Christopher Saunders

Major local newspaper Web sites are growing fast — in many cases, faster than the rest of the Web, according to new findings by comScore Media Metrix. During the past six months, seven of the 10 largest U.S. media markets saw double-digit increase in visitors to major regional papers’ Web sites, according to the Reston, […]

Yahoo! will gain a new sales channel for its yellow page listings by tapping its partner for Internet access, telco giant SBC Communications . Through the arrangement, San Antonio, Texas-based SBC’s sales force will begin representing Yahoo! Yellow Pages’ ad units and sponsored listings, in addition to SBC’s own SMARTpages.com. Sponsored listings place advertisers in […]

AOL Launches Circuit City, Target Promotions AOL Time Warner is looking to promote New Line Cinema’s upcoming “Austin Powers” installment, “Goldmember,” as well as its own broadband offerings, through an online and offline promotion with Circuit City. At the same time, New York-based AOL is tapping Target Stores for an additional effort to encourage signups […]

The proliferation of personal video recording devices and software is indeed having a deleterious effect on television advertising, with most PVR users skipping primetime commercials, according to CNW Marketing Research. The Bandon, Ore.-based consultancy, which conducted phone surveys with about 1,000 owners of PVRs such as TiVo or SONICblue’s ReplayTV, found that 71 percent of […]

Ad server and network 24/7 Real Media looks to be back on track, bringing in at least $5 million in equity financing. The New York-based firm secured an investment from Sunra Capital Holdings Limited, an investment vehicle advised by Merchants Group International, a San Francisco based investment firm. In return, 24/7 Real Media issued $5 […]

Gator Fingers NYT The ongoing spat between Gator Corp. and a number of high-profile Web publishers continues to worsen, with the pop-up ad firm charging that the New York Times Co. — a plaintiff — had formerly been a client. Last week, in response to the lawsuit from the Times, Dow Jones & Co. , […]

Just weeks after closing on its purchase of Media Metrix from an ailing Jupiter Media Metrix , Web researcher comScore Networks said that it’s increased the size of its new Internet audience ratings panel, and will continue to support it alongside its flagship service. Reston, Va.-based comScore, which acquired Media Metrix early last month, said […]

The Federal Trade Commission is recommending that Web sites using paid search listings make their advertising practices and policies clearers to consumers — or they could potentially face legal action. Responding to a complaint filed a year ago by consumer advocacy group Commercial Alert, the FTC said it is contacting portals to outline the need […]

After more than a year of speculation about its intentions, DoubleClick is leaving the Web media business, spinning off its North American network to smaller player L90 . Through the deal, DoubleClick will receive $5 million in cash and 4.8 million shares, at press time equivalent to about $4.5 million, of Los Angeles-based L90, which […]

Never one to receive a challenge quietly, the controversial Gator Corporation attacked Dow Jones & Co. , The New York Times Co. and other major online publishers that filed a suit against it earlier this week, threatening to file its own counter suit. The Redwood City, Calif.-based firm came under fire last year for selling […]

Online ads using advanced forms of rich media are more effective than static creative, but they also perform better than “plain vanilla” Macromedia Flash and HTML executions, according to new findings from Dynamic Logic. Data culled from the New York-based researcher’s MarketNorms database — which houses more than 330,000 surveys from about 320 client campaigns […]

Expanding efforts to establish itself abroad, paid-placement search engine Overture has signed deals to open offices in Japan and France. The establishment of Overture K.K. in Tokyo and Overture S.A.R.L. in Paris builds on the establishment of a presence in Germany earlier this year. The strategy is aimed at setting up language-specific markets for paid-search […]