According to IDC, the need for better management of email-based collaboration and content remains a top challenge for email users. With 12 billion spam messages to be sent daily next year in North America alone, in addition to 13 billion person-to-person emails and 6 billion email alerts and notifications, email solution providers and their customers, says IDC, must act to ensure that email remains an effective tool for business and consumer users.

Online Sports, Leagues and Teams Sites, Demographics, Ad Types, Styles, Delivery and Technologies. A deeper look into the Online Sports Categories

The latest J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Internet Service Provider Residential Customer Satisfaction Study examines seven factors contributing to overall satisfaction with dial-up and high-speed service. In both segments, residential users give the major ISPs the biggest satisfaction gains for their ability to protect subscribers from spam. On the other hand, hacker/virus protection satisfaction declined in both segments.

The Television Bureau of Advertising released its forecast for the television industry's next two years at its annual Forecast Conference, as a webcast for most participants, but attended by about 50 broadcast executives at the Gannett headquarters in New York. According to the report, TVB forecast Total Spot revenues in 2005 would fall in a range of -1% to + 1% in comparison with this year's revenues and up 7% to 9% in 2006.

A new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that instant messaging is especially popular among younger adults and technology enthusiasts. 62% of Gen Y Americans (ages 18-27) report using IM, and 46% report using IM more frequently than email.

EMarketer reported that at the recent Jupiter/ClickZ Advertising Forum Conference, Jupiter Research noted that overall rich and streaming media spending, including video, would nearly quadruple from $1 billion this year to $3.8 billion in 2009. After reaching $77 million last year, online video advertising is projected to hit $657 million in 2009.

A previous Research Brief included a release from The Media Audit reporting on newspaper readers in major metropolitan markets. More recent findings by The Media Audit corrects the collective totals, but the individual market numbers remain unaffected.

The ClickZ Stats staff has recently compiled a worldwide list of Internet users excerpting data from CIA'a World Factbook, the Computer Industry Almanac, Inc., Nielsen//NetRatings and others, to create an important reference document for anyone likely to ever have an interest in the number and location of Internet users, casually or formally!

CMP Media's Managing Offshore and Call Center Magazine announced groundbreaking results from a study on the corporate and consumer use of call centers. Rusty Weston, founding editor of Managing Offshore, said "Call centers are at a low point in terms of public and media perception. Between Do Not Call registration and the controversy generated by offshoring, call centers have attracted a tremendous amount of negative attention. This study highlights that both business and consumer customers are dissatisfied with and wary of offshore call centers."

According to a new report series from Forrester Research, Inc., consumers who own digital video recorders (DVRs) like TiVo, spend nearly 60 percent of their time watching recorded or delayed programs, in which they skip 92 percent of ads. These habits are important because today's DVR users (5 percent of households) will grow to 41 percent within five years, according to Forrester. The survey results have been published in the two-part report series, "Inside The Mind Of The DVR User."