In the entertainment industry, a basic lead costs $0.80, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.00. In the CPG industry, a basic lead costs $0.87, while the cost for a premium lead is $1.13. In the health industry, a basic lead costs $0.60, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.36. In the non-profit industry, a basic lead costs $1.33, while the cost for a premium lead is $1.85. In the technology industry, a basic lead costs $0.43, while the cost for a premium lead is $3.75.

In the travel industry, a basic lead costs $1.40, while the cost for a premium lead is $2.50. The cost for a online retail basic lead is $0.59. Read more at www.marketingcharts.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

See more at www.marketingcharts.com

Knowing how consumers research and gather information as they make plans to travel for business and pleasure can help marketers plan campaigns better. The study, “The Traveler’s Road to Decision,” released Tuesday from Google and OTX, reveals consumer research and buying habits across the Internet. Business travelers are more likely to seek out money-saving packages, access travel sites from their mobile phone, and become a rewards travel program member. In fact, 25% of business travelers are more likely to access information on their phone, and 83% of business travelers belong to a rewards program.

In an unrelated study, Google found research to booking could stretch as far as 18.1 weeks on average. That’s when more generic phrases are searched on.

To find the best deals, consumers will search the Internet for information more often than any other source. So it would make sense that reviews influence the purchase decision, with 41% revealing they made personal plans vs. 50% for business based on reviews of others. An increasing number of travelers contribute to these reviews, too. In a similar study conducted in April 2008, only 9% of travelers surveyed had posted a review, 5% commented on a review, and 3% participated in a travel-related blog.

Consumers rely on search engines throughout the trip-planning process more so than travel search sites, although online travel agencies remain strong with 55% looking for business accommodations vs. 52% for personal. The study suggests 64% depend on search engines to plan personal trips vs. 56% for business. When it comes to searching for information on hotels, 81% rely on search engines when looking for business overnight accommodations vs. 67% personal; 74% business air travel vs. 59%; 60% destinations vs. 59% personal; and 51% vacation activities vs. 55% personal.

See more at www.mediapost.com

Summer travel, out-of-school students, and out-of-work workers were largely responsible for shaping the Internet landscape in June, according to new data from the comScore Media Metrix service.

The Airlines category, in particular, ranked as the top-gaining category for June, growing 22% month-over-year to 33.2 million visitors. Also among the top gaining categories were Travel Transactions, Online Travel Agents, and Travel Information. Southwest Airlines, the top-ranked site in the Airlines category, achieved especially strong gains — growing 64% to 16.4 million visitors, and grabbing the Number 2 position among the top-gaining properties. Online travel agent sites also experienced growth in June, increasing 9% to 42.8 million visitors. Expedia led the category with 27 million visitors — up 12% — followed by Orbitz with 12.5 million visitors — up 10% — Priceline with 11.3 million — up 7% — and Travelocity with nearly 9.8 million visitors — up 8%. Read more at www.mediapost.com

The Travel Ad Network’s audience in the United States has grown to 12 million and is 20 million worldwide - larger than TripAdvisor, Yahoo Travel, or AOL Travel. Recently, The Travel Ad Network passed Travelocity (the online travel agency – OTA) in reach becoming the first non-OTA to break into the Top 3 in the Travel Category.Read more at www.adotas.com

Some highlights from the Frommer’s 2009 content and user experience research:

Online research came out as the most influential source for travel planning (78%). Friend’s recommendations came in as the second most influential factor, with over half saying it was influential or very influential. As users continue to embrace social media to connect with friends, this would seem to indicate that social media will have a role to play in how friends can influence each others travel plans. Read more at mikeslone.posterous.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.

Read more at www.mediapost.com

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

A recent survey revealed that more than six in 10 people drove their own car - instead of flying - to their last vacation destination. Moreover, the majority say they did not go anywhere too glamorous and/or are changing their behavior because of the recession:

56% are taking shorter trips because of the economy. 64% say they are using less-expensive forms of transportation now. 62% say they spent recent vacations with family and friends. Only 30% went to beaches. Only 30% visited cities.

Of the 40% of survey respondents who didn’t travel domestically at all, many cited financial reasons, the survey found. Read more at www.marketingcharts.com

Mobile Banking Benchmarks

May 2009

5 Bar Summary Rank Site # of Bars 1 BoA 2 Chase US Bank   Wells Fargo 5 Wachovia 6 WaMu 0

Discoverability Rank Site Score 1 BoA 5.0 2 Chase 3.5 Wachovia 3.5   Average 3.0 4 US Bank 2.0   Wells Fargo 2.0 WaMu 2.0

Readiness Rank Site Score 1 US Bank 5.0 2 BoA 4.0   Average 3.3 3 Chase 3.0 Wachovia 3.0   Wells Fargo 3.0 6 WaMu 2.0

Availability Rank Site Percent 1 Wells Fargo 99.91 2 US Bank 99.61 3 Wachovia 99.27   Average 99.11 4 WaMu 99.05 5 BoA 98.66 6 Chase 98.14

Response Time Rank Site Seconds 1 BoA 2.98 2 Wells Fargo 3.68 3 Chase 4.80   Average 4.88 4 US Bank 4.94 5 WaMu 5.71 6 Wachovia 7.18

Consistency Rank Site Seconds 1 BoA 1.87 2 Wells Fargo 2.76 3 Chase 3.10 4 US Bank 3.14   Average 3.64 5 WaMu 5.22 6 Wachovia 5.71

See more at www.gomez.com

Looking at upstream visits to Travel Agencies, we see that 30% come from other Travel Agencies (week to 30 May 2009). Travel Agencies receive more upstream visits from other Travel Agencies than from Search Engines.

To give you a benchmark against which to compare this, consider the Shopping & Classifieds Appliances & Electronics category which received 7% of upstream visits from websites in the same category last week and 35% from Search Engines. Similarly, Insurance websites received 11.38% of upstream visits from other Insurance websites last week compared to 23.08% from Search Engines. Read more at weblogs.hitwise.com

See more at www.marketingcharts.com

Despite positive news from Virgin Atlantic today, there is no doubt that these are tough times for the airline industry. UK Internet traffic to websites in our Aviation – Commercial Airlines category (which is dominated by the airline’s homepages) was down by 19.2% between April 2008 and April 2009. However, one area of the travel industry seems to be thriving online despite – or perhaps, because of – the recession is public transport. As the chart below illustrates, UK Internet visits to a custom category of the top train, bus and coach websites increased by 3.7% between April 2008 and April 2009.

See more at weblogs.hitwise.com