AOL Search Has Highest Conversion Rate

Consumer searchers on AOL were most likely to make online purchases in January, possibly as a result of differences in the demographics of those using various search engines, writes DM News (via MarketingVOX), citing a new WebSideStory index. WebSideStory compared the median conversion rates of four major search engines for business-to-consumer e-commerce sites; AOL had the best rate (6.17 percent), followed by MSN (6.03 percent), Yahoo (4.07 percent) and Google (3.83 percent).

BT Launches Mega iTune Giveaway

BT’s The Great iTunes Giveaway will give away 500,000 free songs and 10,000 music videos from iTunes over the next few weeks to its current broadband customers, Adrants reports. That’s about 15,000 songs and 300 music videos a day.

Rubel to Leave CooperKatz, Join Edelman; Will Keep Micro Persuasion

Micro Persuasion’s Steve Rubel will be leaving CooperKatz and joining Edelman, MarketingVOX reports. Rubel writes in his blog: “After five years at CooperKatz, I felt it was time for me to take the next step in my evolution. So I am excited to announce that I will be joining Rick Murray’s team at Edelman (the world’s largest independent PR firm) on February 27 as a Senior Vice President.”

Ten United, Razor & Tie Launch Direct Response TV Venture

Ten United has announced a joint venture with Razor & Tie Media that the company’s say will provide clients with creative and media resources for direct response television campaigns. The new venture is being called DRTU - Direct Response @ Ten United.

Local Search to Grow to $13 Billion by 2010

The Kelsey Group predicts that the global market for local search, including online Yellow Pages, will grow at an annual rate of 30.5 percent in the next five years, reaching $13 billion in 2010 from the $3.4 billion in 2005, report MediaPost and ClickZ (via MarketingVOX). Interactive classifieds are forecast to grow 7.9 percent per year, reaching $21.1 billion in 2010, from $14.4 billion in 2005. Kelsey also predicted very high annual growth for pay-per-call.

Niche Radio Growth Slows

Banc of America Securities analysts say that Spanish radio groups and “niche operators” like Radio One or Salem are taking shares away from the general market but at a relatively slow pace, Billboard Radio Monitor reports.

Print Media Campaigns to Raise Ad Sales

With marketers using more Internet and email advertising, newspaper and magazine industry trade organizations plan to increase ad sales by introducing a new campaign to persuade marketers and agencies to think better of print as an advertising medium, writes The New York Times.

The magazine campaign begins first, on February 27th. As part of their three-year, $40 million campaign by the magazine industry, the Magazine Publishers of America have Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts creating a series of ads that will appear in thousands of free copies of more than 30 magazines that agencies receive.

Automakers to Account for 15 percent of U.S. Online Advertising Spend in 2007

Online advertising among the top 10 auto manufacturers accounted for just 2.5 percent of their total ad spend from January to November 2005, but in part because of tight online inventory and higher prices, eMarketer estimates that they will spend $2.7 billion in total online advertising in 2007, nearly twice the $1.4 billion they spent in 2005 - or 15 percent of all U.S. internet advertising spending in 2007, MarketingVOX reports. “Automotive advertisers are gearing up for an online advertising surge, but it’s going to come at the expense of other media,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the “Automotive Online: Gearing Up for Greater Spending” report.

Parents Want Food Marketing Directed To Them, Not Children, Via Online Resources

A recent Consumer Preferences Index poll by Prospectiv, owner of Healthier.com, Eversave.com and TheKnowledgeShop.com, reported that 77 percent of parents want marketing of children’s food products directed at them, not their children, and 82 percent said they would like to use web-based resources to find children’s food information.

NBC’s Olympics Finishes A Distant Second to Fox’s Idol

Tuesday night’s preliminary national results from Nielsen Media Research have Fox’s American Idol bringing in 63 percent more viewers than the Winter Olympics on NBC, writes Mediaweek. This is the Olympics’ second time getting outperformed by regularly scheduled shows on competing networks in the past five nights. ABC’s Sunday night programming, including Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, scored higher ratings in all demos but males.