Websites Suffer from Wrong Impressions (BBC News, November 30th)
With no rigid industry standard in place relating to how web traffic can be reported, and terms such as hits, impressions, pageviews, unique visitors, return users, time spent at site and overall reach proving confusing to many, [accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers has called for measurement firm ABCelectronic to be assigned the role of accurately measuring and reporting web traffic figures for the purposes of standardization.

Avenue A Fires Back at Class Action Suit (internet.com, November 28th)
Similar in claim to those suits targeting DoubleClick of late, plaintiffs in a class action suit are alleging that Avenue A's tracking practices are illegal. The advertising firm has stated that it will mount a vigorous defense against such claims - which undermine the company's key strengths, if found valid.

Internet Drawing More Advertisers Online (internet.com, November 20th)
This article details figures from an AdRelevance report revealing that the number of new companies advertising online has more than doubled during the past 10 months. What's more, most of the spending has been done by small-cap companies, which suggests that there is a great deal of room for continued growth.

The Future of Online Advertising (Internet Day, November 20th)
Here, Jeff Lamm from .Com Marketing reiterates the strengths of online advertising to deliver personalized one-on-one advertising messages and superior real-time tracking data. He suggests that this, coupled with the fact that Net users are becoming more comfortable making purchases online paints a positive future for the online ad market as a whole.

Internet Advertising: Not Dead Yet (ClickZ, November 20th)
This article marks a significant stage in the evolution of the online advertising industry. Following the first major dotcom shakeout, DoubleClick's warning that ad spending was not reaching growth estimates was seen as a dire indicator of the medium. At the same time, reports were released by the same over-zealous analysts who rode the earlier wave of hype outlining why banner ads simply do not work. The article explodes a few of these myths, while offering constructive criticism to both sides of the industry.

In Search of a Better Online Ad Unit (ClickZ, November 14th)
While web development techniques and technologies have moved quickly with the times, ad creatives are still generally designed as simple GIF animations, and bound by the restrictive standards established by the IAB. This article explores alternative advertising options, including rich media and streaming media technologies, flash intros, interstitials, skyscraper banners, etc.

Banners Being Used as Branding Tools (internet.com, November 10th)
Finally, research by AdRelevance has concluded what most web publishers had known for years. That is, "online advertising is not just about click-through[s]." In fact, 63 per cent of all ad units (accounting for 54 per cent of all impressions) have been defined as brand-oriented ads, where response rates are largely inconsequential.

Finding Advertisers For Your Publication (ClickZ, November 10th)
This fantastic article explains how best to attract and build relationships with advertisers. The central crux is to avoid the major media planners, and instead to act as a medium through which solution providers can communicate with your solution-seeking visitors, and vice versa.

Avenue A Ad Program Tracks Net Shoppers (Seattle Times, November 10th)
In a move that somehow managed to escape the ire of privacy advocates, who bashed DoubleClick for using similar profiling and user-tracking techniques, Avenue A has utilized cookies to obtain data about individual surfers' online spending and browsing habits, which form variables against which the company's software can decide which banners have the best chance of soliciting responses from that user.

Build Brands Online With Advertainment (ClickZ, November 7th)
Adam Jackson asserts here that now that the hard-sell and novelty-based banner advertising techniques have lost their gloss, it's time to explore alternative techniques. He suggests that the Web is well suited to hooking potential customers through soft-sell brand building, followed through with hard-sell tactics only after a rapport has been built between the customer and advertiser.

Standard Size Banners Losing Ground (internet.com, November 6th)
An AdRelevance report has revealed that while the full 468x60 pixel ad banner is still supported with gusto by most online advertisers, alternative sizes (buttons, skyscrapers, cubes, etc) account for the majority of all ad impressions.

Sometimes It Pays NOT to Target (ClickZ, November 2nd)
Marketers have long known that targeting is key to increasing response rates, but where the costs of a targeted campaign outweigh its increased response rates, broad, untargeted buys can provide an equal number of responses for less expense. This case study illustrates this theory with real-life results.

Get a Life, Publishers: The Internet is Measurable (ClickZ, November 2nd)
Unusually, while the Internet has long been touted as the most measurable medium in terms of targeting ads and tracking response rates, auditing firms and market research studies are not as prevalent online as off, which makes branding campaigns ROIs difficult to track. This article proposes that publishers should make a greater effort to gauge the effectiveness of the campaigns that they run in order to provide their advertisers with the type of valuable feedback that encourages repeat buys.