It's that time again for Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget - time to predict the future. This time, however, the forecast is not as frightening. According to his latest release, Blodget thinks AOL Time Warner is not only the largest player in online media, but the conglomerate is actually keeping the rest of the industry afloat. Relatively speaking, AOL's performance in the first quarter was so strong - a 5% revenue increase - that overall industry performance topped Blodget's expectations of a 35% revenue decline from the fourth quarter. This is the first time in nine months that the …

The number of hours streamed by Internet radio broadcasters dropped nearly six percent last week, bringing the MeasureCast Internet Radio Index to 130 from 138 the previous week. Nevertheless, several online stations saw stream requests jump as much as 23%, according to the most recent MeasureCast Internet Radio Report. Since January, the total number of hours streamed by online broadcasters measured by MeasureCast has increased 30%. The index tracks the total number of hours streamed by on-line broadcasters, and is a representation of the trend in Total Time Spent Listening (TTSL) across a spectrum of stations measured by MeasureCast. …

The Wireless Advertising Association today released its first set of creative standards and measurement definitions for wireless ads. Whether these will be adopted by the industry is hard to predict, but nevertheless here they are: First, the WAA defined reach as the unique (unduplicated) number of users/devices to which an advertiser's message is delivered. Target reach is the number users/devices within advertiser's target audience to whom an advertiser's message is delivered. Frequency, the WAA said, is the number of times each advertising message has been sent per unique user/device. Nothing new there. Unfortunately, WAA's definition of an impression …

All seems to be quiet on the advertising media front today. This calm before the storm could have something to do with the TV upfront starting on Monday. Suffice it to say that the next few weeks will be a good indication of whether these recession rumors hold any water. Of course, the online industry will be both directly and indirectly affected, so for better or for worse, here are some numbers. The Internet ratings report for the week ending May 6 from Nielsen//NetRatings shows that overall, AOL Time Warner web properties reign supreme with both at-home and at-work …

All of us, at least in theory, are familiar with e-commerce (electronic commerce) and m-commerce (mobile commerce). As if that wasn't enough, there will soon be something called T-Commerce - "e-commerce over TV and Web transactions instigated by TV commercials." Actually, before you add t-commerce to your list of things to think about, according to the latest from Myers Reports, t- commerce won't roll around until about a decade from now. The uncertain future of this new field hinges on the development of interactive TV, and U.S. revenue for ITV advertising, commerce and subscriptions is unlikely to surpass …

Here's some ammunition for those of us fighting to have the web recognized as a branding vehicle. Advertising.com today released the first results from their new Intellisource tool, which lets marketers quantify campaign impact online, even when consumers don't interact with the ads. And, according to the results, logo placement has the greatest effect on brand recall, with prominent and persistently placed banner ads achieving a 400% higher recall rate than logos without aggressive placement. Additionally, data suggest the banners created with the objective of leaving an impression on the viewer generated three times the rate of viewer …

It might be self-serving research in some respects, but it's worth noting that the "Webcasters Speak Out" survey released at the Webcast Advertising Today Conference, shows that nearly two-thirds (63%) of webcasters have been called by agencies placing webcast ads. Conducted by Arbitron Webcast Services, a division of Arbitron Inc., the survey says "webcasters have embraced webcast advertising as a revenue-generating business model for the future - with an overwhelming 85% having sold at least one webcast advertising buy in the past year." One buy does not a revenue-generating business model make, but as Arbitron's Bill Rose pointed …

A few weeks ago I profiled a company that sells interactive ads on gas pumps and ATMs, and the more I think about that concept, the more I realize that the ad industry as a whole needs to pay more attention to the concept of clutter. For years, television and radio stations have been trying to solve the clutter problem, with variable success, but now it's time to look at the rest of our lives. Where am I going with this? This morning, a press release landed on my desk, titled, "AdChek Unveils Advertising on Paychecks." The announcement …

Have you seen the new Ford Explorer ad on Yahoo!? Not to sound like a giddy schoolgirl, but you have to check it out. This ad is by far one of the best executions I've seen on the web to date. It's only up for one day, so do it soon. This afternoon, as I was trying to think of a gentle way to tell you that at least 55 Internet companies folded in April, making it the second deadliest month since February, our VP of Sales & Marketing Nick Friese ran into my office and asked if …

Two weeks ago I reported on a study from Dynamic Logic which showed that the "incremental branding value of additional impressions beyond five exposures levels off and shows diminishing returns for the advertiser." Today, another research firm released a study supporting those findings. Diameter, a division of DoubleClick, also found a direct correlation between multiple exposures to online ads and an increase in brand metrics. The study was conducted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and revealed that advertising awareness of the Make-A-Wish banner ad increased 51% from a baseline awareness of 16% to 25% with five exposures to the ad. …