Online advertising in general is fairing well in a slow economy. However, display advertising revenue, especially for bigger websites, is not doing as well . )Marketing Pilgrim runs display ads - Andy how are they doing - notice any downturn?(. Web sites, newspaper publishers, and news media companies like CBS make money by selling display ads. Remember all the new ad networks that have popped up in the last few years?

"They say the women treat you fine on Broadway But lookin' at them just gives me the blues". "On Broadway", George Benson I can't help but think that Philip J. Smith, President of The Shubert Organization must be singing those words from jazz legend George Benson's hit song - On Broadway. Imagine this. Over a period of 100 years )since 1900(, generations put their heart and soul into building the oldest,

The latest Pew Internet and American Life featured report )PDF( says that while Americans do product research online, the information they find doesn't actually affect purchase decisions. Riiiiight. What Pew Internet and American Life meant to say was that while Americans do product research online in the specific areas of music, cell phones and real estate, they don't like to think that the information they find online affects their purchase decisions.

Today's tech news is full of Microsoft, Yahoo " and now Facebook. Microsoft keeps coming up with ways to buy some part of Yahoo. And now the rumor )reported by Robert Scoble( is that Microsoft may also buy Facebook for $15 to $20 billion . All of this in an effort to compete against Google - or as others suggest - perhaps just to survive. Here's the argument: One of the advantages Facebook has is that they do not allow Google to index their internal pages.

It's been so long since the last Pilgrim's Picks, I'd almost forgotten how to put it together. Here are today's Picks: AOL closes its $850M acquisition of Bebo . It's likely its ad deal with Yahoo won't be renewed in 2009. Are we going to get themes for Gmail ? How about just letting us decide where to place our signature file-that's all I need! Is your industry one that is more likely to suffer a reputation crisis?

It appears Google's not taking any chances when it comes to a possible Microsoft/Yahoo deal. The combination of the two rivals would certainly add some pressure to Google's dominance in the search space, but Google would definitely feel the heat if the two were to combine their display ad networks. Hmmm, what to do, what to do? "Aw heck, let's just open up our massive Google content network to anyone that wants to use it!" OK,

"Microsoft is trying to get the milk without buying the cow'" That's a quote from a Reuters source on news that Microsoft is going back to the negotiating table with Yahoo, not to buy the entire company, but instead just a small slice of it. In its official statement , Microsoft says' 'Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo!

By Michelle Greer The idea of ads somehow understanding our lifestyles and behavioral patterns sounds kind of creepy at first thought. But according to a survey done by SEMPO , many search engine marketers are all about it. The survey found that 57% of online advertisers polled were willing to spend more on demographic targeting, such as age and gender. Advertisers, on average, would pay 11% more for both behavioral and demographic targeting.

Pro sports organizations could use a few hours with a reputation management expert ala Andy Beal. In the last few months, we have seen the sports world being devastated by its own lack of transparency. It is something we as marketers are learning to cope with now, but these multi-billion dollar leagues are still not catching on. The online sports world continues to grow. Blogs, forums, online gambling, and fantasy sports news and games abound. Sites such as Deadspin.

I can't begin to explain just how excited I am with the growth of Trackur.com . More than 1,700 people have already taken Trackur's sophisticated online reputation monitoring for a spin, and that number is growing daily. One of the biggest requests has been for an affiliate marketing program for Trackur . Apparently, many of you would love to help spread the word-and make some money in the process.

As previously announced , the third annual Search Engine Marketing Scholarship contest has begun and you have until May 23rd to submit your article for entry. In addition to the great prizes already announced , we're delighted to reveal these great new prizes- bringing the total prize value to almost $15,000!!! New prizes added include: One full pass to Search Engine Strategies San Jose . Six months training from MarketMotive.com .

No matter what your attitude towards the Google-Yahoo-Microsoft triangle may be, such a title definitely makes you ask yourself a few questions. "The Real Google Killer", no question mark? Nope, not this time. Yes, the real Google killer is out there and it's only a matter of time until the inevitable occurs. Am I referring to Microsoft? Even if they'd be willing to invest a pretty penny in order to make that happen, they don't have what it takes at this point.

Today, let's all have some fun and make up a definition for a nice word my dad told me about today. Being a programmer, he gave me some silly engineering-oriented definition. I'm sure we can do better . The word of the day is: MARKETECTURE. Meanwhile' Greg Sterling spots some cool features for real estate on Google Maps Surprise, surprise: Facebook Pages are a bit like MySpace. Apparently Bands Outnumber Brands On Facebook Pages and Barack Obama is the #1 brand.

If you haven't had enough Yahoo news yet today, you're in luck. Personally, I might puke if I hear another story on Yahoo, so I just won't listen. You guys read on. The New York Post )as Craig Ferguson would say, "Ptew! But it's good."( reports on rumors that Yahoo is working on another big deal with Google . Now that's a pretty big deal.

By Sean Maguire Jerry Yang must be thinking "surely this is a bad dream", as he runs around like Captain Ahab )as best he can since he's also standing on one leg(, shouting out commands as the Great White Whale charges the ship. Yesterday, Yang completed a rare "three-peat" in a letter to his underlings )yings(: One for the money "I'd ask all of you to stay focused on the business at hand and what we do best " transforming the experiences of our users,

Carl Icahn is a powerful and extremely rich man. Companies that count him as a shareholder likely quake in their boots anytime he has something to say. However, Yahoo's board is not impressed with Icahn's threats to replace the board members with a selection of his own. In their public reply to Icahn , Yahoo's Chairman of the Board Roy Bostock pretty much tells him to go take a long walk off a short pier.

Do you know how illusionists make that cute bunny disappear? They distract your eyes with something else, so you don't notice what's going on. Cue Yahoo "Copperfield" with its attempt to make Carl Icahn disappear by distracting you with the good news about a partnership it just formed with mega-ad agency WPP. In a statement, the companies said that as part of the deal, WPP advertising agencies would, through its 24/7 Real Media arm,

Facebook was onboard with Google's new Friend Connect - until they looked a little closer at how the technology works. Then they suspended Google's access to Facebook. On the Facebook Developer's blog post " Thoughts on Privacy " it says: We've found that it [ Google Friend Connect] redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users' knowledge,

Facebook was onboard with Google's new Friend Connect - until they looked a little closer at how the technology works. Then they suspended Google's access to Facebook. On the Facebook Developer's blog post "Thoughts on Privacy" it says: "We've found that it [ Google Friend Connect] redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users' knowledge,

Ahhh. The time killing game of beer pong. For those of you who have never played beer pong )or have so severely lost that you no longer remember playing(, this is truly a game of whit and fortitude. All you need to play is a ping pong ball, plenty of beer, and a few cups. Team up, take turns throwing the ping pong ball at your opponents cups )filled with beer of course(, and every time you land in the cup the opposing team drinks the beer. As a favorite game among techies,