Janis Mara

The uneasy relationship between e-mail marketers and ISPs may be improving. Traditionally, mailers felt ISPs, in their struggle to contain the ever-growing spam epidemic, were too distracted or untrusting to ensure legitimate messages got through to recipients (many mailers, of course, neglected best practices). ISPs, meanwhile, worried subscribers would flee if there was any perception […]

Internet ad revenue in the fourth quarter of 2003 hit $2.2 billion, a record-breaking 38 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2002, according to estimates from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The dramatic rise reflects the highest quarterly growth since PwC began tracking the numbers in tandem with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in 1996. Revenues for […]

Interactive advertising is growing like kudzu in the United Kingdom, breaking records for new expenditures every quarter, finds an Interactive Advertising Bureau UK and PricewaterhouseCoopers research report. The growth figures come as part of an in-depth report for the first half of 2003 divulged by the industry group this week. The IAB UK released top-line […]

Though the bulk of online advertising takes place through e-mail or within the Web browser, advertising outside the browser is coming into its own. “Advertising on the desktop has been around since 1997, with ‘push,’” commented Marc Ryan, director of analysis for Nielsen//Net Ratings. “Getting on the desktop has always been an advantage.” But now, […]

Paid search provider FindWhat.com reported the successful re-negotiation of its protracted on-again, off-again courtship with paid listings company Espotting Monday, along with record fourth quarter results for 2003. FindWhat has signed an amended agreement to merge with United Kingdom-based Espotting Media. Shareholders of Espotting will get 7 million shares of FindWhat stock and about $20 […]

America Online is said to be quietly floating the idea of a premium report service that would let bulk senders know whether and why e-mail did or didn’t make it to users’ inboxes, according to several e-mail marketing players. Officials from the giant ISP wouldn’t comment before this story was originally published, but subsequently categorically […]

Paid search listings provider LookSmart exceeded Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter, but the struggling company Thursday predicted a net loss for 2004 at the low end of analysts’ expectations. LookSmart outdid the Wall Street consensus of $40.1 million in revenue and net income of two cents per share for the quarter, pulling in […]

If soaring Web traffic driven by Super Bowl ads on game day is any indication, sex lives are blooming, music lovers are (legally) downloading and taxpayers are filing all over America. Traffic to Cialis.com, an erectile dysfunction drug site, rose 1868 percent, Apple iTunes traffic jumped 593 percent and HRBlock.com saw a 258 percent increase […]

Portal site About.com will undergo a complete site redesign and editorial re-packaging in the first half of 2004, according to its parent company, Primedia. Peter Horan, who was named CEO of About.com in December 2003, is planning the makeover with an eye to increasing visit frequency and page views, according to the company’s fourth quarter […]

America Online is quietly introducing a beta version of an address card feature that will allow members to automatically share changes to their contact information with friends and colleagues. “AOL Address Cards are currently in beta and we expect to make them available to members when we introduce additional enhancements to AOL 9.0 Optimized over […]

Mobile software maker Openwave Systems will bundle Cloudmark’s spam filtering software with its e-mail platform, the companies said Wednesday. As concern rises in the wireless industry about forestalling the tide of spam, Openwave, with its worldwide roster of wireless as well as dial-up, DSL and service providers, is taking action to protect its customers with […]

America Online launched its Red service for teens Tuesday, delivering features such as a customizable desktop, games and message boards as part of its strategy to tailor offerings to specific segments of the AOL audience. The new service, as first reported by this publication last September, is geared to teens 13 to 17 years old […]