According to recent research from Maxifier among senior decision makers in digital marketing agencies, 68% viewed conversion rates as either extremely or very important when optimizing online display campaigns focused on brand awareness, compared with 59% who cited brand engagement.

According to February 2012 survey results from Briabe Mobile and MocoSpace, African American consumers say they are influenced by mobile advertising when planning to see a movie. The study, to understand how African American moviegoers utilize their mobile phones when planning to see a movie, found that 68% of African Americans rely on their mobile phones.

This, a not-so-brief Research Brief, is an introduction to The Future of the Internet as seen through a series of eight separate reports from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. This publication is part of a Pew Research Center series that captures people's expectations for the future of the internet, in the process presenting a snapshot of current attitudes.

According to the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing report by HubSpot, businesses that use primarily inbound marketing strategies for lead acquisition consistently report lower cost-per-lead (CPL) rates than those using outbound-centric strategies. Respondents who spend more than 50% of their lead generation budget on inbound marketing channels report a significantly lower cost per sales lead than those who spend 50% or more of their budgets on outbound marketing channels.

A new survey, conducted by Radius Global Market Research, shows that the majority of Americans remain quite skeptical of smartphone generated payment solutions and in the near-term, are not likely to give up traditional forms of payment, though the number of smartphone users has increased to nearly 50% of all U.S. consumers.

According to Nielsen and NM Incite's U.S. Digital Consumer Report, "Generation C," is taking their personal connection with each other and content to new levels, new devices, and new experiences like no other age group. Born between the launch of the VCR and the commercialization of the Internet, Americans 18-34 are redefining media consumption with their unique embrace of all things digital.

Following 3.8% growth in 2011, global advertising spending is expected to grow by 4.9% in 2012 to $465.5 billion, according to the latest Global Advertising Forecast from Strategy Analytics. Although total US advertising spending is expected to increase by less than the global rate, at 2.7% this year to $152.1billion, it is a significant improvement on the 0.6% growth in 2011. The US also underperforms Europe as a whole, which is expected to grow by 3.7% to $136.3bn in 2012.

The findings on a range of digital advertising issues in the 2012 Digital Advertising Attitudes Report from Upstream and YouGov, polling UK adults and U.S. adults aged 18+, show that 27% of British, and 20% of American consumers online would stop using a product or service, such as the social networking site, if they were subjected to too much advertising. This, as 66% each of British and American online consumers already claim they feel subjected to excessive digital advertising and promotions.

Based on figures released by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), out of home advertising revenue rose 4% in 2011 compared to the previous year, accounting for $6.4 billion. The increase in revenue was consistent for each quarter of the year with total growth up 3.0% in the fourth quarter.

According to a report by Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, reported in Internet Retailer, online shoppers in the United States will spend $327 billion in 2016, up 45% from $226 billion this year and 62% from $202 billion in 2011. In 2016, e-retail will account for 9% of total retail sales according to the report.