On Tuesday, PricewaterhouseCoopers released a report stating that online ad business (excluding mobile ads) is set to expand to $34.4 billion in 2014 from $24.2 billion in 2009. 

Newspapers, meanwhile, continue to suffer from a decline in advertising revenue. According to numbers released by the Newspaper Association of America earlier this year, print advertising revenue dropped 28.6% in 2009 to $24.82 billion. The PWC report estimates that print advertising in newspapers will decrease even further to $22.3 billion by 2014.

“Although the Internet did not fully escape the impact of the recession, its decline in the United States was much less severe than that of other advertising media,” the PWC report notes.

The report also indicates that in 2005, the broadband penetration in U.S. households was at 34%. Currently, an estimated 64% of households have a broadband connection! The study notes that the federal government’s allocation of $7.2 billion of the stimulus plan for the expansion of broadband services, as well as the increasing availability of triple-play packages (i.e. those which bundle Internet service with television and telephone services) are catalysts for growth in U.S. broadband access.

So, what does that mean for your company? With the various advertising mediums changing, it is important to become even more focused on who you want to reach and how you want to get in front of those audiences. 

How do you reach your targets? Do you believe that Internet advertising works or do you think you should keep with more traditional methods? Or perhaps the answer lies within a good mix of both…

Yikes! Where is Chicken Little? The sky is falling!! The result: instant Internet panic. Within minutes, “Yahoo” became the trending topic on Twitter (one instance where the company jumped ahead of the other competitors, and not for a good reason). Even I waited no more than 30 seconds before going and changing the password to my Gmail account. 

Google (Gmail) has spoken frankly on the matter and said to BBC that they “recently became aware of an industry-wide phishing scheme through which hackers gained user credentials for web-based mail accounts including Gmail accounts.” 

Ever the cutting-edge company, Google has already taken immediate action to safeguard the affected accounts by forcing password changes. Spokespeople from Google and Yahoo have already said they recommend that people regularly change their passwords and be aware of phishing scams. 

This is definitely part of the compromise of the Internet era. We trade a level of security for instant access to information and ease of communication and many of us use the same password for multiple web sites to keep us from forgetting our passwords. Shockingly, Yahoo reported that about 40 percent of people that had been hacked, had the same password for every web site they used. There are numerous ways that technology has enhanced our lives and it will continue to do so, but with these enhancements come risks and now fair warning has been issued. I hope people will heed the advice of Google and Yahoo. Safety is something not worth compromising.

To quote an article by Jay Highley, President/CEO of Tetherball, “Today’s mobile media is at nearly the same stage as online media was ten years ago.” Borders, Cold Stone Creamery, Domino’s Pizza and Bank of America are using this technology to reach out to their customers. It’s cost effective, measurable and it builds brand loyalty, especially to companies reaching out to younger demos, such as the Gen Y’s. Anyone with an iPhone knows there are applications coming out almost daily that tie back to organizations, i.e., online banking with Bank of America. Companies can go green with text message coupons and special offers. It’s convenient for the user and there’s no reason to kill another tree by printing more disposable info. It also shows that you’re an innovative organization by engaging new technology. 

I see this as a huge opportunity for marketers. Like most campaigns, it takes time to build and see the results of, but it will be worth it in the end.