Before I get into today's topic of email, a quick housekeeping item: As you know from an email we sent out this morning, MediaPost is conducting a very quick member survey to figure out how we can better serve you. In return, we're giving away a free DVD player and five Rich Media Planning Kits. So if you haven't done so already, please fill it out and enter to win (the whole thing should take about 3 minutes). Drawing is June 29 so please take the survey today. That said, on to email. In a new report released …

The biggest news of the day is Robert Coen. Every six months, this senior VP and director of forecasting for Universal McCann, reviews ad spending numbers and tries to predict the future. Today, he said that this year ad spending growth will slow down to its lowest level in ten years - a measly 2.5%. I'm still not convinced that these forecasts are important to anyone but Robert Coen himself (six month ago he predicted 5.8%), but we did dutifully report on his findings in our MediaDailyNews today. So if you're interested, please see our story at https://www.mediapost.com/enews.htm?s=86070. I'd …

Not that we need to hear any more depressing news, but Competitive Media Reporting (CMR), announced this week that first quarter advertising spending for all media was down 5.2% for 2001, compared to first quarter revenues in 2000. Total ad spending dipped from $23.8 billion in 2000, to $22.6 billion this year. Top advertisers included General Motors, spending $516.1 million, down 23.7% from last year, AOL Time Warner with $382.7 million, up 29% from last year, and DaimlerChrysler, spending $376.0 million, down 1.7% from the same period last year. "With the economic challenges facing businesses and industries since …

I hate to write about this type of thing, but I feel it's my duty to tell you that California-based ad serving company AdForce is officially out of business as of yesterday (in case you ever dealt with them). My calls for comment to company officials did not yield any response, but one voice mail, that of Business Development Director Michael Feinberg, states, "I hate to tell you this. Effective the week of June 11th, Adforce is shutting down its operations. If you are an existing client, we will be providing limited customer support for the next week or …

Nielsen//NetRatings today released its First Quarter 2001 Global Internet Trends report on Internet access and penetration, finding that 429 million people have Internet access around the world. Not surprisingly, the Q1 results show that the US and Canada still account for the largest proportion of the world's Internet access, with 41% of the global audience located in those countries. Europe, the Middle East and Africa has the second highest proportion of access, with 27% of the world's Internet population, followed by Asia Pacific with 20%, and trailed by Latin America with 4%. Don't expect this American domination to …

Just moments after sending out yesterday's Minute about businesswomen preferring to communicate over email rather than face-to-face, I received an announcement (by email, of course) titled, "Email - Tool or Torment?" So, here's to contradictory research! We all hear "experts" speak volumes about the incredible power of email and here comes this piece of research that tells us email is not a time-saver? Really? Well, consider the following: according to a recent global study by Rogen International and Goldhaber Research Associates called "Balancing Email and Face-to-Face In Workplace Communication," each year some 4 trillion emails are sent worldwide …

Here's an interesting contradiction to the all-too-familiar theory of the Internet endangering the age-old methods of face-to-face negotiation and media buying. A majority of businesswomen in a recent survey think their ideas are more likely to be heard, appreciated and responded to when they use online communication at work, compared to the traditional face-to-face method. The finding emerged in a survey of 675 mid-level and senior businesswomen from across the nation, developed by the Simmons Graduate School of Management (GSM) Center for Gender in Organizations. It was administered by the Compaq Computer Corporation during the GSM's national Leadership …

I've long given up on taking any and all forecasts about the online advertising industry seriously, but I still get a strange kick out of some members of the industry exhibiting boundless and largely unfounded optimism about the future. Case in point: according to a new DFC Intelligence report, streamed ad-supporting audio and video programming is forecast to generate $138 million in 2001. The report also says that about 63% of Internet audio broadcasters have actually deployed, or have the capability to deploy, in-stream ads and about 24% of video-centric destinations and sites have deployed ad-insertion capability. …

I never thought this day would come, but it turns out that there is a limit to what the Internet can do after all. You can book vacations, buy movie tickets, food and just about everything else on the Internet, but as the Vatican declared yesterday, you will never have your sins forgiven online. The very fact that a top Vatican official had to tell Italian media that the Roman Catholic Church would rule out giving confessions over the Internet means that someone somewhere suggested such a service, which in my book is located somewhere between laughable and …

First off, thanks to everyone who has responded to last Friday's Minute. I have quite a debate raging in my inbox, and I'll be sure to let you know the final tally when all the responses come in. For now, let's talk about a new addition to the online ad metric alphabet soup. Avenue A today released the latest report from their Atlas Institute, which examines the latest online advertising metric, cost-per-revenue (CPR). Avenue A claims the report proves that when added to the optimization mix, CPR -- not to be confused with cost-per-response -- can produce better results …