According to Epsilon's Global Consumer Email Study, conducted by ROI Research, the survey of over 4000 consumers in 13 countries finds that Email remains a mainstay communication, showing that 87% of North American(and 74% of European respondents are more likely than their peers in APAC to use email as their primary online communications tool. Instant messaging as the main channel for communication, is notably high in APAC with 28% of respondents, while text/SMS and social networking remain consistently low across all regions.

According to custom week-by-week data from Experian Simmons, reported by Univision Communications, 34% of Hispanics are optimistic about their finances in the coming year vs. 25% of non-Hispanics, and 29% of Hispanics are more positive about the U.S. economy in the coming 12 months vs. 21% of non-Hispanics. The report reveals consumers' reaction to today's economic climate from a total market and Hispanic consumer perspective.

According to Nielsen Online, YouTube continued to rank as the No. 1 video Web brand with 5.5 billion total streams in April. Meanwhile, Hulu continued its growth, increasing 490 percent in total streams year-over-year, from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009, making it the fastest growing brand among the top 10.

A new study by the Association of National Advertisers reports that 47% of marketers studied are planning "pricing deals" as the initiative most likely to be increased in the current economic environment. 26% say social networking and word of mouth activities are currently most important, while 23% say public relations efforts.

Despite the global financial crisis, newspaper circulation grew 1.3% world-wide in 2008, according to a presentation by Gavin O'Reilly, President of the World Association of Newspapers and CEO of Independent News and Media, contradicting reports predicting the imminent death of newspapers, "...the printed audience, as a global industry, continues to grow." This growth, according to O'Reilly, is taking place in the developing markets of the world and masks a continued downward trend in the developed markets. "...this doom and gloom... continues, with commentators... joining the chorus that the future is online, online, online, almost to the exclusion of everything …

A recent Ipsos survey conducted among lottery players indicated that 46% have reduced their lottery spending, with 38% admitting to spending less on lottery games and 8% cutting them out entirely. This coping strategy mirrors that of the general U.S. population as a whole when it comes to spending less or cutting out purchases of non-essential low cost items.

According to The Kelsey Group, a division of BIA, local mobile ad revenue is expected to reach more than $3.1 billion by 2013, up from $160 million in 2008. Mobile search makes up the lion's share at $2.3 billion, dwarfing SMS, which garnered $100 million in 2008.

According to the findings of an April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, the number of online adults who have used online classified ads has more than doubled in the past four years. Almost half of internet users say they have ever used online classified sites, compared with 22% of online adults who had done so in 2005. And, on any given day about a tenth of internet users (9%) visit online classified sites, up from 4% in 2005.

Results from the second annual Vlingo Consumer Mobile Messaging Habits Report show that, this year, nearly 60% of mobile phone owners use their phones to text, with 94% of teens the largest user group, and 20-somethings at 87%. Among those in their 40s, usage jumped from 56% in 2008 to 64% this year, and for those in their 50s it jumped from 38% to 46%. Texting is also gaining on sending/receiving calls as the primary use of mobile phones, with 35% of all respondents using their phones for texting more than for phone calls. Almost half of respondents do …

Richard Storey, chief strategy officer for M&C Saatchi, London, suggests that recession is discussed as if it were a singular phenomenon, and that consumers have taken for granted the notion that there is one single, inevitable and all enveloping global crisis. News headlines tend to report macro trends, making bleak reading: slowing economy, falling house prices, rising food and fuel costs, or decreased consumer spending. The problem, he says, is macroeconomics that would have us believe that the recession is a macro phenomenon with a single, reasonably predictable outcome, but understanding the dynamics that lay beneath these conditions could …