Online Advertising: A Glimmer of Light?

The rest of the economy may be tanking, but online advertising in the U.S. posted big year-over-year gains, according to the New York City-based Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Internet advertising revenue reached nearly US$5.9 billion in the third quarter, an 11 percent increase compared to the same period the year before. However, the news on a sequential quarterly basis was less spectacular.
Online advertising revenue in the third quarter was up just 2 percent over the second quarter, IAB reported.
For the first nine months of 2008, online ad revenues totaled $17.3 billion, up from $15.2 billion during the same period in 2007.
The growth in online ad revenue didn't do anything for Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) or Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) stock. In late-day trading on Thursday, Google's shares were down nearly 4.5 percent to $267.40, while Yahoo's shares were down .4 percent to $9.10. Both companies rely heavily on the online advertising sector for revenue.

Ads Moving to the Web

The steep rise in Internet advertising revenue over the last year indicates more and more marketers are turning to the Web at a time when the global economy is drastically slowing down and the costs associated with traditional modes of advertising -- print, radio and television -- are on the rise.
"I think what we're seeing here is difficult economic conditions," said David Doty, senior vice president of thought leadership and marketing at the IAB.
"In a recession, everyone feels pain," he told the E-Commerce Times, "but we continue to see from our members that the recession is accelerating the shift from offline to online ads."
One of the advantages online advertising has over traditional advertising is that it is much easier to determine whether it's reaching the targeted audience.
"Advertisers can see a demonstrable [return on investment] on their dollars using search," Doty said. "When advertisers want to see clear results, efficiencies and effectiveness, they shift spending from offline to online -- because that's where they can measure it better."
The shift in advertising trends has forced some print publishers to drastically change the way they do business, Doty noted.
"It's important to remember that publishing companies are reinventing themselves," he said. "There was yesterday's news about PC Magazine going online-only. There's a relatively healthy environment in online advertising."
PC Magazine isn't the only established publication to shift to the Web. In late October, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Christian Science Monitor announced it would end its print publication in favor of an online edition and a weekend print magazine next spring.

Muddy Picture for 2009

Despite the year-over-year revenue gains in the online advertising sector during the third quarter, the outlook remains uncertain.
"I think that we're definitely seeing a slowdown in advertising, but search is holding up better than other forms because it's transactional in nature," Steve Weinstein, an equity analyst at Pacific Crest Securities , told the E-Commerce Times.
"We won't know until the middle of December," he said. "We know that October was slow, but so little of the quarter is done in October, that it's hard to predict how the quarter will ultimately look."

By: Jeff Meisner
Reference: ecommercetimes.com

The Laptop Junkie's Burden

An article in the Chicago Tribune the other day told the story of one of Barack Obama's Chicago buddies, Eric Whitaker, who lugged his laptop to a party at the Democratic convention in Denver last summer. The piece quoted another Obama buddy, Marty Nesbitt, on Whitaker's "addiction." "We were going to a cocktail party at 10 at night. A party!" Nesbitt said. "And he had his cord and laptop." Nesbitt called this "hilarious." In other words, "deeply sad."

At Least the CrackBerry Is Pocket-Sized

Everybody knows about BlackBerry addicts, those twitchy-thumbed compulsives who fascinate researchers and comedians. One recent study reported the exotic locations in which mobile device users get their kicks. Bathroom: 79 percent. During romance: 11 percent. At a funeral or memorial service: 16 percent.

Less is written about the laptop addict, an equally tragic modern figure, the kind of person who, say, during a friendly dinner conversation about voters in Pennsylvania pops up to fetch the MacBook and check the difference between the Mennonites and the Amish.

I was at a dinner recently when that happened. The laptop was plunked down on the table next to the wine and pasta. Isn't that rude?

And, I'm sorry, but I Googled Swedenborgians for my dinner companions while I was at it, because that's the thing with laptop addicts. To us, old-fashioned conversation -- rife with error and conjecture -- is as a form of intellectual malpractice, at least as long as Wikipedia is at hand.

Sore Neck Telltale

Almost anywhere a BlackBerry addict can go, so can a laptop junkie, if not quite as discreetly.
Parties, dinners, planes, bedrooms: The laptop addict is there, complaining about the damage carting around 5 pounds can do to a person's neck and shoulders.

You know who you are, you wrecks who secretly peck away at your laptop in the bathtub. I'm not saying how I know, but I know about your tap, tap, tapping while trying in vain to keep your fingers dry. I know that you wonder exactly how much water can be dripped onto the touch pad before the screen goes black.

I'm not passing judgment. Believe me, I understand entirely why you need to check your e-mail and watch Internet TV while soaking in the anti-stress bubble bath.

The Addicted Artiste

Unlike a BlackBerry, a laptop can't be slipped into a pocket or fingered during a meal or meeting, but it is an adaptable machine.

When I Googled "laptop addict" on my laptop while sitting in a cafe, I promptly found a photo of Beyonce typing on a Mac while standing in a swimming pool.

And just as a laptop is different from a BlackBerry, so are its addicts. BlackBerry addicts are all about the Web connection. Laptop addicts like that part too -- it's nice to pull into a Panera Bread parking lot with the laptop riding shotgun to piggyback on the free WiFi -- but the laptop addict isn't all about the data.

The laptop addict is an artiste. He keeps his laptop close because at any moment the muse may descend bearing a novel idea or the mot juste, which he must inscribe pronto on the screen. And right after that, he can Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) the name of a good massage therapist who can undo the kinks from all those hours hunched over his addiction

By: Mary Schmich

Reference: technewsworld.com