'Net Features : japan

LinkShare Affiliate Network Sees Explosive Growth

Michael Garrity — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Rakuten LinkShare has announced that its various global performance marketing networks saw impressive growth throughout Q1 of 2012, with some of its strongest network sales coming from the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.

This progress presents new opportunities for publishers, both at home and abroad.

Specifically in the U.S., the LinkShare network outperformed overall e-commerce in terms of growth by a large margin. Moreover, Forrester Research is predicting that overall e-commerce will grow by 12 percent by the end of 2012, while LinkShare has seen some of its store’s sales already increase 31 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.

The U.K. network also saw immense gains in some areas, with some overall store sales growing 52 percent year-over-year.

LinkShare has also added over 100 new brands in the first quarter. The U.S. network saw the inclusion of Steve Madden, while Canada signed Saks Fifth Avenue (who also joined the U.K. network), Kiehl’s, Biotherm and eBeauty.ca. The Japanese LinkShare network added Dyson Japan and Kurimo.

All of these brands represent a wide array of product categories (and publisher opportunities), from apparel to luxury and many more.

The End of Autocomplete?

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:51:00 GMT

A Tokyo District Court has approved a petition which would force Google to suspend its auto-complete search feature.

The function, which anticipates the user's query and suggests keywords/phrases based on what the user starts to type into the search box, has been the subject of several modifications in recent months including the expansion of autocomplete predictions in December 2011.

According to an article in the Japan Times, Google is refusing to remove the feature, arguing that its US headquarters can't be regulated by Japanese law. The petition evolved from a case where a man alleged that the feature breached his privacy, got him fired and caused several companies to subsequently reject him when he applied for new jobs.

Google previously reject the litigant's request to delete certain words on the grounds that the auto-complete suggestions were selected mechanically and not intentionally

Ooyala Turning Japanese

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:16:00 GMT

Video technology provider Ooyala launched its Japanese website today. While an announcement like that would not usually not warrant even a shrug, it does signify that video is going global at a rapid pace and both marketers and agencies know it.

Ooyala has done well in North America and Europe and is looking to Japan as it continues a global expansion. All Ooyala features (uploading, analytics, syndication and ad serving) can all be managed in Japanese. For Japanese companies with an international footprint, the company's video player automatically detects the browser language settings and adjusts the player controls and closed captioning to accommodate the viewer.

“Online video is revolutionizing media consumption globally, and the Japanese market represents an exciting opportunity for us," says Chris Wong, Ooyala SVP of Corporate Development. "By March of 2011, the Japanese government is planning to have broadband across the entire country, with over 75% of the population getting fiber directly to their home. With the deployment of this high-speed broadband infrastructure and mass proliferation of web-connected mobile devices - this will make it possible for companies to leverage our platform to deliver richer and more engaging video content directly to their consumers.”