Online advertising contributes $300 billion to the U.S. economy, according to a new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The ad supported Internet accounts for 2.1 percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product. It directly employs more than 1.2 million Americans with above-average wages in jobs that did not exist two decades ago, and another 1.9 million people work to support those with Internet-related jobs.
Feds Freeze Online Poker Payments
Federal prosecutors have ordered four U.S. banks to freeze payments of more than $30 million owed to people who play online poker.
The frozen payments are owed to 27,000 online poker players at four offshore sites, including PokerStars.com and FullTiltPoker.com, according to John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), an advocacy group.
Online Video Use Rises In April
It seems that more people are watching video online these days. Maybe it’s the rise in unemployment where people are finding more ‘free time’ these days rather than having to be hassled with a job. Maybe it’s the folks at their desks trying to while away the time since there is no business being done? Maybe it’s the high quality of most video on the Internet? Maybe it’s the ‘job outsourcing” craze?
ESPN The Magazine To Charge For Online Access
ESPN The Magazine has begun charging for access to its online content.
The magazine announced on its website that its online version, ESPNTheMag.com was merging with the ESPN Insider service, which is available for $6.95 a month, or $39.95 a year for premium sports content.
US Online Ad Revenue at $5.5 Billion in Q1
Internet advertising revenues in the US reached $5.5 billion for the first quarter. This is according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is a 5% decline from a year ago.
YouTube Drives Surge In Online Video Viewing
Americans viewed a record 16.8 billion videos online in April, a 16 percent increase over March, according to new data from comScore.
A surge in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month’s significant gains.
Google sites were once again the most popular property with 6.8 billion videos viewed (40.7 percent online video market share), a 15 percent increase over March. YouTube accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.
Online Job Demand in the US Declines
The Monster Employment index, which is a monthly gauge of U.S. online job demand, went down 29% in the past year. It actually went down a couple points after rising slightly in April. It might not be all bad news though.
The Art Of Making Yourself Look Better Online
There is no hotel on Santorini that doesn’t look amazing in the photos on their website. They all show rooms with white washed walls and clear blue exteriors. Glasses of wine on tables overlooking amazing sunsets. Beauty products are the same online, promising supermodel style complexions with no wrinkles in sight. Flickr is full of photos that are "tweaked" in some way to slightly increase their beauty, and the tricks that used to be only in the realm of tabloid photo editors are now available to us all.
comScore Launches New Online Measurement Service
comScore has introduced Media Metrix 360. a new panel centric hybrid that combines panel based data with Web site server metrics.
"comScore Media Metrix 360 represents an innovative and elegant measurement solution to the increasingly complex digital media landscape," said Dr. Magid Abraham, comScore President and CEO.
Senate Looks Into Deceptive Online Marketing
Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.VA.) has launched an investigation into certain ecommerce marketing practices that generate thousands of mysterious monthly charges to consumer credit cards.
The source of these monthly fees comes from a group of marketing companies that obtain consumers’ billing information through agreements with popular online retail sites.