Charles Buchwalter, Senior Vice President, Research & Analytics
There has been much talk in the Internet industry around the importance of the “long tail” (niche content and service-oriented sites) and how consumers gravitate to it. The central concept is that people tend to be most engaged in content that is core to their specific interests, rather than more generalized content.
Looking at our newly expanded panel that includes more than 30,000 sites, we have found that short tail sites (those with a greater than 1 percent reach) remain the most engaging …

While online media’s “favorite child” status may have diminished somewhat over the last few months due to a new social media darling, its tremendous growth potential provides a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak environment.

Charlie Buchwalter
The recent cataclysmic events in financial markets have jolted many of us into a “back to basics” mentality. Basics such as “what goes up must come down.” Basics such as “live within your means.”
Over the weekend, my colleague Dave Martin and I reviewed a 100 year trend of price/earnings ratios for the S&P 500. For the last 18 years or so, the average has driven far north of the long term average of 15, and a “back to basics” mentality would have indicated that sooner or later it would …

Charlie Buchwalter
What’s happening in the world’s largest Internet market? Last week we announced our JV in China – CR-Nielsen – the first company authorized to support the delivery of standardized Internet measurement services in China. The top sites are dominated by Chinese brands, with global brands like Google and Yahoo! present with their local sites. Overall, the numbers are quite significant. The top site, Baidu, was visited by slightly more than 171 million unique browsers during a single week. And while there is no exact comparison between unique browsers and …

Within the whirlwind of negative news regarding the economy and the advertising outlook, I found a significant, welcome trend in the IAB’s recent revenue report covering the first half of this year. I’m scratching my head trying to understand why more hasn’t been made of this, because it portends hugely positive things for the online space.
The IAB recently announced a 15.2% year-over-year growth rate for Internet advertising for the first half of 2008. When you dissect the 15.2% number, some interesting details emerge. Out of nine industries tracked, only four …