55% said they do not watch live football matches online or on TV.

Chia Han Keong, co-host of Yahoo’s Footballing Weekly and Yahoo editor, said, “Football, after all, is a team sport requiring every player to understand their roles and help his teammates. In Singapore, whether you watch or play football, it builds a community bond that few other sports can manage, and that passion and camaraderie shows up in the findings of this survey.”

He added, “As the first whistle blows on this year’s Yahoo Footballing Weekly, we wanted to take a deeper dive into the perspectives, behaviours, and attitudes of Singaporeans towards football. The insights uncovered are enlightening especially as we ponder on the current state and future fortunes of Singapore football. As a nation, we have always loved the sport, but there is clearly a long way to go before the national team can taste sweet success.”

Singapore – Tressie Lieberman has recently been appointed as Yahoo’s new chief marketing officer. Lieberman will supervise all international marketing strategies, brand positioning, user acquisition, and customer engagement initiatives in her capacity as Yahoo’s CMO. She is going to take a part in establishing the brand’s direction and growth plan, which will enable consumers to achieve their online goals for years to come. She will report to Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo.

During the time she worked as the vice president of digital marketing and off-premise at Chipotle, Lieberman launched the Chipotle Rewards program, which gathered membership of 33 million members. She also oversaw the management of integrated marketing and delivery alliances. 

Lieberman participated in directing the brand’s identity change and the development of retail partnerships while serving as Snap Kitchen’s CMO. She also worked at Taco Bell as the vice president of digital innovation and on-demand, where she was responsible for launching influencer and social media campaigns.

Lanzone said, “To say Tressie stood out during our search process would be a massive understatement.” Tressie’s combination of core marketing skills, leadership and people skills, and strategic creativity – especially in digital and social channels – are extremely rare. She is also uniquely inspired by the chance to take the Yahoo brand to new heights, just like myself and the rest of our executive team. We can’t wait to give the keys to Tressie and watch her drive the brand forward in the years ahead.” 

Speaking on the appointment, Lieberman said, “I have always been drawn to the Yahoo brand – not only for its strong legacy, but for its immense potential.” 

She added, “The opportunity to push the boundaries and take the brand into the future is a dream. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Jim and his team to steer the path they’ve set forth through disruptive campaigns that engage with culture in new and exciting ways. With a wealth of beloved and compelling brands, the sky is truly the limit for the new Yahoo and I can’t wait to get started.”

Singapore – Yahoo has recently announced its new offering “Yahoo Backstage” which will provide Yahoo DSP advertisers with a direct path to curated, premium publisher inventory. The move also supports transparency and supply path optimisation (SPO), while maximising media spend and ROI for advertisers.

In addition to Yahoo-owned and operated properties, over 100 publishers have signed on to ‘Yahoo Backstage’, including A+E Networks, Dotdash Meredith, Newsweek, Raptive, and The Arena Group.

The new offering enables publishers to integrate directly with the Yahoo DSP, enhancing scale and increasing win rates on valuable and trusted inventory, which results in a greater share of working media dollars to publishers and improved performance for advertisers. 

Moreover, ‘Yahoo Backstage’ supply will be fully transparent to Yahoo DSP customers and offered alongside continued access to the industry’s top Exchanges, giving advertisers the control to make their own buying choices. 

In addition to the benefits for advertisers, this new offering will present significant value to Yahoo Advertising’s publisher partners. Publishers will gain direct access to quality demand through a streamlined pipeline, enhancing their existing buying paths. Publishers will also receive dedicated support from Yahoo Advertising’s experienced team, ensuring their business needs are managed.

Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo, said, “We are laser-focused on meeting the evolving industry need, and are excited to offer advertisers a direct line to our premium publisher partners. With trusted publisher relationships and Yahoo’s owned and operated content, we are best positioned to provide advertisers with the most unobstructed supply path, ensuring they achieve the greatest possible results.”

Singapore – Yahoo Advertising has announced the addition of high-attention pre-bid segments to its Yahoo DSP as a result of a partnership between Adelaide, attention metrics company. This partnership introduces a global solution that makes use of Adelaide’s known attention metric, making it quicker for advertisers to integrate attention metrics into their campaigns and achieve better business results.

The Yahoo DSP is an all-inclusive platform that provides significant scalability and a full set of capabilities for data analysis, automated bidding, and optimizing ad campaigns across numerous channels. Advertisers may successfully reach and engage their desired audiences thanks to innovative features like predictive audience modeling and proprietary data sources. 

The possibilities of the platform are expanded by incorporating Adelaide’s attention-based statistic, known as the AU (Attention Unit), into the Yahoo DSP. Through this integration, Yahoo Advertising customers now have a flexible way to find effective and reliable inventory for their campaigns.

Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo, said, “The integration of Adelaide’s Attention Unit into our omnichannel DSP further equips clients with insight into media quality and increases programmatic performance.” 

Adelaide’s Attention Unit makes use of a machine learning algorithm to assess the chance that a media placement would get noticed and have an impact. The Attention Unit offers a precise and detailed quality score for each placement by examining numerous media quality signals, eye-tracking data, and detailed result data.

Meanwhile, Marc Guldimann, CEO & founder at Adelaide, commented, “The integration of our attention metric, AU, into the Yahoo DSP, reinforces our commitment to creating a more transparent media market. We’re thrilled to partner with Yahoo Advertising to address the challenge of quality opacity in programmatic and help leading brands like Verizon achieve more efficient outcomes.”

Singapore – Global information technology company Yahoo has announced the expansion of its talent-building programme ‘Yahoo Academy 2023’ to Singapore. Said programme is set to gather sought-after global creative thinkers to share secrets of future-proofing their careers to rising media agency stars across Australia and Singapore.

‘Yahoo Academy’ is open for nominations, with 40 chosen participants set to get a masterclass in future-proofing their careers from world-renowned creative strategists Rosie and Faris Yakob of Genius Steals.

With AI and other emergent technologies already changing job roles and skills needs across the industry, this year’s academy programme will comprise engaging brand-building, networking and mentoring sessions focused on giving participants from Australia and Singapore the tools they need to navigate an exciting future. 

Moreover, it will culminate in a one-day workshop in Sydney led by the Genius Steals founders with a pitch-off competition. In addition, all Yahoo Academy participants will receive a delegate pass to Advertising Week APAC on August 1 and 2, providing an exceptional experience to fuel growth, shape the future, and make a mark in the industry.

John McNerney, managing director of Yahoo AUSEA, said, “Yahoo Academy 2023 promises to be our biggest and most compelling programme yet. With so much happening in the world, we’re thrilled to have two incredible practitioners in Rosie and Faris, joining us to lead what will be a true masterclass in every sense of the word.”

He added, “Launched in 2012, Yahoo Academy is the original and one of the best talent development programmes in the Aussie industry, with a reputation for nurturing leaders of the future. As one of the world’s most competitive economies and the top country for talent competitiveness in APAC, I’m thrilled that we will have participants from Singapore joining us for the first time. By arming rising stars with new skills and ways of thinking, we’re helping all of our agency partners to adapt and thrive.”

Meanwhile, Rosie and Faris Yakob commented, “No one knows exactly what the future holds, but one thing that is certain is that anything that can be automated will eventually be automated. As AI becomes an increasingly hot topic in the industry and beyond, we believe that the best way to future-proof agencies and careers is to focus on uniquely human attributes, namely creativity and collaboration.”

They added, “We believe that workshops, as with all kinds of work, won’t be any good if they aren’t any fun – so we’re really excited to partner with Yahoo to help inspire this group of rising stars, and equip them with the tools and vision to lead our industry into a future we can all get excited about.”

Nominations for the programme close this June 23, with applicants must have 1 to 7 years of experience in the digital media industry and may self-nominate with senior endorsement, or senior leadership may directly nominate talent.

Singapore – With more consumers embracing the culture of the metaverse, latest consumer research by Yahoo reveals the expectations of consumers towards the phenomenon – from the aspects of virtual social communities, avatars, immersive entertainment, and creative freedom.

The survey covered 15,000 respondents from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, which are mostly Millennials and Gen Z that make up the ‘metaverse generation’.

The study found that Gen Z and Millennial demographic want distinctly different things from the metaverse whilst aiming to enhance and upgrade experiences. In addition, both generation sees different realities or digital avatars, which gives a cue for marketers that free creation is essential. 

Furthermore, the study found out that the said cohort of consumers focus on the appeal of digital assets, embracing virtual collectables such as artworks, profile pictures, gaming goods, limited-edition cards, videos, and music pieces. With these, the metaverse generation is also more receptive to brands that aren’t afraid to jump into the metaverse for their marketing or advertising campaigns and, therefore, pay more attention to a brand’s events and products.

Moreover, security is also a concern of these consumers where they try to find for a safer and more accessible space to protect their privacy and personal information in the metaverse.

Zoe Cocker, director of innovation and creative studio at Yahoo, says that despite the hype towards Metaverse, there is less knowledge about the expectations of consumers.

“This hyperlocal level of detail and insights goes beyond wider trends you are seeing in the press, making them actionable for brands wanting to build in this space and create real value for divergent audiences,” she added.

Singapore – Yahoo Advertising, Yahoo’s adtech division, has unveiled its new team that will lead its Australia and Southeast Asia operations. The announcement comes with a remit to support the business’ refreshed focus as a media solutions partner for premium clients.

The new appointments include John McNerney stepping into the new role of managing director for Australia and Southeast Asia. In his new role, he will oversee the newly formed integrated teams across all of Yahoo Advertising’s disciplines. 

Yahoo Advertising will focus on helping partners deliver future-forward, full-funnel digital media solutions. These solutions will be delivered through Yahoo’s industry-leading DSP, allowing advertisers to effectively target audiences across a diverse set of channels including Advanced TV, mobile, display, video and digital out-of-home. 

McNerney explains, “For the past few years our Yahoo team in the region has been taking an increasingly educational and consultative role with partners to help them navigate the increasingly complex digital marketing ecosystem. This move is a natural evolution of that work, and allows our team to focus on helping our partners do more with their marketing budgets.”

Supporting this focus is an experienced management team across APAC:

  • Matt Farrington, APAC head of partnerships & investment, will continue to drive global and local partnership strategy across the region, working closely with commercial and platform delivery teams.
  • Julia Edwards is promoted to commercial director AUSEA, overseeing the commercial development team, focused on profitable revenue growth for new Yahoo Advertising and growing partnerships with key clients and agencies.
  • Andrew Gilbert is promoted to director of platforms AUSEA, driving DSP strategy across the region to help clients better leverage Yahoo’s market-leading omnichannel technology solutions.
  • Kenneth Koh as the head of DSP for SEA will lead the SEA enterprise solutions team in Singapore and help clients grow their business through Yahoo’s buying solutions.
  • Dan Richardson will continue as head of data, APAC, and will also take on oversight of the insights and measurement teams, with an emphasis on supporting the sales team and clients with pre-sales support for targeting, insights, and measurement;
  • Zoe Cocker will continue to inspire partners with solutions with innovation at their core, adding premium sales to her current role leading Yahoo Creative Studios. Here she will help clients harness new technology including Web3 and immersive creative solutions, and harness the power of omnichannel marketing to drive greater results.

Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo, commented on the new appointments, “We’re thrilled to unveil the new Yahoo Advertising with John McNerney at the helm of the new team and sharpened focus across the region. In his new role as MD of Australia and Southeast Asia John’s leadership qualities, deep product knowledge and extensive connection to the industry mean he has all the attributes to take Yahoo Advertising forward under our new strategy.”

McNerney added, “I’m extremely proud and excited to work alongside such a talented group of experts. I’ve had the pleasure of working with many of them for several years, and cannot wait to see how they unleash the potential of their teams to drive even more impact for our advertising partners.”

Under the new structure, Yahoo will continue to operate its market-leading DSP, allowing partners to seamlessly create true omnichannel campaigns across channels including digital out-of-home, connected TV, native, display, and Yahoo’s powerhouse owned and operated channels including Yahoo Search, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sport, Yahoo Lifestyle and Yahoo Finance.

This follows Yahoo’s key appointments for its APAC team last year to bolster its adtech business in the region.

Singapore – Yahoo has announced key appointments in its APAC team to bolster its adtech business in the region. They include Matt Farringtona as APAC head of partnerships and investment, Sandra Lin as APAC head of DSP strategy, Kenneth Koh as head of DSP for SEA, Terence Lim as business lead for SEA, and Natalie Phang as data and insights strategist for SEA.

Farrington will drive Yahoo’s investment strategy in the region and oversee commercial trading relationships with agencies and clients. He will lead the development and delivery of Yahoo’s trading deal models in APAC, generating value for agencies and clients across Yahoo’s best-in-class unified ad tech stack and omnichannel platforms.

Meanwhile, Lin will oversee the strategy for Yahoo’s ad platforms and unified ad tech stack, focusing on growing product adoption across the region. She will lead regional multi-discipline initiatives across product, positioning, and partnerships.

Koh will lead the demand-side Platform (DSP) team for SEA. His remit will include managing Yahoo’s growing platform specialist team that helps partners in Singapore and SEA realise their full potential through Yahoo’s buying solutions powered by its omnichannel, unified ad tech stack.

On the other hand, Lim will work closely with partners and agencies to help brands future-proof their marketing strategies and achieve their business goals through Yahoo’s unified ad tech stack.

Lastly, Phang will leverage her data strategy experience built across APAC and the EU, to help Yahoo’s agency and brand clients in SEA maximise their marketing investment for the cookieless world.

Paul Sigaloff, vice president and head of APAC at Yahoo, commented, “We are pleased to welcome these new talents to the Yahoo APAC team as we enter a phase of accelerated growth for Yahoo’s ad tech business in the region. Their collective expertise and experience will be invaluable to help create value for our clients and partners in APAC.” 

He added, “With a high-performance team and our market-leading ad tech capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to help brands solve their business objectives and take advantage of new opportunities in APAC’s dynamic digital landscape.”

The slew of appointments follows a series of appointments done this year, including Sebastian Graham as director of native, as well as John McNerneypromoted to senior director of platforms for APAC and Dan Richardson promoted to head of data for APAC.

Singapore – Global financial services company Citibank and Yahoo have announced a partnership to create a dedicated personal finance hub geared towards diverse audiences, providing fresh perspectives on money and equipping them for their financial journey across different life stages.

Hosted on Yahoo Finance in Singapore, the hub–called ‘Life and Money; will see Citibank share expert insights and tips on personal finance with readers.

‘Life and Money’ will feature a specially curated selection of original content contributed by and jointly with Citibank, as well as relevant aggregated content from Yahoo Finance. With insightful explainers accessible in various multimedia formats such as articles, videos, and podcasts, the hub will cover a wide range of topics around personal finance and lifestyle. 

Some of the content topics will include saving, investing, advancing careers, achieving work-life balance, sustainable living, parenting, and other personal finance and lifestyle interests.

In addition, the content will address misconceptions, inspire new lifestyle habits, and provide actionable recommendations for readers of different life stages. Among them are first jobbers seeking financial independence, starter families purchasing their dream homes, mid-career professionals progressing through milestones, and seasoned achievers planning their ideal retirement.

Carol Tay, senior director sales for Southeast Asia at Yahoo, said, “As a leading source for finance news, Yahoo is focused on providing news and information that will help give our readers the confidence to make smart financial decisions. We are thrilled to partner with Citibank and build empowering content on personal finance, and help drive meaningful connections with audiences seeking rich insights that will help them achieve financial empowerment and lead their desired lifestyles.”

Meanwhile, Mylene Ong, head of digital sales and marketing at Citibank Singapore, commented, “Our partnership will give readers the opportunity to access Citibank’s latest personal finance insights and tips, as well as better serve our clients with an additional source of trusted finance-related content. We hope to provide a fresh and reliable financial perspective to those navigating life’s milestones, leveraging Yahoo’s strong editorial expertise and sizeable organic database.”