The economics of spam

How much does spam cost? It’s hard to quantify in terms of bandwidth, time and effort blocking it, and general nuisance. But here’s a figure to mull over: $873m.

That’s how much Facebook has been awarded in damages against a spammer in a US court for sending unsolicited messages on the Facebook network. And if it sounds trivial in this era of multi-billion dollar bailouts, it’s a lot more than Facebook’s expected revenues for 2008 - more than double, in fact.

Source: Tech Blog

US TV Watching Rises to All-Time High

US usage of TV, the internet and mobile - the “three screens” - continues to increase across the board, and in each month during Q3 2008, the average American watched approximately 142 hours of TV, viewed three hours of mobile video, and went online for 27 hours, according to research from The Nielsen Company.

Source: Marketing Charts

Teens to Mobile Advertisers: Gimme! - eMarketer

If teens are drivers of change in mobile phone usage, can they also drive change in mobile advertising acceptance? The good news is that, according to a 2008 survey by the Direct Marketing Associatio

Source: eMarketer

Is the End Near for Display Ads?

Digital media buyers have been trying to kill the banner ad for years. Now, it appears, the recession might just finish the job for them.

Web publishers and agency executives said they are under growing pressure to prove the value of online display advertising, as the deepening economic crisis forces CMOs to scrutinize every line of their marketing budgets.

Source: Brandweek

The Race For Generation Y: Big Media Vs Broadband

It goes without saying that broadband is an unstoppable game-changer in the world of media distribution. We’ve gone from a vilified Napster to the legitimacy of XBOX Live.

Living in the South Korea, the country with the world’s fastest broadband, has really opened my eyes to the gravity of the broadband’s coming influence. You can think of Asia and North America as alternate futures in the story of Big Media vs Broadband.

Source: The Marketing Student

Word-of-Mouth Efforts Lacking by Beverage Marketers - Advertising Age - News

A study from Keller Fay Group, a word-of-mouth research and consulting firm says beverage ads fall short when it comes to driving word of mouth.

Source: Adage

Display Ads Aren’t Going Anywhere…

Mike Shields, a colleague of mine penned an article for Mediaweek entitled, Is the End Near for Display.  In this article, a few digital media directors and executives from advertising organizations talk about the death of display.

Source: Darren Herman

The Best Way to Target College Students! Honestly?

While browsing through Capital C's blog I came across this online study conducted by Exact Target and Ball State University. It depicts the most useful types of advertising according to college students. I've always thought that getting insight from one's target market is best, but come on, what is this study good for?

Source:Canadian University Marketing

Freemium is better than Free

A few interesting posts drew my attention this morning. First there was Dave Winer who predicts that on-line advertisement will be dead. Not because it will completely disappear, or that it’s growth will slow down considerable. But because it will be replaced by something more valuable, commercial information. Interesting thought. I’ve always felt that on-line advertisement only makes sense when the advertisement itself has value to its user. Dave takes that thought one step further and explains why commercial information is more relevant.

Source: Alexander Van Elsas's Weblog

Nearly One-Third of Web Users Watch TV While Surfing

Nearly 31% of people who went online at home in October were also watching television simultaneously, demonstrating that web surfing and TV watching are complementary behaviors, according to research from The Nielsen Company’s new TV/Internet Convergence Panel. source

No one cares about you

Some brand new  juicy videos from American Express. Special incredible bonus: Tom Peters, too.

["No one cares about you" refers to a riff in the video. Radio, TV and magazines care about you the marketer. They care because you the marketer pay the bills. Mass media exists to sell ads. Period. (as Tom would say). Period. But the internet doesn't care about you, and the users of the internet don't care about you either.] PS lots more free stuff--the latest Tribes audio speech and slides--right here.

Source: Seth's Blog

Microsoft Ad Business Strong, But Display Ads Threatened

Among Microsoft's diverse revenue streams, its display ad business is the most vulnerable to economic conditions. That's according to CFO Chris Liddell, who yesterday told investors the company still has great expectations for its online services business, which includes its search and ad platforms.

Source: ClickZ News Blog

In The Future, Advertising Will Be Awkward

As advertising continues to get more targeted and specific, it will soon be very scary and creepy to see ads. They will be a reflection of what marketers think of you. Ads will be served to you based on a general consumer profile, tweaked and customized based on your personal buying behaviour.

Source: The Marketing Student, Generation Y Marketing Insights

Can Facebook Make Its 'Engagement Ads' Work?

Forecasts for social-network advertising were already being scaled back long before the credit crisis began dampening ad spending, but Facebook is keeping the torch burning for its new "engagement ad" format. The format, which asks users to interact with an ad and then shares that action with friends, launched back in August. But WSJ.com today throws some cold water on the idea.

Source: Paidcontent.org

Attention is your biggest cost! Links this week

* Social Networks Steal Time From TV, but There's Hope
Over 25% of those using social-networking sites say that their TV viewing is being cannibalized.

* Facebook Struggling To Make Engagement Ads Work?
Forecasts for social network advertising were already being scaled back long before the credit crisis began filtering through to advertising as a whole, but Facebook is keeping the torch burning for the holy grail of social ads - its new "engagement ad" format.

* In The Future, Advertising Will Be Awkward
As advertising continues to get more targeted and specific, it will soon be very scary and creepy to see ads.

* Microsoft Ad Business Strong, But Display Ads Threatened
Among Microsoft's diverse revenue streams, its display ad business is the most vulnerable to economic conditions.

* No one cares about you
Some brand new  juicy videos from American Express. Special incredible bonus: Tom Peters, too. 

* Why give away your book?
Charles Sheehan-Miles, who wrote "Republic: A Novel of America's Future", explains why he's giving away his ebook in any way, shape or form you want it:

* Nearly One-Third of Web Users Watch TV While Surfing
Nearly 31% of people who went online at home in October were also watching television simultaneously, demonstrating that web surfing and TV watching are complementary behaviors, according to research from The Nielsen Company’s new TV/Internet Convergence Panel.

* More free music
Timbuktu, a Swedish hip hop artist has exclusively released an album on P2P filesharing site Pirate Bay - as announced here.

* Blyk - old youth marketing idea in new jeans
Following on from the Mobile Youth Advertising Report, time to look at advertising again. Blyk's an interesting case, especially when it comes to the free business model.

* No ad-supported content after all? Really?
We will all remember that ad-supported content was the flavour of the month a short while ago.

* Think more advertising is the way to grow?
One of the default responses that small business owners have when talking about growth is advertising.

* Kids Encounter Ads Less Than Adults
Children 2-11 endure lowest level of ad clutter on the Internet, followed by 12-17 group, per Nielsen.

Social Networks Steal Time From TV, but There's Hope

As has been widely reported, social-networking sites are visited monthly by more than 100 million consumers, and billions of page views are recorded on these sites.

We've found that more than a third -- 38% -- of all 12-to-64-year-olds online in the U.S. indicate that they regularly use social networks. And it's not just the younger population using them. A third of women ages 35 to 44, for example, reported that they regularly use the sites.

Source: Advertising Age- Digital

TV vs. Video: What do the Numbers Mean?

Nielsen reported monthly hours of viewing for all age groups (see below) in May 2008 in it's "Third Screen Report". You'd have to be blind not to notice the age differences. Based on this and other TV viewing reports, I have a theory about what is happening to TV viewership among Millennials. It goes like this:

Source: Millennial Marketing

Media Multitasking Among American Youth

Media Multitasking Among American Youth

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: frankwatching kids)

Is advertising a tax for having an unremarkable product?

Is advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product? November 12, 2008 by Olivier Blanchard · greatdesign10. A quotation and some words of wisdom from one of my readers:. “Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product”

Source: Brand Builder

Strategy decay in the film industry

At the Library House Mediatech conference yesterday there was a presentation from a company called Slingshot Studios which could be described as a ‘Film2.0 business’.

Source: The Equity Kicker

Consumers Opening Fewer E-Mails - eMarketer

Fewer consumers worldwide are opening marketing e-mails, according to a November 2008 study by MailerMailer. The company found that the average marketing e-mail open rate fell to 13.20% in the first

Source: eMarketer