Internet ad spending grew to $7.9 billion in the third quarter, up 22% from the year-earlier period, according to the latest figures from the Internactive Advertising Bureau. That amount also reflects a 2.7% increase from the $7.7 billion total in the second quarter. A separate media forecast issued Wednesday by Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research Group, projected total national digital ad revenue will increase 21.5% this year and 13.9% in 2012. That report also predicts mobile ad dollars will grow 52% this year and 37% next year.

Dutch brewing giant Heineken is conducting a consolidation review of its estimated $350 million global media agency assignment, the company confirmed Wednesday. The review will pit two of the company's media roster shops in a shootout: Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest Group and WPP's Mindshare. The selected agency will be tasked with "maximizing the effectiveness of the company's world-class brand building and fully utilizing the company's increased buying power," the brewer stated. The review is expected to be completed with the new agency in place by the middle of 2012.

Adobe Systems plans to acquire privately held Efficient Frontier as it continues to move deeper into online and search marketing services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With the presidential race heating up, MSNBC slipped back into second place in November, pushing CNN back into third place among cable news networks. CNN had been in second place over MSNBC for the last several months -- replacing MSNBC. But Fox remained the clear overall leaders. Fox average 2.1 million viewers in weekday primetime viewership; MSNBC was next at 865,000; CNN, was at 620,000. CNN was helped during the period by a high rated Republican Presidential debate. Looking at the key 25-54 news demographic Fox had 457,000 viewers in weekday primetime periods; MSNBC, had 227,000; CNN, 210,000. MSNBC credits …

Holiday online spending hit $1.25 billion on Cyber Monday, making it the heaviest e-commerce shopping day in history and only the second day on record to break the billion-dollar threshold. The figure also represented a 22% gain from last year, according to new data from comScore. That growth was driven by an increase in both the number of buyers (up 11%) and the average spending per buyer (up 9%). Overall, 10 million people made purchases online on Cyber Monday, another e-commerce record for a single day. The average online buyer spent a total of nearly $125 across two transactions. …

Newsreader app Flipboard has added About.com as its latest content partner. Under their partnership, the self-described social magazine will feature popular material from About.com’s home page, Twitter feed and six categories: health, travel, style, parenting, food and home and garden. The New York Times-owned information site will provide approximately 50 new articles each day for the app, which also offers material from publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, Wired and The Colbert Report. Like other Flipboard content, About.com articles will appear in a magazine-style layout and give readers the option to share them with friends via Facebook …

In the U.S., 71% of those with smartphones own either an Android device or an iPhone. But when it comes to smartphone apps, iPhones and Android smartphones are even more dominant: 83% of app downloaders, that is, those who downloaded an app in the past 30 days, use iPhone or Android smartphones, according to new data released today by Nielsen.  The media research firm estimates 44% of all US mobile subscribers now have smartphones. Among those who purchased a new mobile phone in the …

WPP has acquired the Washington D.C.-based Glover Park Group, the holding company confirmed Tuesday. The company is one of several D.C.-firms owned by WPP. Earlier this year it bought Blue State Digital, the company behind the grassroots online campaign of President Obama when he was running for office in 2008. WPP said the acquisition was subject to regulatory approval, but wasn't more specific. Founded in 2001, The Glover Park Group employees 140 people, and has total assets of approximately $75 million, WPP. Beside Washington, the shop has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Boulder, CO. Services offered include PR, …

Cyber Monday proved too much of a good thing for some retailers. The Web site of PC Mall was down for nearly an hour and a half between midnight and 5 pm EST Monday, making it the worst performing site among the top 50 Internet retailers, according to findings from Catchpoint Systems. It was followed by electronics retailer Newegg, with an hour of downtime, and Toys “R” Us, at a half hour. Assuming Cyber Monday sales are spread evenly throughout a 24-hour day, an hour of downtime would translate to 4% of sales lost if buyers leave a retailer’s …

Facebook is gearing up for an initial public offering next year that would raise $10 billion and value the company at more than $100 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The social networking giant is looking at a time frame of April to June 2012 for the IPO, which would be one of the largest offerings ever. Daily deals service Groupon raised $805 million in a much-anticipated IPO earlier this month, but its stock has since fallen 42% on concerns about the efficacy of its business model. Facebook is …