In order to end the week on a good note, I'm going to stay away from projections today and instead give you a heads up on an advertising venue that may or may not blossom in the upcoming months - software advertising. We're all fairly familiar with this concept of placing ads into software programs so that the ads stay in front of the users as they work, but software is certainly not the first place you would think of pouring your media budget into. But if Opera has its way, that mindset might change. Opera is …

Following yesterday's Minute about traditional advertisers (in this case the entire newspaper industry) gradually accepting the Internet as a viable ad medium, one of our readers asked a very natural question: What about the "flipside"? How do "dot-coms" feel about advertising in traditional media? Well, that's a horse of a different color. Staying on the print side of things, here's the sad reality - the days of triple-digit advertising growth are over, as the publishers of the Internet bibles such as Business 2.0, Red Herring and several others have discovered recently. The Dec. 26 issue of Business 2.0, …

It seems traditional media are beginning to see the benefits of using the Internet to promote themselves. And newspapers - the medium formerly expected to be infringed on by the web the most - are leading the charge. As Editor and Publisher reported earlier today, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman newspaper had used billboards, radio and TV spots to grab people's attention for years, but the time had come for a more targeted approach. So, in a test program this fall, the American-Statesman emailed non- or occasional subscribers and asked permission to make future email contacts. In return for information …

The 1999 holiday season marked the first time that online retailing played a noticeable part in the shopping season. And with 23% more users online this season and ad activity at four times what it was last year, retailers are sure to do well in 2000. At least that's what AdRelevance is predicting in their latest report... with a word of caution. A quick look back at 1999 online advertising trends shows that online retailers didn't follow the traditional mall 'start early' marketing strategy. You'd think they'd learn from their mistakes this year and start advertising earlier. But …

Last week, researchers at Myers Reports predicted that 2001 online ad spending would increase nearly 70% over this year's levels. As a follow up, their special market analysis is also bullish on the health of the online ad industry, offering a "more detailed view of exactly where and how the dollars are coming in," as Jack Myers, chief economist for Myers Reports, explained. The analysis, published in yesterday's edition of The Myers Report, indicates that online ad revenue from traditional media budgets is decreasing in share of total online spending, while ad revenue share coming from e-commerce is on …

When it comes to e-commerce, every major research company is trying to predict what's going to happen in the next month. Seeing into the future is fun, but here is an inside look at the consumer group that is driving e-commerce today: According to Simmons' National Consumer Survey (NCS), men are still more likely to shop online than women, but the gap is closing. This year, 51% of Web shoppers were male and 49% female (compared to 55% and 45% respectively in 1999). More than half of online shoppers are between the ages of 25 and 44, with …

Are we really this stubborn? According to the recently released Iconocast Marketing Survey, traditional click- through ratios are still the top-ranked means to measure ad effectiveness. Moreover, web merchants are twice as likely to use total revenue when measuring ROI rather than lifetime customer value. Shouldn't we know better by now? As ICONOCAST founder and editor Michael Tchong said, "While analytics are becoming an ever important part of online marketing, we still have a way to go in helping marketers focus on and track what really counts. For example, when asked how they measure ROI, those who sell online …

Web merchants are spending more online. That's according to new research from Shop.org and The Boston Consulting Group. The study found that average customer acquisition costs for Web pure-plays and click-and-mortar firms dropped from $40 per customer in second quarter to $20 in the third, as online retailers refocused their marketing spending. The survey found that in Q3 of 2000, 64% of online retailers' marketing budgets went into online media, up from 59% in Q2. Additionally, while 89% of respondents are launching holiday marketing and promotional campaigns, only 4% intend to increase spending on TV advertising. The …

Harris Interactive today released the results of a new survey of more than 69,000 web users that measured the perceptions of both current broadband users and those planning (planners) to move to broadband DSL and cable modem connections. And the findings spell good news for anyone dreaming of someday streaming audio and video ads and other enriched formats to the entire Internet audience. The study estimated that approximately 38.9 million US households connect to the Internet, and about 3.6 million US households connect using a high-speed connection (cable modem, DSL, ISDN or satellite data service). Most of the …

As we head into the busy holiday hopping season, here are two conflicting reports from the U.S. government, and thankfully, neither one has anything to do with the presidential election. The U.S. Commerce Department released a report today, which says consumers boosted their online purchases from July to September at a rapid pace, which bodes well for the health of the e-retail sector this holiday season. Online purchases of goods including books, clothes and toys jumped 15.3% from the second quarter to $6.373 billion in the third quarter, even as total retail sales fell 0.4%, the report said. …