The Consumer Confidence Survey conducted for The Conference Board by NFO WorldGroup, declined in July. The Index now stands at 76.6 (1985=100), down from 83.5 in June. The Expectations Index fell to 86.4 from 96.4. The Present Situation Index declined to 61.9 from 64.2.

Total magazine advertising revenue for the month of June increased 8.5% compared to June of last year according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Ad pages for June were down 3.2% from last year. Year-to-date, advertising revenue closed up 9.9%, and ad pages were up 1.8% from last year.

Emarketer reports that the Kelsey Group projects that digital directories' share of the North American Yellow Page market should jump from a mere 2.4% last year to 24% in 2008. The report notes that digital directories are not synonymous with online Yellow Pages, as digital directories include online Yellow Pages, but also encompass mobile yellow page directories, CD-ROM and local search functionality that replicates yellow page search.

Emarketer reports that Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited surveyed 2,618 people between the ages of 13 and 24 in June for Yahoo! and Carat and found that respondents spend twice as much time per week watching TV as reading books or magazines for pleasure.

Cable has 67% to 105% more users than DSL in the US, according to two recent surveys. Overall, broadband grew by .83% in June, with 36.7% of wired US users enjoying a high-speed connection, he reports

According to the latest findings from Jupiter Research, presented at the Jupiter/ClickZ Advertising Forum in New York City, explosive growth in paid search, increasing almost 50% to $1.6 billion in 2003, will power a modest recovery in online advertising. Jupiter Research released the industry's first independent paid search projections as part of its online advertising forecast that show online display ad sales continuing to shrink 6%, to just over $3 billion. Overall, online advertising will grow 10% this year, to $6.3 billion.

On an average day, about 72 million American adults go online. Here are some of the kinds of things they do on a typical day:

Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, in a recent release, reports Sony tops the list in the annual Harris Poll of "best brands" for the fourth consecutive year. Kraft moves up from fourth to second place this year while Dell slips down from second to third place. General Motors jumps from tenth to fourth place and Microsoft moves up to the fifth slot.