Some interesting news coming from AdAge's annual AdWatch conference today. At the conference, market forecaster TNS Media Intelligence/CMR projected a nearly 16 percent growth rate for online advertising this year. TNS projected more than 14 percent growth for local television and 10 percent growth for cable TV, while network TV ad spending is expected to increase 9.8 percent.

Streaming media and Web video advertising are front and center these days. Today there is word from AccuStream iMedia Research that streaming media advertising and subscription revenue could reach $625 million this year and is projected to hit $864 million in 2005.

There are digital downloads for music, so why not for movies?

Today is an official day of mourning for the nation's 40th president. The markets may be closed, but the airwaves are loaded with commentary, tributes, interviews and live coverage. So is the Web.

In raising the subject of online creativity yesterday, a few more thoughts occured to me. Apart from recruiting really great, kick-ass talent, creative and media departments need to join forces, as Jim Meskauskas says in today's Online Spin. This is now more imperative than ever as in-stream advertising gains traction.

Creativity online. Online creative. Either way, it's a hot topic and one that is beginning to get some traction within agencies and with marketers.

A Standard & Poor's survey of Internet users found that nearly half of all search engine users choose Google over rival services. The survey, conducted by InsightExpress, found that 48 percent of search engine users go for Google, 20 percent prefer Yahoo!, 14 percent like Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and 7 percent use America Online's AOL. By the way, S&P's initial estimates for Google's market value is $33 billion to $40 billion.

Our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, died June 5 at the age of 93. I went onto the Web trying to find any references he might have made to the Internet while he was president. No luck there, but the Web was mostly used in universities and academic institutions at the time. Remember? The World Wide Web.

As the broadcast upfronts hurtle along their convoluted course, there is more buzz popping up about marketers' willingness to shift dollars from broadcast TV into other media, most notably, Web media.

Yahoo!'s roadshow highlighting research on women and their Web usage habits hit New York City this morning. If you haven't heard about the study, you'll want to get invited to a Yahoo! presentation in your city.