Widespread implementation will take a while because most sites must redesign their pages first. Like most in the Internet ad industry, Boyer believes the new formats will give advertisers more leeway to be creative in communicating their messages. But Avenue A says Web marketing campaigns often help advertisers even when people don't click. It also makes an anonymous record of whether the person registers, leaves an e-mail address, buys anything or uses a site feature such as iWon's new casino. They can look across their campaigns and see which sites are driving the most traffic and sales.
Most marketers have many goals they want to measure that are beyond the click.
How people react to the revamped Internet ads and new subscription offers will have enormous influence over the future of the commercial Internet. We are in the earliest stages of a fresh round of subscription offerings that are likely to fare better than they would have in the midst of all the free services. I'm convinced it is part of an economic cycle, one that hits the overall media industry with annoying regularity. Merrill Lynch projects this year will be the first since 1992 when overall advertising growth will be less than that of the nation's gross domestic product. And you can bet your last share of Internet stock that traditional media, like Internet publishing, will not emerge from this downturn unscathed.