Last year, US online ad spending faced the first decrease since 2002. But, industry experts predict that these numbers will rebound in 2o10, as the economy becomes more stable.

Despite the decrease in online advertising spending in the US in 2009, online advertising still continued to grow as a percent of total ad spending. This trend is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future.

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The effects of the recession have been felt in every industry, including online advertising.  But, eMarketer predicts a light at the end of the tunnel, forecasting a gradual rise in US online advertising spending beginning next year.

A recent comScore study found that the number of people who click on display ads has fallen to 16%. These findings have created quite a buzz around the online advertising industry, including calls for online marketers to find a better measure of success than click-through rates.

The release of this study is no surprise to CPX Interactive.  In fact, our most recent ad campaign (which can be seen on the pages of OMMA, AdAge and Media magazines (and below)) highlights our belief that every client may have a unique  success metric.  While the most commonly thought of metrics may be CPM and CPC, the truth is that, depending on the campaign, an advertiser may choose to judge success by less measureable metrics like user engagement and brand exposure. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the “x” in CPX represents a dynamic variable. As far as we’re concerned, your metric is the ONLY X!

Samantha Karol, Sr. Marketing Assistant

In July, we wrote a post about the benefits of behavioral targeting, despite the negative connotations of the word “tracking.” That post was sparked by an article published by AdAge called, “Tracking Makes Life Easier for Consumers.” Although the advertising industry recognizes the need for regulation of Web tracking, they believe self-regulation would be better than legislation.

Major industry groups, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers, Direct Marketing Association and Council of Better Business Bureaus, are putting their heads together to determine the best method for improving self-regulation.  However, there are a number of privacy and consumer advocacy groups who are in favor of legislation, and they have already come together to write a proposal.

For more information on both sides of this issue, and the growing pressure for some sort of regulation on Web tracking, check out this article published this week by AdWeek.

According to this survey, ads on mail and instant messaging sites are catching the attention of Internet users, and keeping it the longest. On the other end of the spectrum, ads on social networks and homepages are holding people’s attention for less than half a minute.

A study of online display ad campaigns found that smaller ads, “half banners” (234 x 60) and rectangles (180 x 150), were more effective than larger ads like leaderboards and skyscrapers. Close to 2,400 campaigns from the past three years were included in the study, which was conducted by researcher Dynamic Logic. Read more about the findings on MediaPost.

A recent comScore study found that online display ads boosted supermarket sales of advertised goods slightly more than television ads, 9% on average. The study was conducted over a three-month period, and included a range of product categories.  For more on these findings, read Online Display Drives as Many CPG Sales as TV.

Economic pessimism among marketers and agency media buyers appears to have bottomed out last spring and their ad spending plans are trending upward for most major media, according to the most recent data from an every-other-monthly tracking report surveying the “advertising confidence” of key media decision-makers.

Excerpt from Ad Spending Confidence Rebounds, Improves For Most Major Media on Mediapost.

Find out more about Senior Account Manager, Chris Carnacchio, and how he’s watched CPX grow over the last three years.

1. Who are you, and what do you do at CPX Interactive?

I’m Chris, and I am a Senior Account Manager in the CPA division here at CPX. I work with Jeff Reitzen (VP of Sales-CPA Division) on Domestic CPA, and Oguz Goker (VP of International CPA) on International CPA, and I also manage a team of five account managers. My team and I are responsible for managing all of the clients Jeff and Oguz bring in.

2. One of the most important things to the leadership at CPX is the family-like atmosphere they’ve established here. Part of maintaining this environment is looking for new hires who come recommended by current employees. Did you know anyone here before you were hired?

Growing up, I was actually lucky enough to know (CEO) Mike Seiman, Jeff Reitzen, and (CTO) Carlton Hickman through my sister. As time progressed, I made an effort to stay in touch with them as much as I could.

3. What drew you to the field of online advertising?

It was actually getting to know Mike (Seiman) that peaked my interest. I was always asking him about the different websites he created and managed when he first entered the industry. I even tried to create my own websites when I was in high school in an effort to learn as much about advertising on the Web as I could.

4. How have you seen CPX change since you started in 2006?

I first started working for the company in “the Long Beach days,” when it was just a small group of people sitting in an office in an apartment building, and a handful of employees in the LA office. It’s been amazing to see CPX grow through the years, from a small company with a small staff and only two offices, to the second fastest growing ad network with almost 100 employees, and six offices worldwide.

5. Where is the most interesting place you’ve ever traveled with CPX?

I would say the most interesting trip I’ve taken since I began working at CPX was last summer. Oguz and I traveled to Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Amsterdam. Unfortunately, we only stayed about one day in each place, and spent most of our time in meetings.  So, I didn’t really have a chance to see the different sites each place had to offer, but overall, it was definitely the most interesting trip I’ve been on.

The picture painted of behavioral targeting is often a negative one. It’s seen as an invasion of privacy, with the word “tracking” assumed to encompass all aspects of life. Though there are some websites who use the information they collect for evil (i.e. spam and malware), the majority use this data to give users a more personalized Web surfing experience.

Congress is considering enacting a bill to restrict tracking and targeting online. The most severe of bills could require websites to ask permission before sending a targeted ad. This would lead to a number of inconveniences for Web users, for example, frequently visited websites would no longer remember preferences or auto complete information, and frequency capping on ads would no longer exist, so the same user would see the same ad over and over.

The advertising and marketing industries recognize that changes need to be made, but they believe that self-regulation would be better than legislation, and they have already begun proving their case. In fact, a varied group of leading industry associations recently published a 48 page document entitled, “Self Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.”

For more on this issue, read “Tracking Makes Life Easier for Consumers” on AdAge.com.