In This Update:

• WPP Closing in on Blast Radius Acquisition
• Adobe to Acquire Word Processor Maker Buzzword
• BBC Buys Lonely Planet to Expand Online Content
• TV Guide to Launch Video Search Filtering Tool
• Monster IPO Quarter Coming – to be Biggest Since Dot-Com Boom
• Google Launching AdSense for YouTube
• Microsoft, Adobe Launch Document Sharing Services
• VC’s Set Up Fund for Apps on Salesforce’s Force.com
• Yahoo, MediaVest Study: Out-of-Context Ads Effective

WPP Closing in on Blast Radius Acquisition
ADVERTISING AGE
WPP Group, one of the most aggressive holding companies when it comes to snapping up digital-technology firms, is closing in on a deal to acquire Vancouver-based Blast Radius, one of the few large independents on the market. The 400-person shop, which has worked on campaigns for Electronic Arts, Nike’s Air Jordan and AOL, brought in an estimated $60 million in revenue this year. Blast Radius does about 75% of its business in the U.S., but its headquarters in Canada have kept it slightly below the radar.
Source>

Adobe to Acquire Word Processor Maker Buzzword
REUTERS
Adobe Systems Inc plans to acquire Virtual Ubiquity, makers of Buzzword, an innovative word processor, in a surprise move that competes with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc. Adobe, a major supplier of business publishing software and design tools, is looking to a team of former Lotus application developers to enable the hundreds of millions of users of Adobe Acrobat software to work together publishing shared documents. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Source>

BBC Buys Lonely Planet to Expand Online Content
REUTERS
BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corp, bought Lonely Planet in a deal that values the travel publisher at about $203 million, a person familiar with the talks said. Lonely Planet founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler will keep a 25 percent stake, the BBC said on Monday.
Source>

TV Guide to Launch Video Search Filtering Tool
MASHABLE
TV Guide will launch an online search service this week, which will offer filtering tools for finding television shows on the Internet. This isn’t entirely different from its existing service. Launched in beta over the summer, TV Guide’s search service will soon be live for anyone. Staying in line with its dedication to television content providers, search results will provide links to the content owners’ own websites, and then to other professional content that’s been created as associated programming for the show. Think “Behind the Scenes” and late night interviews with the cast. In addition, user-generated content will get its place to shine on TV Guide as well, if it’s popular (worthy) enough to be noted.
Source>

Monster IPO Quarter Coming – to be Biggest Since Dot-Com Boom
VENTUREBEAT
The economy may croak from the credit crunch, but public offerings and acquisition deals are happening at the fastest pace in years. The fourth quarter is going to be monster. Some 46 U.S. companies backed by venture capitalist registered during the third quarter to go public, according to research by Dow Jones VentureOne to be released tomorrow. Not all of them will go public within the next three months, but even if half of them do, that’s way more than in any quarter in recent memory.
Source>

Google Launching AdSense for YouTube
TECHCRUNCH
Google has launched YouTube Adsense video units that let users monetize a YouTube video embed with text or image ads. The product is not dissimilar to one of the multitude of slide products currently on the market, essentially you use the unit as a display point for your favorite content (in this case from YouTube). Site visitors get to play videos from your list with the ads displayed when these videos are played, and like Adsense you get paid when people click on the ads.
Source>

Microsoft, Adobe Launch Document Sharing Services
WEBWARE
Microsoft and Adobe are announcing, at exactly the same time, competing services for sharing documents from your computer. Adobe’s Share converts all shared documents to Flash, so you can embed them in any Web page. Microsoft is recasting Office Live as Office Live Workspace, a sharing service for Office documents. Its special sauce will be integration into the existing Office apps like Word and Excel.
Source>

VC’s Set Up Fund for Apps on Salesforce’s Force.com
VENTUREBEAT
Bay Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners will announce a fund of at least $25 million for startups that develop applications on Force.com, Saleforce’s software platform to help businesses to build their own applications and host them with Salesforce. The two venture firms believe startups that develop applications using Force.com may be able to provider cheaper, easier-to-use applications to larger businesses, especially to mid-sized businesses that get ignored in favor of Fortune 500 client companies by business-software giants such as Oracle and SAP. Many of these mid-sized businesses, often defined as having between 50 and 500 employees, instead build their own software or do without.
Source>

Yahoo, MediaVest Study: Out-of-Context Ads Effective
MEDIAWEEK
New research casts doubt on the long-held belief that advertising is most effective when placed near content related to the product. Yahoo and MediaVest recently studied a group of consumers passionate about a particular subject area. Product ads displayed out of context had roughly the same impact on brand preference as identical placements shown next to related content. Yahoo asked self-identified food lovers to rate various brands, including the single-serve gourmet coffee product Tassimo. Brand affinity increased 26 percent among those shown the ad on a Yahoo Food page, and 21 percent among those shown the same ad on a Yahoo News page.
Source>