With the topic of using search engine listings as ad vehicles still fresh in my mind, I just couldn't resist telling you about another research report I stumbled on today. This one is a two-year study by Alexa Research, which has just revealed that instead of entering a URL into the address field of their Web browsers, a huge number of Internet users enter the name of the site they want into the search box of their start-up homepage or other search engine. Alexa's findings are based on an examination of more than 42 million search pages viewed …

With Valentine's Day around the corner I felt sentimental enough to look back at last year's Valentine's Minute and instead of inspiration, found this phrase: "With the January advertising blues behind them, most ad networks are seeing a sizable boost in February and even March buys." Funny how things change, isn't it? As I went further down the Minute Archive list, however, I found another column about the evils of self-serving research studies. Some things never change. GoTo.com, which calls itself a "leading provider of Pay-For- Performance search services," today released findings from a "pioneering new study" …

Even though the XFL television ratings victory was short- lived, the website activity for the new football league, jointly owned by the World Wrestling Federation and NBC, seems to point to a trend. For decades, we've debated the effectiveness of broadcast ads during sporting events. Enter the web. Enter sports sites. Current result - much bigger debate. How about running online ads on sports sites affiliated with a sports event? To this day, the wider-spread opinion is that people will not get off the couch during a game to log on to the web, so what's the point of …

It came as a surprise to some when NetZero, the frontrunner of the free ISP group, announced a roll-out of a premium fee- based access service called NZ Platinum this week. At $9.95 a month, paying subscribers won’t be required to accept ads as they are on NetZero’s free service. But NetZero will still expose its paying users to advertising, through its start- page portal and its email service. Now the ad industry is evaluating the benefits of advertising on Free ISPs all over again, so I thought I'd remind you of something we found a few months back. …

More good news for rich media advertisers. Nielsen//NetRatings today revealed that high-speed Internet access, including ISDN, LAN, cable modems and DSL connections, jumped 148% among home users in December 2000 as compared to the same period in 1999. Nearly 12 million home Web users accessed the Internet with a high-speed connection in December, as compared to five million people a year ago. Interestingly enough, "Streaming media is one of the chief incentives prompting users to switch to high-speed Web access, which is fast becoming the must-have service in the home," said T.S. Kelly, director of Internet Media Strategies …

Just as we were beginning to understand the differences between Media Metrix and Nielsen//NetRatings numbers, a third service has entered the web traffic measurement game, destined to confuse us all even more. This one is called netScore and, according to the official announcement, utilizes parent company comScore's network of 1.3 million opt-in members to measure consumers' Internet buying and surfing behavior anywhere on the web. I'll let you pick a favorite, but here are the three advantages netScore claims over the other two: First, it utilizes comScore's new technology to track and record visitor traffic on a …

These days, anytime I read the words "next big thing" used to describe an advertising concept, I hear warning sirens. Especially if the story mentions upcoming launches of corresponding services from notable companies. So forgive me if the jury's still out on the following: The concept at hand is "co-registration" - a process commonly referred to as lead-generation, which allows a web user to sign up for an advertiser's service or opt-in to their email list while filling out a form on another website. It's generally paid for on a cost-per-acquisition basis ranging from 50 cents to several dollars …

I supposed if it had to happen, Valentine's Day is just as good a time as any for email and postal mail to get together. A press release titled "Romeo Never Used Email to Win Juliet's Heart" landed on my desk this morning, announcing a new Internet service that helps romantics send real letters on Valentine's Day as opposed to email. Intrigued? There's more. The letters are not just advertising supported, they're targeted to the demographics and personal interests of the letter recipient. According to the release, Zairmail - http://www.zairmail.com - is the first company to facilitate the …

Sorry to end the week on a depressing note, but yet another company - AllAdvantage - has given up on trying to succeed by paying people to look at banner ads as they browse the Web. A message on the company website states, "We are sad to report that the major changes in the marketplace that occurred during the last year now require that we close the AllAdvantage Viewbar [a window that displayed banner ads while users surfed] and our pay-to-surf, sweepstakes and other incentive programs. "Since our founding in 1999, the advertising and capital markets have changed …

Enough about dot-com layoffs. How about some media use data? About a month ago, Interep released data on core users of the major media and I thought you might be interested. As Michele Skettino, VP of Marketing Communications at Interep, said, "Since the introduction of the Internet and various other media options, it is important that we continue to track who is using each medium, and to what degree." Not surprisingly, radio and online continue to dominate among the 18 to 44 audience. Interep's "Profiles on the Core Users of the Major Media," says online media shows its …