Microsoft is adding deeper cookie controls to Internet Explorer. The company announced plans to test new features within the IE software that are supposed to give users more control over the use of cookies that can track their online surfing activities. As we all know, cookie data can be used by websites and ad servers to target online ads. So this announcement has undoubtedly sent a slight shiver down the spines of some ad serving companies who rely on cookies to build user profiles. Microsoft said it will enable automatic prompts that inform users anytime a cookie is …

Two weeks ago, despite talk of a dot.com slow down, AdZone Interactive - http://www.adzoneinteractive.com - announced that spending on the Internet has increased a significant 54% from January to June this year from $819 million to $1.264 billion. Considering that the IAB's official online ad spending tally came to $4.6 billion for the entire year (1999), and several other companies released much lower figures, AdZone was immediately criticized for an overly optimistic approach to forecasting future online ad spending growth. But that didn't stop them from releasing more figures earlier today, this time for the UK. According to …

I thought you might want to know there's now a museum devoted solely to banners. And where is it? Online, of course, at http://www.BannerAdMuseum.com. I promise to resist the temptation of whetting the whistle of all those who say the banner is dead and belongs in a... well, a museum, but that's simply because more talent and energy been devoted to the design of the 468x60 pixel area of a web page than to any other single advertising vehicle. "This small rectangle must carry a corporate identity, deliver a message and first and foremost get the viewer to …

Although analysts are predicting a massive shakeout in the online retail industry, it is becoming increasingly apparent that online advertising - by online-only retailers - has a very positive impact when it comes to increasing quality visits to shopping sites. At least that's what AdRelevance found. Their new research report, "The Rise (and Fall?) of Online Retail," reveals a strong positive correlation between online advertising and engaged visitors - or visitors who spend at least three minutes a day viewing content at an online entity - to online retail sites. According to report - available at http://www.adrelevance.com - …

Earlier this week, Jesse Burst of AnchorDesk – www.zdnet.com/anchordesk - said that even though pundits have predicted the web would siphon viewers and advertisers from traditional media, it hasn't happened yet. But, he wrote, it will soon. "Starting this year, traditional media will feel the pain as advertisers flee to the web," he said, addition that the old media "isn't going to die, but it is going to get sick." We could toss that up to yet another pundit prediction and happily enjoy the prognosis of having the advertising media world generate enough news to supply this column with …

Here's another fancy word to add to the list of terms hanging on your corkboard - "optimization." Chances are, you're hearing it from every online ad network as they explain their targeting capabilities. So what exactly is optimization? Without getting too geeky, it's an automated process (generally based on sophisticated mathematical formulas) that allows ad servers to place the most relevant ads in the optimal locations. More simply put, depending on your campaign goals - number of impressions, click-throughs, or conversions - ad servers can tell you which of your ads are most effective on what sites and adjust your …

We've read about teens on the web. We think we know a bunch about women and men, adults, other webbie demos, but the online habits of seniors are somewhat of an enigma. It turns out, however, that Americans 55 and older with Web access use the Internet to its full capabilities, 93% shopping online, 95% using email and 90% participating in online sweepstakes or contests. Those are the results of a recent Greenfield Online study, "Surfing Seniors," which surveyed almost 3,000 seniors and found that the majority is not just dabbling on the Internet. Nearly a third spend 2 …

Who said banners don't work? As Digitrends reported earlier today, online advertising increases brand awareness, despite an annual decline in banner ad click-through rates. That's what research firm Dynamic Logic discovered recently, following the completion of its latest Internet marketing study where 18,000-plus campaigns surveyed were able to increase brand awareness an average of 6% compared to awareness before the campaigns ran. Dynamic Logic concluded that although the click-through rate drops by approximately 1% a year, it's possible that banners can raise awareness for a brand, even if the banner ad is not clicked on by the …

We've all read how teens, the darlings of advertiser target groups, are facing weighty issues like sex and drugs at younger ages, but the good news may be that teens are also learning to deal with these more serious matters earlier as well. Qtopics - http://www.qtopics.com - an online polling company that offers people the chance to ask their own questions, conducted a national survey of 800 teenagers ages 13 to 17 years old asking them what they want to know from their favorite music pop star. According to the results, younger teens are more curious about topics like …

Before I get into what's noteworthy in the online world today, a quick house announcement: we are very pleased to announce that we've made a substantial improvement to our media planning and flowcharting system MPlanner - http://www.mplanner.com - by integrating our directories into it to help you find the most appropriate media vehicle for your plans. You can now search and add magazine titles by category, newspaper titles by city, radio stations by market, TV stations by market and websites by category & network. And through our immediabuy online buying system rate matrix, you can access and import suggested banner …