Yesterday a client asked a logical question that had no easy answer. What is the standard in the Internet industry relative to page exclusivity for an advertiser? This falls under the category of competitive protection. Most media categories have this in place, but there is no standard that exists for the Internet (IAB and OPA, time to weigh in on this?). Should there be? Most definitely. But like many Internet standards issues, this is not going to be easy to define.

Last week saw the latest trend in online display advertising make its way to into press releases and online news sources. Forbes.com, NYTimes.com, and CBS Marketwatch were among the notable publishers announcing that they would now start running as a matter of course what is being called a half-page unit. Now if someone could just tell us what the impact is going to be...

Last week I hypothesized what the future of advertising might be like and a number of people chimed in with responses that dealt with the choices we make regarding the utilization of media on a day-to-day basis, but what choice do we really have as consumers?

Yesterday, my colleague Seana Mulcahy, wrote a bit about the latest Pew Internet report, which provides some interesting new data on Internet access and the digital divide. From this report came a statistic that was startling to me. Not only do 42% of Americans claim that they do not use the Internet, but 17% of those non-users were connected and using the Internet at one time.

Masha hit upon this the other day and I've been bummed out ever since. Obviously I eat, sleep and breathe in a digital world. Let me explain. If you haven't heard or paid attention to the phrase "Net evaders" you may now.

A client calls and asks you to put together an integrated media plan for a new product they are launching. As a good agency that does their due diligence, you do the appropriate vetting of research and media options. You define the target, find the appropriate vehicles that have affinity with both the target and the product, and you nail down the costs.

When MTV launched a long time ago, there were studies concerning the impact of the "quick-cut" editing style and how it would affect our culture. This 3-second attention span has had a drastic impact on our world, and most importantly it has affected our ability to create effective advertising.

Let's be careful with those network pay-for-performance deals, folks. Without naming names, apparently there are a few ad networks that think it acceptable to re-book client ads with unapproved websites that are not formally affiliated with their network. This may get the network credit for a few incremental clicks or leads, but it also can result in a very ticked-off client if they happen to see their ads running with websites they're not comfortable supporting.

Last week I wrote a column that seemed to cause a lot of discussion and sensitivity. Of course, sales people wrote in asking, "But what about (planner) buyers?" You didn't think I'd skip over us, did 'ya?

OK. We've gotten to the point where many advertisers accept that the Internet has to be a part of their mix. They also realize that they need to be aggressive in advertising levels overall (see MPA and ARF literature on spending in a down market). But how much should they allocate?