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 …

I might just start a heated debate with this one. The topic is that X10's $80 wireless video camera "pop-under" ad you've probably noticed recently. The ad slips clandestinely onto a Web surfer's PC and remains unseen until the surfer closes down browser windows. Then the pop-under ad becomes visible, filling most of a computer screen. As a story in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press today puts it, pop-under ads are "just one of many alternative ad forms that advertisers are experimenting with these days as they try to punch up the impact and effectiveness of online advertising. To …

It looks like the world of book publishing, much like the advertising industry, is ready to admit that the Net is not going to change the world as quickly as everyone had hyped. Michael Powell, owner of Powell's Books in Portland, one of the country's most prominent book sellers, laughed when reminded that last year, he predicted electronic publishing was coming "at lightning speed." "Did I say that? I must have had a couple of martinis," he said this weekend at the publishing industry's annual national convention BookExpo America in Chicago. At this year's show, there's a …

As summer approaches, almost everyone is either planning a vacation or talking about planning one. In between lies a very attractive target audience for many advertisers, so where do you suppose is a good place to grab their attention? All studies point to the web, of course, not that we're surprised. Another report out today, found that over 37 million Internet users purchased travel online. "With the summer travel season beginning, our @plan data shows that there is a large online component to travel planning across all ages," said Doug Knopper, VP and GM for DoubleClick's Diameter division, which …

When Salon.com decided to offer ad-free content to visitors for a price, some critics said it would never work – people would never pay for something they could get for free. Au contraire! About 20 million U.S. Web users say that they have paid for online content, according to a Web study conducted by Lyra Research's Content Intelligence Group. The study's respondents identified two key reasons that motivated their payment decisions: the paid site was the only place where they could get what they wanted (43%), or they paid because they were curious about the content (39%). …

For all you email advertisers out there, two studies out today reveal interesting facts about the medium. First, it seems that older Americans have finally discovered email. Second, the majority of women online use the Internet to maintain relationships on a regular basis. Use of the Internet among those ages 55-64 grew to 43% in the past six months from 36% six months ago and 31% eighteen months ago, according to the semi-annual Cyber Stats report from Mediamark Research (MRI). According to MRI, the most common online activity among consumers 55-64 is email. Compared to six months ago, …

Sorry to be the bearer the bad news, but it looks like Clear Blue Media, the San-Antonio-based ad network I introduced to you as "the people who answer their phones" two years ago, is closing their doors. The final decision will be reached next week when the board of directors meets, but according to Phil Pennington, the founder of the company, there's a strong possibility that there is no reason for Clear Blue to continue operations past next Thursday. "It doesn't look like [the ad market] is going to be recovering any time soon, so we're going to cut …

If you're looking to advertise to people with the most buying power on the Internet, netScore has a suggestion - travel sites. Travel sites continued to hold a strong presence in the latest reporting of netScore's top 20 Buying Power Index (BPI) for the month of April, according to DoubleClick's Diameter division and comScore Networks. Additionally, business supply sites had the highest buying power increase from March to April. A total of seven travel sites were reported in April's top 20 list. For the third consecutive month, southwest.com (575) was the leading site in the overall travel …

According to the ever-optimistic Jupiter Media Metrix researchers, reports of the death of online retail are greatly exaggerated. Online retail, they say, might be down but it's certainly not out, and despite skepticism about the future, U.S. online sales will still reach $104 billion in 2005 and $130 billion by 2006, up from $34 billion in 2001. This compares to Jupiter' original forecast of $36 billion in 2001 and $118 billion in 2005. "The doom and gloom over the state of online retailing has been greatly exaggerated," said Jupiter analyst Heather Dougherty. "While short-term market factors have slowed the …

Initially, the web audience was composed of the young, affluent and well educated. That's changing. According to The Media Audit, which for the last three years has been studying both online and traditional media in more than 80 markets, the U.S. web audience is still growing and diversifying with minorities and retirees clicking on in significant numbers. According to their findings, although men age 18+ increased by 26% during the past three years, the group declined by more than 5% as a percentage of the total web audience. Women increased their presence on the web by 44% since …