In preparation for its upcoming conference in D.C., the Newspaper Association of America requested some preliminary data from Borrell Associates ' local online revenue study, expected in May. The NAA reported that, as found by Borrell, newspaper sites grabbed almost 27 percent of local online ad market share in '07, or over $2 billion in local online ad revenue. Paper sites also grabbed 26 percent of the$363 million spent on local video ads, according to the NAA's report.

Jeff Brooks, who heads Euro RSCG's New York presence, is on a mission not only to un-silo digital from the agencies other operations, but to put digital "at the heart" of every activity and client engagement. To this end, he's planning to remodel the shop's sizeable New York offices with the goal of putting all the creatives - from digital to direct to broadcast and print - on the same floor to foster )or force?( collaboration and interaction. "There are going to be fights,

Tired of trying to be different? Marketing and branding experts the world over are spending endless hours trying to help their clients differentiate themselves from their competitors. Well, ad industry veterans P.J. Pereira and Andrew O'Dell, in announcing the formation of a new agency called Pereira & O'Dell, not only eschewed witty creativity in naming the agency but also said "fugetaboutit" when it came to the Holy Grail quest for differentiation.

There's seemingly no end to the improbable machinations swirling around Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo. A flurry of late breaking rumors and announcements today conjured up a series of outlandish scenarios, including the combination of Yahoo and AOL's Internet operations, a possible joint bid for Yahoo by Microsoft and News Corp, and the ) confirmed ( outsourcing of a portion of Yahoo's search ads to Google. The very latest developments, reported by WSJ this evening ,

And you thought PubAccess meant you were watching Nova or Jim Lehrer. Nope, it's the new Web-based ad management platform for smaller publishers from AOL's Advertising.com. The service will allow publishers in the Advertising.com display network to block advertisers or ad categories, view activity reports and access the network's optimization technology. The company claims this will generate higher CPMs for publishers.

Marketing tech law blogger extraordinaire Eric Goldman has a thorough post on an 11th Circuit Court decision on the use of trademarks in metatags, as they affect search results. The case involved two medical device firms. One, Axiom, employed trademarked terms of its competitor, North American Medical Corp. in its metatags. The court ruled this is trademark infringement. According to Goldman,

Dropped in on the Scripps Networks upfront this morning. Deanna Brown, who's been president of its Interactive Group for the past year, has set the rather ambitious goal of "total category dominance" for the group's five cable properties: HGTV, Food Network, DIY, Fine Living, and GAC. To achieve that goal, Brown is focusing on what she told advertisers is "new" new media, i.e. mobile and social channels. Given the predominance of contests,

Not only has ESPN.com reportedly ditched selling through online ad networks, the site needs more video inventory to satisfy advertisers. In a bid to expand reach for its advertisers, the sports site will distribute its video content through AOL Video and AOL Sports. Game highlights, along with shows like "SportsCenter Right Now" and "Pardon the Interruption" will now be seen via an ESPN video player on AOL, in addition to ESPN.com. MediaWeek recently reported that ESPN.

Hillary Clinton's campaign site has a giant homepage image dedicated to fundraising for specific types of ads targeted to Pennsylvanians, including online ads. "Help us recruit supporters and get out the vote in Pennsylvania with targeted online ads," reads the plea. The goal is $2.5 million for TV and $100K for Web. So far, they've collected about $28.5 K for online ads and about $285K for TV. The numbers were each at around $27K and $270K this morning,

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Spring preening moves into high gear in New York City with the arrival of warmer weather. That means pedicures, wax treatments, and more. This not-so-subtle reminder appears on Facebook thanks to Lifebooker, an online service for booking appointments at spas and salons in NYC. Ewwww! Heat up that wax, like, now.

An online search and display-ad campaign brought online and offline dividends to a retailer, comScore's chief executive Magid Abraham reports. In an article published by the "Harvard Business Review," Abraham said the retailer's sales in the United States increased by 40 percent online and 50 percent offline over a three-month period. The identity of the retailer, which has $15 billion in annual revenue, wasn't disclosed.

Budweiser commercials are often picked as favorites from the crop of Super Bowl ads, but this year Anheuser-Busch is inviting its consumers to vote on their favorites while the game is still being played. As part of its annual Bud Bowl campaign , the brewer is signing up consumers to vote on their favorite Budweiser commercial during next month's Super Bowl using their mobile phones. Users that provide their number will get a preview of one of the commercials,

Low.com, a Los Angeles-based company that includes a lead generation service, is running this ad.

Announced yesterday they would partner with Yahoo to deliver display advertising on their Web'n'walk mobile Internet service. The ads will roll out across the network in the first half of 2008, and will be sold and served exclusively by Yahoo. The deal, together with Yahoo's current mobile advertising partnership with Vodafone, now gives them access to 2 of the most lucrative mobile operators in the UK, and cements Yahoo's dominance in the UK mobile ad arena.

Most MacWorld coverage of the Apple TV refresh has focused on iTunes movie rentals. But Steve Jobs and his busy elves are also working hard to make the platform friendly to Internet videocasters reliant on advertising. Or so one Blip.TV executive told The Times' Saul Hansell. From the Bits blog : Apple has no restrictions on distributing podcasts that have advertising in them. Indeed, Dina Kaplan, the chief operating officer of Blip.TV,

Cybercrime might not have direct ties to digital advertising, though the individuals and syndicates behind malicious intent on the Web are a threat to how Internet users view ads on the Web. With implications of adware and Web-borne infections using ads as a vector to infect computers to infect computers, it's important to know what's happening and how to protect ad creative, networks, servers, and computers.

Faced with the prospect that the economic slowdown could hurt Yahoo's business, Bloomberg.com reported tonight that Microsoft may cut its $44.6 billion bid for the company. Earlier in the day, Reuters reported Microsoft is evaluating its bid to purchase the company. Reuters, quoting unnamed sources, pointed out that Yahoo has lost key personnel since Microsoft made its Jan. 31 offer, plus other factors.

The Washington Post has some new information on the scope of ISP behavior tracking in the U.S. According to its story this morning, ad vendor Front Porch claims it's already observing and targeting ads to 100,000 U.S. broadband subscribers through secretive partnerships with its ISP partners. NebuAd meanwhile said it has deals that cover 10 percent of U.S. customers.

Like a home with an inviting welcome mat, AOL has attracted visitors and advertisers alike to its real estate portal. With 3.1 million unique visitors in February, AOL Real Estate ranked No. 4 among real estate sites, according to comScore. Only Move.com )that includes Realtor.com(, Yahoo Real Estate, and MNS Real Estate had more visitors. In December 2007, AOL wasn't even on comScore's list of top real estate sites. Looks like AOL has lined up a diverse mix of advertisers,