From our friends in SalesOnline:

According to an OECD report for 2006 to 2007, Ireland had the biggest increase in broadband penetration among 30 OECD countries. This is a very encouraging trend but we are only finally catching up and broadband penetration is still quite low at around 16.35% of the total Irish population.

This is not exactly a new development (as in not in our industry as it's 2 months old!), but I felt the need to highlight a new development from EyeWonder, which adds the ability to quickly post content from a banner ad to your blog/social network page.

This technology, should it take off (and there has been considerable interest in the US already) really empowers the consumer to welcome the brand into their digital lives, and it's opt-in approach will find much favour in online communities, who balked at the introduction of Beacon on Facebook

Read more about Social Wonder here...

A very interesting article by Christine Beardsell of The ClickZ Network identifies a number of ways that video ads can become truly viral. As with everything, there's a hard way (organic) and an easier way (paid for), but both have their pro's and con's.

Worth a read here...

Burst Media recently conducted a survey of 2,600 online respondents to get a better idea of how they consume online video, and their perception of advertising placements within it.

Their conclusion: Online video content is in high demand – particularly for staying informed and being entertained.

• Men 18-34 years are the heaviest viewers of online video content.
• Caution to advertisers: Consumers are leery of in-stream advertising in video content –many abandon ad-fronted videos altogether.

This poses the question that we at vStream are constantly asking ourselves and our clients - How can we make the ad content less intrusive and therefore more effective. Luckily, we have the answer. Of course, you'll have to come work with us to find out!

Read the full report here...

This is some information that all you advertisers should be interested in. Essentially, consumers that watch TV online are more engaged than those that watch programs on TV sets, according to a cross-media study by Simmons of Experian Research Services, reports MediaPost (via MarketingCharts).

Moreover, there's a high correlation between media engagement and ad receptivity.

The Internet Advertising Bureau predicts that Internet advertising could surpass television marketing as early as next year.
by Helen Leggatt

Online ad networks have gone some way towards dealing with the “fragmented” nature of the Internet drawing more and more advertisers to the medium. "With the latest technology it is possible to amalgamate thousands of websites and segment their content into broad and narrow categories," said Jack Wallington, IAB programs manager. A rising Internet audience, coupled with the technology and networks that allow targeting of specific customers, such as DoubleClick, could see Internet advertising overtake television marketing very soon. If not 2009, then certainly 2010, said the IAB. In fact, online advertising in Sweden already surpasses television advertising spend and GroupM’s recent research found that this could well happen in the U.K by the end of this year.

An academic study in to the psychology of online advertising has found new evidence that internet banner ads work exceedingly well.

The paper produced jointly by several US universities, found that, although many web users do not necessarily click or focus on a banner advert, many subconsciously register the product advertised - and make positive conclusions.

Researchers asked test subjects to read an online essay under the assumption they would be quizzed on its content - in fact, they would be asked their feelings on a product advertised in a banner ad on the essay, with different groups of test subjects exposed to the ad zero, five or 20 times.

The research team found those people with negative impressions of the brand were unaffected by the number of exposures to the banner. But the positive connotation taken away from the ad went up and up in concert with further ad displays.

Banner ads have gradually been falling out of favour as more advertisers opt for keyword-based search marketing and other tactics. Despite this trend, the test results suggest that repeated exposure to banner ads yields positive results, with consumers taking away brand familiarity even if they don't click through.

A new year wouldn’t be a new year without a vast number of websites making predictions about the future of the web, and 2008 proves to be no different. From a number of different sources, e-consultancy.com have rounded up 10 key trends that they think are the ones to watch out for in 2008.

It makes great reading, and a very positive outlook for vStream and our clients in 2008. The list reads as follows:

1. Social networks advertising becomes scalable

2. Privacy will continue to be a sensitive issue

3. Internet advertising will overtake radio advertising in the US

4. Open Source will continue to dominate

5. The rise of the semantic web

6. Mobile web expected to explode in 2008

7. Video gains ground as a popular advertising medium

8. Local search marketing and advertising platforms can expect growth

9. Behavioural targeting will become more widespread - and something which is expected

10. Fear of recession will shift advertising budgets to online media

Read the full story here...

TV viewers are apparently much more ‘engaged’ when they watch content online, rather than on their TV sets, according to a study.

Researchers at Simmons found that respondents were 25% more involved in programmes they viewed on the web, rather than in the conventional way.

There was also good news for advertisers – viewers were reportedly 47% more engaged in ads shown during online TV shows.

The study, via MarketingVox, measured engagement by looking at different ways respondents’ viewed content – whether they found it ‘inspirational’, ‘trustworthy’ or ‘life-enhancing’, for example.

It found women and younger consumers had slightly higher levels of engagement online than average.

If you're not making money off your blog, 2008 might be the year.

As more people see potential in earning money off the Internet, there is a quickly expanding array of advertising services and tools for bloggers that go well beyond the standard pay-per-click text ads or display ads.

See what's available to make some money from your musings here...

SALINAS, California: A new report from AccuStream iMedia Research shows ad revenues from streaming video and audio totalled around $1.37 billion (€935; £697m) last year, up 38% on 2006.

The firm estimates that during 2007 there were between 2.1bn to 2.7bn views of streaming or progressive-download content each month, via ad-supported or free content areas on the web. The figures exclude user-generated videos.

The report also revealed that pre-roll ads generated around $420 million.

Data sourced from Wall Street Journal Online; additional content by WARC staff, 18 January 2008

NEW YORK, Jan. 7, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Two Wall Street firms issued bullish outlooks for Internet companies in 2008, with Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and China's key players among top picks expected to show continued strength. The key trends predicted to drive growth in the sector are improved content, such as social networking sites, growth in Web access internationally, and improvements in search and navigation technologies.