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Google is offering a look into its process for measuring and analyzing data from television ads. It's interesting to see the metrics they use and how they are trying to make television ads more relevant to viewers.

The U.S. market for mobile advertising will grow 36 percent, increasing from $169 million in 2008 to $229 million in 2009, according to a new forecast by Interpublic's Magna. The prevalence of mobile subscriptions (more than 270 million at the end of 2008 according to the CTIA) and mobile users (more than 224 million individuals, according to Nielsen) has been the main driver.  Although the vast majority of these individuals use their phone for voice services, an increasing number have adopted the use of text messaging

Research conducted by PLYmedia shows that subtitles in online videos increase the the amount of time a user spends watching them by 40%. Furthermore, in a comparison between subtitled videos to identical videos without subtitles, PLYmedia found that the videos with subtitles were watched 91% to completion, compared with 66% to completion for those without subtitles.

The number of people using their mobile device to access news and information online more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009, according to comScore. Among the 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35%) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year.

Multi-channel retailers increased their U.S. paid search spend in Q4 08 by 12 percent compared to Q4 07.Consumers continued to convert online at a steady rate, although they spent 10 percent less on average per transaction compared with the prior year, according to a report from SearchIgnite.

Just after examining one print publisher's idea that staying away from the web would be in the best interest for his business, I came across a post on the Nielsen Online Blog indicating that going online is the key to print media's survival.

Local review site Citysearch has announced an overhaul to its mobile and web sites. Now in beta, Mobile by Citysearch adds enhanced features for mobile users, and the new website integrates more local and social aspects.

Sales of smartphones to U.S. customers hit 9 million units from January through July 2008 compared to the same time period last year, representing an 84 percent increase.Overall handset sales and revenues dipped in the U.S., but smartphone revenue increased 71 percent hitting almost $4.7 billion. With the launch of Apple's iPhone in July, Apple took the second spot in smartphone sales, behind RIM.