CHART OF THE DAY: iPad Is On Track To Be The Fastest Selling Mobile Device Ever

Year-over-Year% Change in Online Advertising Spend by Industry (U.S., August 2009)   Estimated $ on Top Social Network Sites YOY% Growth Industry Aug-08 Aug-09 On Social  Networks  On All  Sites Entertainment $1,097,700 $10,012,800 812% 40% Travel $473,700 $2,198,200 364% -11% Business to Business $683,400 $1,941,700 184% -8% Automotive $1,110,200 $3,085,800 178%  -26% Health $1,131,500 $2,754,900 143% 8% Web Media $11,231,800 $26,855,700 139% 30% Software $526,400 $1,202,500 128% -29% Financial Services  $3,233,900 $6,415,900 98% -10% Public Services $6,836,500 $13,203,100 93% 13% Telecommunications $12,449,500  $23,550,300 89% -1% Consumer Goods $1,913,400 $3,349,200 75% 8% Hardware & Electronics $654,000 $1,022,900 56% -47% Retail Goods & Services $8,101,400 $12,556,800 55% -12% Source: Nielsen AdRelevance Read more at www.mediapost.com

The publishers that charge advertisers the highest rates are those in the travel, tech and automotive verticals, according to Adify, which buys media on 12,000 publishers for 200 ad networks. Below, see a chart from Adify that shows what rate — CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions — publishers from 13 different verticals have charged advertisers over the past three quarters. Travel leads with a $19.89 CPM; tech is second at $16.01; food is last at $3.63. Read more at www.businessinsider.com

Several comScore studies have confirmed that online campaigns drive offline sales, according to Fulgoni. In the first study, comScore took four categories, 53 brands and 200 of the most trafficked sites. The company looked at people exposed to display advertising and what they did in the month following. Findings reveal that 18% searched on the brand advertised and 29% went to the advertisers’ sites. Consumers who were exposed to the display advertising spent 55% more time than the average visitors to these sites the next month. The rise in time spent is matched by a similar increase in page views — about 51%.

Then, comScore analyzed the impact that online campaigns have on retail sales by matching the name and the address of consumers to retail loyalty card databases. The supermarket Kroger, for example, has issued about 60 million loyalty cards, which provide a massive data set to understand the degree that online search and display campaigns drive retail sales. The findings suggest a lift that is five times stronger when people are exposed to search ads alone, compared with display. Search alone produces an 82% lift, compared with display at 16%, and 119% when search and display are combined. About 82% of online ad campaigns measured by comScore have generated an average lift of 22% in CPG brand sales in retail stores. Read more at www.mediapost.com

FetchBack Thursday launched a new analytics suite that offers insights into the conversion cycle for e-tail. Research during the development of the tools revealed that nearly half of consumers return to retail sites quickly after being served retargeting ads. They have found that in online electronics, retail, apparel, home and health, that on average, 42.9% of consumers returned to the retail site that generated the FetchBack-served retargeting ad — and that was within the first hour of seeing the ad. FetchBack’s President and CEO says, “Knowing how quickly a prospect returns to an advertiser’s site after viewing a retargeting ad, or how many impressions each prospect receives before converting is important information that allows advertisers to optimize their campaign.” Read more at www.mediapost.com

According to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising worldwide. 90% of consumers surveyed said that they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trusted consumer opinions posted online.

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Forms of Advertising in Which Consumers Trust “Somewhat” or “Completely” (April, 2009)
Advertising	Percent of Respondents Trusting
Recommendations from people known	90%
Consumer opinions posted online	70%
Brand websites	70%
Editorial content (e.g. newspaper article)	69%
Brand sponsorships	64%
TV	62%
Newspaper	61%
Magazines	59%
Billboards / outdoor advertising	55%
Radio	55%
Emails signed up for	54%
Ads before movies	52%
Search engine results ads	41%
Online video ads	37%
Online banner ads	33%
Text ads on mobile phones	24%
Source: Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, April 2009

In a survey conducted by Jupiter Research for Bazaarvoice and richrelevance, 61% of reluctant shoppers said they could be positively swayed by online shopping resources. The niches most affected by hesitation are: Automotive - 50% Travel - 46% Electronics - 43% Consumers are shopping around and leaving their options open. 42% visited 3 or more sites to research their last purchase, and only 33% of online shoppers had made up their minds about the price they were willing to pay for their purchase in advance of going online to research. That leaves some good wiggle room for sites and brands to compete. Before researching: 31% had made up their minds on which item or title to choose 23% knew which brand they wanted to buy 16% knew which store they would purchase from 13% knew when they would make their purchase Once online, they trust the reviews and opinions of other consumers, so make sure your product offering is solid. 77% look to user ratings and reviews 66% use recommendations based on other consumers’ purchasing 65% use recommendations based on browsing behavior of fellow consumers Read more at blog.searchenginewatch.com

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Mountain View, Calif. ‒ May 7, 2009 ‒ Entertainment advanced to the No. 3 spot on the list of most popular online coupon categories printed in April according to Coupons.com, the leading network for digital coupons. Advancing from No. 6 in March, the Entertainment category includes products like magazines, games and DVDs.

Driven largely by the economic slowdown, the use of digital coupons continued growing nationwide. Shoppers printed $50 million in savings from the Coupons.com publisher network in April, an increase of 160 percent, from the same month last year. Read more at www.couponsinc.com

Screen Digest today published their latest report, which estimates that spending on in-game advertisements will reach $1 billion by 2014. The study, titled “In-Game Advertising: Market Assessment and Forecasts to 2014,” asserts that the relevance of gaming as a medium will make it attractive to ad buyers. “Dynamic in-game advertising offers brands the same accountability as other digital platforms but in a more controlled environment than social display media and through a more standardized value chain than mobile advertising,” says Vincent Letang, Screen Digest Senior Analyst for Advertising. “Like online video pre-rolls, in-game advertising fills a gap in online branding, bringing familiar formats such as virtual billboards and TV ads into the gaming experience.” Read more at www.gamedaily.com