The ClickZ website reports on a recent study in the US into the "like" activity of 42.6 million Facebook users on 32,000 of its customers' Facebook posts, focusing on the pages for consumer packaged goods (CPGs) and quick serve restaurant (QSRs) brands.

For QSRs, they showed 62% higher engagement rates per post - which were calculated by combining likes, comments, and shares - than other brand sectors. Meanwhile, CPGs have garnered 41% higher engagement than the average brand.

In all sectors, images/photos outperformed video and text on Facebook by 22% and 54%, respectively, in terms of engagement. For CPGs in particular, the advantages to images are more dramatic, as they outdid video by 204% and text by 86%. For QSRs, the study showed that images got 136% more engagement than video and 182% more than text.

Other figures reported by the research showed that posts made before noon get 65% more engagement than ones posted in the afternoon. CPGs get 21% more engagement in the morning, while QSRs attracted 12% more.

In addition to this, data for all brands showed that the best day to post is Friday, with Sunday and Saturday being the worst. For CPGs, Thursday generates the highest engagement rates, while Wednesday creates the lowest. However QSRs should post every Wednesday apparently, which is the most successful in terms of response.

The latest quarterly figures published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Australia mark another milestone as the $2 billion barrier has now been passed by online advertising expenditure over the past 12 months. Using data compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), total expenditure of $2.043 billion is shown for the 12 months ended 30 June 2010.

The latest report also shows that online advertising expenditure reached $552.5m in the past quarter (April-June) of 2010, which is another record quarter and a 22% increase on the same period in 2009.

Looking at the yearly figures, all three of the categorised sectors of the market saw growth in the past 12 months, with general display advertising increasing by 11%, classified advertising by 9% and search and directories advertising seeing the highest growth rates again with an increase of 16%. For the past financial year, general display advertising accounted for 26.8% of the total online expenditure, with classifieds reaching a 23% share and search and directories advertising taking the majority share at 50.2%.

Some other categories covered by the report show that email based advertising reached $33.8m during the past 12 months and video based advertising comprised $25.3m of advertising expenditure. In the past quarter, spend in this category was up to $9.6 million from $5.7 million in the previous quarter (Jan-March 2010). The dominant pricing method is still Cost per Thousand (CPM), with 75% of general display advertising based on CPM while direct response accounts for just 25% for the past year, however year on year comparative data is not yet available for these two advertising sectors.

Although these figures are impressive and continue to demonstrate the strong growth area of online advertising compared to other forms of advertising expenditure, the quarterly report still lacks accurate data from some of the main sectors - notably Google, who refuse to provide their income data from search and video advertising, so that this remains an estimated figure. Also Facebook does not participate in the survey so this growing area of advertising is also an estimated figure in the overall results.

Two recent articles on the ClickZ website look at some of the recent developments and trends with advertising on Facebook. The first looks at the way some large US and Canadian companies are beginning to use Facebook for advertising by incorporating the web version of their weekly newspaper circulars into their Facebook pages.

For example, ShopLocal serves Facebook users the a 'virtual circular' for the nearest branded store based on the current city in their profile. Users can enlarge and print barcode-enabled coupons, as well as author comments underneath each of the specials. They can also click a "share" button for each individual coupon/special to include in their newsfeeds. Examples from other retailers are also included in the article.

The second piece reports that Facebook is currently testing ratings and reviews within adverts on the site, including the use of Facebook's thumbs-up "Like" icon, a user rating between 1 and 5 stars, a short comment, and then the user's name. At this stage it's not clear how long the ratings and reviews ads have been tested or whether they will be rolled out in the future.

However, if these 'socially-enhanced' ads do eventually become a core component on the site, it would certainly draw the interest of marketers since the inclusion of a friend's rating and review of a product or service could in theory increase click-through rates and conversions.

The MediaPost News website has reported on new research by comScore which indicates that paid search rankings purchased by brands helps to improve product sales on retail sites. The results show that after searching for a product on a retail website, most shoppers will click the top results on the page and about 94% of shoppers click on the first 10 products to look for lower prices, key product features and preferred brands.

The article reports that the study aimed to determine whether search-ranking position secures a higher percentage of clicks. Since paid search through AdWords supports the core of Google's business model, the research wanted to discover if that business model carried through to retail site search and whether premium positions in search rankings drive a higher percentage of click share.

It turns out that consumers are twice as likely to use the site search box to find additional product category, brand or model information as to browse the initial landing page. While shoppers tend to vary the order, retail websites and search engines are typically either the first or the second step in the shopping process. The study suggests that retail websites are used as a source of price and brand options, promotions and sales. Many purchases also look for customer and expert reviews, price, and recommendations.

Landing listings at the top of the search ranking make it easier for consumers to find information about a company's products and services, and two-thirds of shoppers compare product and price information or read product descriptions on retail websites before making purchases. But while many begin the shopping process online, nearly half still purchase offline.

Although more consumers are beginning the process online, shoppers still want to see, touch and interact with the products in a physical store prior to purchase. Consumers turn to the online channel for ease of comparison, 61%; breadth of information, 47%; and convenience, 51%, while 62% of consumers admit that the physical stores provide the tactile in-person experience.

Of those shoppers who purchase offline, 57% say pricing is one of the main motivators for purchasing online, followed by free shipping at 57%, promotions and discounts at 50%, and item availability at 32%.

The new quarterly report from IAB Australia shows that the national online advertising market continues to record strong growth with expenditure for the March quarter 2010 growing by 17% year on year. The figures have been compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and record online expenditure for the first three months of 2010 at $512.5 million, although this is the same level as the fourth quarter of 2009.

The classifieds and search and directories categories delivered significant growth in comparison with the prior quarter, however, this was balanced by a reduction in the general display market, which reflects the usual seasonality of the first quarter of each calendar year. However, the decline was less than the historical average, which indicates the strength of the general display market and the ongoing strength of the online market in general compared to other forms of advertising.

Classified advertising and search and directories advertising were the key growth drivers during the quarter, growing by 9.4% and 2% respectively, while general display declined by 11.1% on the prior quarter. Search and directories advertising continued to account for the largest share of total advertising expenditure, representing 51.7% of the market or $264.75 million. General display accounting for 24.6% ($126m) and classified advertising accounting for 23.8% ($121.75m) during the quarter.

Recent figures published by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Australia show that the online advertising sector continued to buck the trend seen by the wider advertising market and recorded further healthy growth in 2009, with a 9% year-on-year increase to reach $1.87bn to the end of December.

The results from the quarterly Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER), compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), also showed that for the three months ended 31 December 2009, the total expenditure was $513m - the largest fourth-quarter recorded and an increase of $50.5m, or 10.9% from the fourth-quarter of 2008.

The IAB says that the continued growth of online advertising expenditure comes at a time when the industry is expecting a decline of up to $900m in the Australian advertising marketplace for 2009 due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

The general display advertising and search sectors both performed well for the full year, with search and directories advertising accounting for just short of $1bn or 50.5% of total expenditure, representing a growth of 17% year on year. Display advertising grew by 7.2% and accounted for almost $500m or 26.6% of the total expenditure for the 12 months. Classified advertising continued to lose share and saw a slight decline of 2.3% year on year, accounting for 22.9% of total expenditure for the year.

Within the general display figures, email based advertising comprised $9.3m of advertising expenditure for the last quarter, up from $7.9m in the previous quarter. Video based advertising increased its share of advertising expenditure from $4.7m to $5.3m for the same period.

Little change was reported in the pricing methods for online advertising expenditure, with the Direct Response pricing method comprising 26% in General Display advertising and CPM 74%. CPM pricing is based on a straight Cost per Thousand pricing methodology, sponsorship, or CPM-like Pricing, while direct response based pricing is based on a non-CPM display methodology. This may include any pay per click, pay per sale, pay per action or pay per lead.

Some new research published by comScore shows that display advertising appears to be more effective at influencing users' online behavior in Europe than in the US. A summary of the study has been published by ClickZ, and reports that display ads in the U.K. and Europe drove substantially more traffic to advertisers' sites and promoted a greater number of trademark search queries than in the US.

The comScore study suggests that users in Europe are 72% more likely to visit an advertiser's website, having previously been exposed to display ads, compared with a 49% lift in the US. The research also found that European users are 94% more likely to conduct a search query on an advertiser trademark after seeing an ad, compared to 40% being more likely to do so in the US.

The results seem to show a good level of impact in both markets, despite the decline in clickthrough rates from this form of advertising. comScore suggest that the differences in behaviour could be the result of lower average levels of exposure to online adverts in Europe, compared to the US, which helps drive higher response levels. Also search activity is higher in the UK, meaning that driving users to search could be easier. There is also some evidence that creativity in Europe, and in particular by UK advertisers, means that awareness and clickthrough rates can be higher.

The latest quarterly figures on Internet advertising in Australia have just been released by IAB Australia and they show that the market has recorded continued growth during the tough economic period. The total spend for the latest quarterly period, ending 30th September, reached $466 million, the highest total recorded to date.

The new Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER) has been compiled for the IAB by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as usual, using available data or estimates of advertising spend in the period covered. Although the latest quarterly figures have reached new highs, the year-on-year growth against the same period in 2008 was only up by 3%.

The Search and Directories sector, which is dominated by Google AdWords, is continuing to show healthy growth, despite actual figures from Google being unavailable, so the trend is largely based on market estimates. In total, this sector accounted for 51% of the total online advertising market in Q3 of 2009, and an increase of 12% on the same period a year ago. General Display accounted for 26% of the market and Classifieds 23%, although both of these sectors showed a decline in value compared to the same period a year ago, down 3.8% and 5% respectively.

For the first time, the latest report also captured the online advertising expenditure within the General Display category for the specific media of video, email, CPM (cost per thousand, often referred to as ‘brand’) as well as direct response (often referred to as ‘performance’) advertising. Online video advertising which represented 4% of the General Display category, is on par with figures seen in the US and UK, and is expected to increase sharply in future quarters. Email advertising was 6.5% of General Display whilst CPM advertising (mostly banner advertising) made up 75% of the category, with only 22% reported for response and 3% for a hybrid classification that combines these two forms of advertising.

Overall the online advertising industry is continuing to show healthy growth compared to recent declines of other advertising markets in Australia, so that the online share of the total market of the $13 billion Australian advertising industry continues to grow. However, this continued growth, although slowing against the previous year, continues to come from search advertising sector and particularly Google AdWords in Australia, as more and more companies enter this market to promote their businesses through targeted search marketing.

A spokesman for IAB Australia said that "With continued industry developments in online audience measurement, research demonstrating the effectiveness of online advertising in influencing consumers' purchasing decisions and behaviours, and maturing self-regulatory standards and best practice guidelines, online is now a trusted, core and essential component of effective marketing communications."

MediaWeek reports on new research from Dynamic Logic that claims to show that the most effective display ads on the web are those that are integrated within a web page's content, rather than larger, dominating adverts, in terms of driving traditional brand metrics such as awareness and purchase intent.

Dynamic Logic analysed 2,390 display campaigns over 3 years and found that half banners (234 x 60 units) and rectangles (180 x 150 units) proved to be more effective than larger, pricier placements such as leaderboards and skyscrapers. However, these findings conflict with the current trend among web publishers and advertisers, who are pushing toward larger, more interruptive online advertising as a way to funnel brand dollars away from TV.

The survey also found that creative quality and level of sophistication are also key, so that among the 2,000-plus campaigns analyzed, rich media ads that featured video excelled in most branding categories, including awareness, brand favourability and purchase intent. Meanwhile, more basic Flash ads - seen as the most common form of display advertising - consistently achieved the lowest scores.

New research published in the US and reported by MediaPost indicates that business-to-business (B2B) media is seeing a rapid shift of advertising revenue from the traditional print channels to online platforms. The research was conducted by Outsell Inc. also shows that overall B2B revenues have decreased since 2005.

The findings show that the print share of total B2B revenue fell from 58.3% to 40% between 2003 and 2008, as online revenues jumped from 18% to 33.9%. The remaining share came from events, which stayed around a quarter of total revenues. The main period of change happened between 2005 and 2007, when print revenue declined from 53.1% to 44.1%, while online increased from 22.1% to 30.2%.

The report says that a good part of the percentage shift from print to online simply reflects diminishing print revenues and although there is a changing pattern, there is no question that the future of B2B media lies online. Infact the article says that "B2B has been confronted with the same dilemma faced by other print media, including consumer magazines and newspapers -- online, while a promising area for new revenue growth in its own right, has so far failed to offset much larger losses on the print side".

An online survey conducted by AdWeek with users of the social networking site LinkedIn assessed how the current economic situation may impact the role of online marketing. Over 4,300 respondents too part in the survey at the end of March and when asked "How will the economic downturn most affect advertising?", 22% said 'there will be less advertising'. Another 8% said 'advertisers will play it safe' but the majority responded to say that the main effect would be a form of evolution that makes advertising more adaptive to changing conditions.

Within this group, 30% of respondents considered that the economy would lead to "better targeted ads to improve ROI," 23% anticipated that the "shift to online would accelerate" and 15% think "ads will follow traffic to social media." When the responses are broken down by job function, there was a notable gap between people in "marketing" and those in "sales": with the latter being much more likely than the former to choose "better targeted ads to improve ROI" (36% vs. 23%) as the recession's pre-eminent effect on advertising.

A full report on the survey and the breakdown of the results by different categories can be seen on LinkedIn (requires user login).

Media Post comments on a new report from the the US by Borrell Associate that forecasts a tripling of spend by small and medium-sized businesses over the next 5 years due to local companies pouring more money into developing their websites and other online promotional activity.

The report says that whereas interactive ad spending across segments such as display, search and email will slow their pace of growth (by only 10% in the next five years to $7.5 billion), the level of non-ad spending on things like websites or online promotions and public relations will increase from 7.9% to 18.1% of interactive marketing budgets from 2008 to 2013.

On the advertising side, Borrell estimates that paid search will continue to be a key part of SMB spending while banner ads will give way to video. Meanwhile, standard format advertising, which currently accounts for 47% of all SMB interactive spending, will make up less than 19% by the end of 2013.

The New York Times covers the trial that Yahoo! is currently running with a new form of PPC advert, which integrates images and video. This is something Google already offers, but only for selected advertising with their third-party content network, whereas Yahoo!'s new test is targeting their main PPC channel on the Yahoo! search network.

Called Rich Ads in Search, Yahoo! is hoping that the higher profile and better clickthrough rates shown from the initial tests will attract more advertisers to use this format of advertising, and will also drive more clicks and therefore revenue from their search results.

Although Yahoo!’s traditional strength has been in display advertising, as the current economic recession has deepened in the US, many advertisers have shifted money to search, which gives them direct, measurable results. Yahoo!’s recent fourth-quarter results have reflected this trend, with search revenue showing an 11% growth and display revenue falling by 2%.

The article reports that Yahoo! has been testing these new adverts in a number of formats, with dog-food company Pedigree displaying a small video for a commercial when a user searches for the company name. The video opens up into a larger format and plays once clicked. Similarly, a search for Staples displays in a similar light-blue box with the company’s logo on the side, which is also a link to the corporate site. Alternatively, retailers can include a search box within the advert panel to enable searchers to enter a ZIP code, which will then take them to the advertiser’s website that lists the nearest stores or branches nearby.

Yahoo! is currently charging a monthly fee for the service, compared to the traditional auction-based pricing of search advertising. It is reportedly only allowing only a selected number of large, brand-focused advertisers to test the program. According to Yahoo!, some advertisers in the pilot program saw an improvement by as much as 25% in click-through rates, although an independent agency reported lower results, around 5-10% higher than the regular text adverts.

Yahoo! clearly hopes that this new type of search advertising will prove attractive to companies who pay high prices to develop their commercials and logos and want to be able to show those wherever they can. It may prove an important development for Yahoo!'s search performance as the company remains under pressure from financial analysts to consider selling its search business to Microsoft, who continue to express an interest in such a deal to grow their share of the search market.

The MediaPost blog reports on some new research of more than 3,000 marketing executives in the US which asked them about their online advertising priorities for 2009. Just over 80% selected e-mail as a strong advertising performer, compared to 57% who chose search as the second leading performer. Amongst the other categories, 42% chose online display advertising as a strong performer, 23% selected social media and 9% chose mobile marketing.

In terms of advertising budgets for 2009, 58% expected to increase their spend on email marketing campaigns and 54% said the same for search marketing. 44% claimed to be targeting more spend in social media, whereas 35% would be cutting back on offline media and 22% would be reducing their spend on display advertising on the web.

A report by Media Post covers some recent research in the US which indicates that 39% of consumers  are more likely to click on a web advert if it is personalised, while that number rises to 58% among those who shop online at least several times a month. The survey also says that the bigger the spender, the greater the interest in personalised ads, indicating that more regular and familiar online shoppers respond better to this form of advertising.

The results of the survey, conducted by ChoiceStream, showed that 70% of consumers admit that their purchase decisions are at least sometimes influenced by having seen an advert for an item, as other recent surveys have also suggested, and a smaller percentage of consumers admit that they are influenced by brand advertising as well, with 39% admitting that they are more likely to buy from companies that they have seen advertised elsewhere.

In terms of the personalisation aspect, 60% of shoppers surveyed were aware that retailers use information about their online shopping behaviour to target advertising to them, and 78% of consumers are interested in receiving personalized content.

More results from the research can be found in the article, plus a link to download the full survey in PDF format.