In the GartnerG2 report "E-Mail Savings Threaten a $196.8 Billion Direct Mail Market," analysts said e-mail marketing has become a more cost-effective way to acquire and retain customers. The research shows e-mail advertising revenue is projected to reach $1.26 billion in 2002, up from $948 million in 2001. By 2005, e-mail advertising revenue is forecast to total $1.5 billion.

For those involved in, or interested in, a variety of international Internet demographic metrics, included here are findings collected from NetValue.

Magazine Publishers of America and Media Marketing Assessment (MMA) recently released a study to meet the accountability challenge posed by advertisers and their agencies. This study quantifies the incremental sales impact of magazine advertising in relation to other elements in the marketing mix. The study analyzed 186 brands across 13 different product categories over a combined seven-year period, from 1994 through 2000.

eMarketer reports that a recent report from BizRate finds that 77% of US online shoppers say that they use comparison shopping bots sometimes or most of the time when shopping online. One-half of respondents, however, say that most of the time they comparison shop by searching site-to-site. The study also found that 74% say they feel guilty if they do not conduct comparison shopping. Additionally, 52% think that comparison shopping is the way to get the best deal.

A recent Executive Briefing from BIGresearch of a report entitled Economic & Consumer Insights for Marketing Executives found that Consumer confidence is up, uncertainty and anxiety is still an issue, consumers are getting personal finances in order, and new consumer is emerging with Value as priority.

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that in January 2002, nearly half of all male Web surfers, or 12.2 million men, were employed in professional, executive or managerial roles, versus just one third of all female surfers at-work, or 5.5 million. Dawn McCaffrey Brozek, senior Internet analyst, NetRatings, said "Socio-cultural factors contribute to the gendered division of labor at work, with women clustered in clerical or administrative fields, while men dominate professional, executive or managerial positions."

New research findings, conducted online by Research.Net on behalf of Forbes.com, show that C-level Executives (Chief Executive titles—CEO, CFO, CIO; plus Owner/Partner) spend more time on the Web than they do with any other medium - more than 5 times the average time spent online by the general population.

According to recent information from Scarborough Research, in terms of home internet access, the local US market with the highest level of internet penetration is Seattle/Tacoma, WA with 60% accessing the internet from home within a past 30-days period. Other western markets, like San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose and San Diego follow Seattle with 58% accessing the net at home.

As part of our publication of Nielsen Web data for the convenience of buyers and planners, the following is the latest release of top advertisers during the 4th week in February. In addition, average web usage and penetration in the month of January is included. And, most recent data for the week of March 10 on travelers and travel sites shows that more than half of travelers are between the ages of 25 and 49, with another 25% between 50 and 64.

The recently released AMR Research quarterly survey for Q4 2001 shows a planned increase in e-business budgets of 9 percent, up from 7 percent in the previous quarter. The percentage of companies that plan to increase spending continues to increase, from 60 percent in Q3 2001 to 66 percent in Q4.