Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but 'The Numbers are Ugly.' That was the headline of a release that arrived in my inbox this morning from Myers Reports, outlining revised media expenditures that indicate the economic downturn is even more severe than it appeared to be as recently as three months ago. According to its new Myers Mediaenomics data, ad spending across all major media will decline 4% this year from 2000. In May, Myers had predicted a 1.5% drop in ad spending. "Having now seen the broadcast and cable upfronts pretty much play out, we …

Streaming ads -- Do they brand online effectively? Should advertisers care yet? "Yes," and "almost." Lightningcast and Diameter, the research division of DoubleClick, today released a study, which showed that Web users exposed to a major cellular carrier's 60-second streaming audio ad were 10% more likely to be aware of the advertiser, 59% more likely to recall its slogan, and 14% more likely to choose the cellular carrier when considering a wireless service provider. Also, advertising awareness and advertising tagline showed striking effects with increases of +64% and +60% respectively. Researchers found that Web users who heard the …

The Jupiter show is over and hopefully we're all one step closer to accepting the fact that the Internet is an advertising medium. No ifs, ands or buts about it, so stop worrying. The net isn't going anywhere and we're all still in charge of making it succeed. In the coming weeks, we'll profile some of the exhibitors and speakers at the show, so stay tuned, but for today, here's the newest Internet Traffic Report out of comScore Networks and Diameter, which shines some light on what U.S. web surfers have been doing this summer. The Report reveals that …

I'm at the Jupiter show today, so as I walk the exhibit floor in hopes of finding something interesting enough to write about in tomorrow's column, here's an interesting tidbit from this morning. The number of current Fortune 100 companies advertising online has grown from 67 to 81 since last year - a 21% increase, according to new Jupiter Media Metrix data. However, while Fortune 100 advertisers have increased in number, they have not been purchasing impressions at the same rate as the rest of the market. According to data from AdRelevance 3.0, Jupiter's enhanced online ad tracking service, …

The Jupiter Online Advertising show officially began in New York today, and the newswires are already humming with new releases. Here's a quick synopsis. First off, what would a Jupiter show be without an optimistic Jupiter forecast, right? Their newest offering says that online advertising will account for 7% of the total advertising market in 2006 - up from 3% in 2001. The Jupiter Internet Advertising Model shows that financial services companies will account for the most online ad spending by 2006 - a total of $2.1 billion. Automotive and media companies will be the next largest online ad …

As you know, the main purpose of this column is to talk about things that fall into the media buying and planning categories of online advertising, but just this once I'd like to say a word about creative - the component many online campaigns seem to put on the back burner. Everyone is talking about larger sizes, premium placement and other format-related issues. Take the latest Jupiter report to make headlines, which said, "Publishers should focus on selling the 30% of their inventory they can sell at a premium," and "Place Premiums on Media, Not Creative." Granted, Jupiter's …

This, quite possibly, is the most ridiculous piece of news to cross my desk in the past few months. PRIMEDIA'S americanbaby.com, the online resource for pregnancy and parenting advice, today announced the results of a recent online poll where almost half of the poll's respondents said they'd consider accepting money from corporations in exchange for naming rights to their baby. The americanbaby.com poll asked 600 respondents if they would accept $500,000 from a corporation to name their baby "Kraft," "Coke," or something similar... like "Volkswagen." Ready for this? The results found that a whopping 21% would accept …

Once again, I'm here to present proof of the notion that whatever interests people offline, drives them online. According to the latest report from Nielsen//NetRatings, traffic to computer security sites are soaring as recent viruses have proliferated the Web and have hit corporate systems. Traffic to Symantec.com and McAfee.com have spiked in the past four weeks as office workers try to learn more about virus protection from "Code Red" and "Sircam" worms. More than 1.2 million unique visitors at-work logged onto Symantec.com during the week ending July 29, skyrocketing more than 56% from 808,000 visitors the previous week. NetRatings …

Thought I'd give you a heads up on something that's not quite a new ad format, but is nevertheless very noteworthy. It's not up as of this minute, but sometime today, online portal About.com ["The Human Internet"] said it will unveil a really interesting new promotion. According to company officials, for the next two weeks, visitors will see changes to the company logo throughout the service. As a special offering to About's new ad partner, Nabisco, the portal is going to replace their Red Ball with various spinning Life Savers candies. Nabisco is sponsoring a sweepstakes that will …

When it comes to online shopping, it should not surprise anyone that Internet mass retailers with strong offline brands are the ones driving mainstream shoppers online. Nielsen//NetRatings proved that very notion earlier today with the release of their June 2001 at-home data. Walmart.com led the top brick-and-mortar mass retailers, attracting more than two million unique visitors and soaring 133% since last year. JCPenney followed a close second, jumping 34% to two million unique visitors. Kmart took the No. 3 spot with nearly 1.7 million visitors. Target.com seized the highest percentage growth among the brick-and- mortar sites, skyrocketing 142% in …