As you've probably already heard, Amazon.com today announced 1,300 layoffs nationwide, in an effort to turn a profit. Obviously, no dot-com - even a giant one - is immune to the current elements. But, instead of allowing the visions of dead dot-coms to dance in our heads, let's remember that this does not signal doom for the advertising industry. This could even be considered a sign of the Internet growing up. Ad spending is due to rebound in the fourth quarter of this year, says the newest Myers Mediaenomics report, which indicates far greater optimism on ad spending than …

As you've probably heard by now, Disney yesterday became the latest media company to slash its online operations, saying that it will close the Go.com website, resulting in 400 layoffs. What got my attention was the widely quoted statement from Disney head Michael Eisner, who indicated that Disney still believes in the net, but - ready for this? - "The advertising community has abandoned the Internet." Perhaps, Mr. Eisner hasn't been paying attention. According to every reputable research and data tracking establishment out there, larger, more established companies are increasing their online ad spend. Just this …

So much for television being a passive medium, incapable of inspiring people to get up off the couch and log on to the web. Nielsen//NetRatings, reports that daily traffic to SuperBowl.com at home spiked 269% on Sunday. Hour by hour traffic jumped in the fourth quarter, with 16% of all visitors logging on to vote for the game's most valuable player. Daily traffic to the official Super Bowl site peaked on Sunday with 359,000 unique visitors as compared to 97,000 visitors the day before. Fans watching the broadcast were prompted to visit SuperBowl.com during the end of the game …

With kick-off only two days away, here are some final Super Bowl numbers (and some trivia) for you about the big game. * Expected total TV viewership for Super Bowl XXXV: 135 million. * There were 17 dot-coms advertising on Super Bowl XXXIV. * There are 3 dot-coms advertising on Super Bowl XXXV. * Number of dot-coms advertising on Super Bowl XXXIV that are no longer around for Super Bowl XXXV: 2. * Total game-time minutes in an NFL contest is 60. * Total commercial time minutes during Super Bowl XXXV: 30. * 58% …

Considering all the abuse banner ads are taking these days, you'd think Web publishers everywhere would be hard at work developing a wealth of new online ad formats. Well, they are, but the advertising and web publishing industry isn't exactly welcoming their efforts with open arms. The bigger banners and ad formats - or what we at MediaPost affectionately refer to as "The Big Units" - have been in existence since 1997, when Forbes.com created the Skyscraper ad - a vertical 150x800 pixel unit that spans an entire page. While banners appear at the top and bottom of …

This morning, after downloading my emails (523 of them to be exact and that's just from the overnight hours), I finally decided to remove myself from a few lists I somehow ended up on. It took a while, but I did it. Unfortunately, Jupiter Research found a way to swiftly destroy the sense of accomplishment I felt after typing the word "unsubscribe" a few dozen times. According to their latest prediction, in 2005, advertisers are expected to send some 268 billion email messages. That's 22 times the number of emails sent last year, and more than 5,600 (average) for …

There's a new media company on the block. Actually, it's a new division of a veteran media company - VentureDirect Worldwide - and it's a testament to the fact that web advertising is very much alive and will soon be well again. VentureDirect today announced that they've launched Foglight Media, a strategic online planning and buying agency, along with a curiously named subdivision, Valuable Inventory, which specializes in high volume discounted media buying. Rich Baumer, President of VentureDirect Worldwide, said a lot of advertisers are watching their results much more carefully these days. There are two types of …

Sorry to start the week on a dissonant note, but I have a bone to pick with the advertising industry. Not as a whole, but certainly the segment responsible for the following. This morning, I received a piece of snail mail. Considering that MediaPost, parent of the Minute, is a publisher of several DAILY ONLINE newsletters (don't worry, this is not a pitch) and almost every bit of info comes via email, a business-size envelope is a rare sighting around here. Especially one containing any sort of news announcement. Of course I always open these press release envelopes, …

In case you're in need of some motivation in the midst of all this dot-com-related gloom, this morning at the AAAA/ANA e- Business Conference & Trade Show, Bob Schmetterer, Chairman and CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide, made the case for The New Business of Branding. Schmetterer believes the Internet is fundamentally changing how companies link their communications and business strategies. And he is a strong advocate of new kinds of partnerships that cross all categories of media, business, art, and entertainment. He said creativity is the touchstone for all business in the 21st century version of branding and …

Minutes after this morning's CNN staff cut plan hit the wires, I received an email from a recently laid-off ad agency employee, who rather heartily blamed all of his recent misfortunes and those of his peers on, and I quote, "those *&^%$#@ dot-coms." Coincidentally or not, an article on AdAge.com today tallied up the staff cuts at the major agencies and among those that have been trimming back are Mediacom, Lowe Lintas & Partners, BBDO North America, Fallon, Publicis & Hal Riney, and Y&R. Although I sincerely sympathize with anyone who's ever been hit with a pink slip, …