According to new research from Vindico, 80% of viewers abandon video advertising within the first half of ads. According to the research, full-episode players and video portal sites showed the highest rate of first-half abandonment. However, even though viewers did not complete ads, they were still exposed to the content. Vindico found that mid-rolls were the best format in terms of completion, with a 94% completion rate.

According to data released by Nielsen, apps are still the main way of accessing content on mobile devices, as the time spent on apps (versus mobile web browsers) has increased to 81% from 73% over the past year. The data revealed that the top five apps are Facebook, YouTube, Google Play, Google Search and Gmail, while the most dominant smartphone platforms are Android and iOS, accounting for 88% of downloads. Nielsen's data also indicated that the average time spent on apps per day has increased by two minutes to a total of 39 minutes a day. 

Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's global media head, has been appointed as interim CEO after CEO Scott Thompson stepped down. Thompson stepped down after it was revealed that his resume exaggerated his academic credentials. Yahoo did not elaborate on the reasons for Thompson’s departure, only saying that he has “left the company” in a statement made on Sunday.

Nielsen has begun informing clients of a major initiative to develop new audience meters and digital tracking codes that could begin replacing its current meters as soon as 2014.  The GTAM intiative, which stands for Global Television Audience Metering, includes the development of four new audience metering technologies designed to deal with the challenges involved in measuring the viewing behavior of contemporary consumer households.

Google has announced its intention to back its YouTube channels with $200 million in marketing support. The announcement, which was made Wednesday during its digital “NewFront” presentation, will support an initiative that YouTube began last fall with the rollout of 50 niche content channels. The video-sharing site will spend $200 million across Google sites and its advertising network to promote the channels,  according to Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s head of global content.

According to the latest study by Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Internet ad spending grew 22% in 2011 to $31.7 billion. The growth rate tops last year’s 14.5%, indicating that digital advertising is continuing to grow. For the fourth quarter of 2011, online ad spending hit nearly $9 billion, up 20.4% from a year ago, and 14.7% from the third quarter.

LinkedIn is introducing a new service that allows businesses to customize content sent to followers according to various criteria, including industry, seniority, job function, company size, etc. With this new service, companies will also have direct access to an analytics dashboard showing engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, as well as followers’ demographic data. 

Skype is preparing to launch a $12 million digital campaign. The campaign aims "to illustrate how all Skype products and features –- not just 1:1 video chat -– enrich our communications by restoring their humanity,” said Francie Strong, Skype's director of global customer-base marketing. The “It's time for Skype” campaign kicks off on April 19th in the U.S. according to Strong, the campaign will target consumers who already use Skype as well as those who might be unfamiliar with it.

Amazon's App Store has been seeing a considerable increase in revenues. According to mobile analytics firm Flurry, revenue from Amazon’s Appstore is now at 89% of iTunes App Store revenue. In other words, for every $1.00 an app generates in the iTunes App Store, it generates $0.89 in the Amazon Appstore. Meanwhile, revenue from Google’s app business 'Google Play' is only at 23%.