This week on Wall Street, movie mutants made massive moola, and online advertising trends indicated an increasing Googliocentric universe.
It all "ads" up in the end
Online advertising enjoyed another banner quarter. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, advertisers spent $3.9 billion on Web-based marketing this past quarter, a 38% improvement year over year. As Tim Beyers rightfully points out, that only means that the world will continue to revolve around Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).
Yes, the sun you wake up to every morning has been replaced by Google. Look for classic oldies to be refashioned as "Here Comes the Google" and "The House of the Rising Google" before too long.
It must be awfully nice to be Google. They're growing market share in a segment that is also expanding quickly. The genre's popularity has even helped fading rivals like AOL, Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), and MSN, which are only burning this two-sided firecracker at one end.
Congrats, Google. Now go get some rest. You have to wake up pretty early tomorrow morning to brighten our day.
Lights, camera, traction
Your neighborhood multiplex is smiling again. Ticket sales were up a sharp 13% in the spring, and a strong opening for Marvel's (NYSE:MVL) latest entry in the X-Men series is giving theater owners a good start to the critical summer season.
This is just what the industry needed. Higher gas prices had some concerned that celluloid movie buffs would nest even deeper into their homes, relying on mail-delivered rentals or on-demand video. The robust showing indicates that consumers just don't want to wait a few months to catch some movies after they hits the DVD market. That should play well over the summer; many of the upcoming big-budget releases come packed with potent eye candy that's simply better experienced on the big screen.
So the reel turnaround is a real turnaround. Now let's see what Hollywood, and the theater operators who rely on Hollywood, do for an encore. You've got the fannies back in the seats -- don't burn them with overpriced concessions or force them to sit through 15 minutes of commercials before the movie kicks in.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz recommends windshield-wiper fluid when trying to look back. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
