Upon browsing my inbox yesterday afternoon my eyes were hypnotically drawn to an email message with a subject line calling out “free ice-cream!”    Sold.  I quickly opened the message, printed the coupon; which was buy one get one free, and headed straight to the store to redeem my frosty treats.  Yes, I ate both if you have to know.  Hot summer days often leave me feeling gluttonous and craving sugar.

The point of the story here is not that I have to rethink my diet, but that receiving messages like this is what I love about email.  And I’m not alone.  According to a CrossView survey among US shoppers in various states, there is a significant consumer preference for receiving promotions via email as opposed to other methods of delivery.

Why email?  Maybe it’s the ease of receiving and redeeming a promotion; it comes directly to you, often personalized, without you having to search and scour for discounts like my Mom used to do in the old Sunday circular.  It’s also a deal you likely want based on emails you’ve signed up for in the past.   So until I am ready to register to receive news and promotions from health food stores, I expect to see discounts for ice cream because it is what I want.

Furthermore, the study reveals 35% of consumers said they were specifically shopping due to receiving a promotion from a retailer.  That makes perfect sense.  Ice cream was not originally on my menu for the day until I saw the coupon.

So this news is really a win-win for consumers and marketers.

According to new research by comSore, more than 123 million Americans visited newspaper sites in May, representing 57% of the total U.S. Internet audience, as the New York Times Brand led the category with more than 32 million visitors and 719 million pages viewed during the month. The average visitor viewed 22 pages of content on the New York Times. Tribune Newspapers ranked second in terms of audience with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Advance Internet and USA Today Sites.

This is great news for all print publishers that are concerned about dwindling circulation and readership.  News and content is still a priority for consumers, but new technology is simply changing the way readers consume information.  Publishers who understand how to use the Web to their advantage will reap the rewards.    A couple of weeks ago we reported that online has not been as hard hit as print.  According to the annual global entertainment and media outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. consumer magazines will continue to earn increasing digital ad revenue over the next few years, but not enough to erase their troubles selling print advertising.   U.S. consumer magazines’ digital ad revenue never declined in the recession – just grew at a far slower rate: 1.6% last year compared with 114.5% in 2008. Their digital ad revenue will grow 8.5% in 2010 and post double-digit percentage increases after that, according to the outlook. U.S. consumer magazines can expect digital ad revenue of $1.6 billion in 2014, up from $902 million in 2009 and $414 million in 2007.

What’s more, according to the study, digital readers are more likely to be engaged with advertising.  The report says that comScore research conducted last year for the Online Publishers Association showed that visitors who are exposed to display ads on news sites are more likely than average to visit the advertiser website, are heavier online buyers and tend to have higher household income.

In what is sure to be a ground-breaking research study across the marketing and advertising industry, new data reveals consumers’ attitudes toward behavioral targeting are more complex than indictaed in previous research.

Many studies and pundits have pointed to consumers’ complete disdain for targeted ads due in part to privacy concerns.  However this research was based on straight-forward questions that did not put the actual situation in context to real-world scenarios.  If someone simply asked me if I would be willing to make an extra $20,000 a year, my answer would be a resounding yes.  However, if the question was followed by the fact that in order to do so, I would have to work nights and weekends, my answer would probably change.  This type of questioning has provided false views on consumers attitudes towards advertising.

Adhering to a more realistic and accurate methodology, PreferenceCentral, a consumer ad preference management solution, has discovered that Internet users are more likely to prefer targeted online ads when they are asked to make real-world, value-for-value trade-offs, such as free access to Internet content. The study also shows that attitudes and preferences significantly shift when consumers are provided with education about behavioral targeting or when they can control targeted ad exposure.

70% OF INTERNET USERS ARE INTERESTED IN USING A CONSUMER CONTROL SOLUTION, 33% STATING THAT THEY ARE VERY OR EXTREMELY INTERESTED

Certain factors do play a material role in consumers’ comfort level with online advertising. When educated about behavioral targeting, 29 percent of respondents became less comfortable with the trade-off of free content for targeted ads. However, when subsequently informed that behavioral targeting information is anonymous, non-personally identifiable, 35 percent of these Internet users became more comfortable, indicating a need for consumer education on this topic. The high-level results are very interesting and can be found on the PreferenceCentral Web site.

It is smart research like this that is going to help our industry grow and thrive.  Together, we need to educate consumers and continue to listen to what they have to say.

Last week, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble announced plans to slash the price of their e-readers in response to the threat posed by Apple’s iPad.  Apple fans like me are hoping to see similar price cuts for their iPad, but we are not holding our breaths.

The e-reader war is clearly underway and this is great news for consumers and publishers alike. The more people using the device, the more content is going to be produced and consumed, because it is a cheaper, faster way to digest the written word than ever before.  And for publishers clearly struggling, this is good news.

While traditional print publications have been hurt by the recession, online has not been as hard hit.  According to the annual global entertainment and media outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. consumer magazines will continue to earn increasing digital ad revenue over the next few years, but not enough to erase their troubles selling print advertising.   U.S. consumer magazines’ digital ad revenue never declined in the recession – just grew at a far slower rate: 1.6% last year compared with 114.5% in 2008. Their digital ad revenue will grow 8.5% in 2010 and post double-digit percentage increases after that, according to the outlook. U.S. consumer magazines can expect digital ad revenue of $1.6 billion in 2014, up from $902 million in 2009 and $414 million in 2007.

This research, coupled with the increase of e-readers in the market, should have publishers planning digital versions of their publications for these devices.

The biggest hurdle to the rapid adoption of the e-reader is nostalgia.  According to a stat reported at DPAC last week by The Harrison Group, nearly 70 percent of respondents in the top two spending brackets said “they just prefer holding print editions of books, magazines and newspapers.”   This is certainly an understandable argument.  But how soon before these numbers change dramatically?  Just ten years ago if you asked consumers if they would prefer digital music versus physical albums, I bet no one would be willing to forgo that incredible feeling you get when you tear open up a new album from your favorite band.  Yet, today, digital music is clearly on the way to outpacing physical album sales.

It’s time to face the fact; companies like Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Apple are the newsstands of the 21^st century.  This is where the next generation of readers will look to consume their content.