Over the next six months, not only will ad spending be down, but the feeling among advertisers and their agencies toward media such as broadcast TV, national newspapers and magazines is growing more pessimistic. The dreary outlook is courtesy of the new Advertiser Optimism Report by Advertiser Perceptions.

But while the outlook is somewhat bleak for the aforementioned ad media, others like online, cable TV and mobile are likely to attract more of marketers’ money.

The report shows a large percentage of the advertisers polled (68%) said they plan to increase their ad spending online. Still, that number is down four points from 72% six months ago. The numbers were also slightly down for cable TV (27% vs. 28%) and mobile (51% vs. 53%) over that same period but remained on the “optimistic” side of the scale. (Ad Age)

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For the past couple of years, the mantra at Nielsen Co. has been to “follow the video.” Now it’s adding some audio. For the first time in nearly half a century Nielsen will begin reporting ratings for radio audiences in the U.S., going head-to-head with the radio industry’s de facto advertising currency, the ratings of Arbitron Co. The move comes as Arbitron is under siege among many of its top customers, as well as civil rights activists in major markets, about concerns over the representative of samples it is using to produce radio audience estimates via its new portable people meter ratings system.

The new service, which will generate a once-a-year report based on a Spring survey of radio listeners in 50 markets, will release its first ratings estimates next August. Cumulus has agreed to subscribe to the ratings in all 50 of the markets - mostly smaller ones - while Clear Channel has agreed to subscribe to them in 17 markets where it operates. The service is the outcome of an RFP (request for proposal) initiated by Cumulus in April, when it had a falling out with Arbitron over the viability of its ratings in smaller markets.  (MediaPost)

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After years of using credit cards and home equity loans to support their lifestyles, holiday shoppers this year plan to use a greater proportion of cash to pay for gift purchases.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, 41.5 percent of shoppers will use debit and check cards — which are essentially cash — to pay for holiday items this year, compared with 40.1 percent last year.

The number of Americans planning to pay with cash is also up slightly this year to 22.8 percent from 22.1 percent a year ago. People intending to use credit cards as a primary payment method dipped slightly to 31.5 percent this year, versus 32.3 percent last year.

Nearly three-quarters of shoppers said they had completed less than 10 percent of their holiday gift buying, while just 2.2 percent of shoppers said they were finished.

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Kelsey Group CEO Neal Polachek believes big changes are in store for radio salespeople over the next several years. He thinks AEs will need to “upgrade” their understanding of all media to sell against the web. They’ll also need to sell other platforms. A just-released Borrell Associates report finds local online ad spending will grow 8% next year. (Inside Radio)

Remerge Note: I’m not believing what I just read. Neal, buddy, you had me at “big changes in store” and “AEs will need to upgrade their understanding” - and then TOTALLY lost me at “to sell against the web”.  The web is not something they need to sell against, it is something they need to sell with (radio, tv, newspaper…).

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Large traditional creative shops are rethinking their offerings, expanding into all things digital. Agency holding companies are restructuring to better leverage their digital resources. And all the while, new digitally focused agencies continue to spring onto the scene. So, during this time when the ad agency model is very much in flux, what is working? Speaking on a Tuesday panel at ad:tech New York, Nancy Hill, president and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, outlined three approaches that she’s currently seeing marketers take when it comes to their agency relationships.

The first model is one in which a client selects one lead entity — at either the holding company or agency level — and grants it the power to oversee all marketing efforts and partners. The second model is one in which the client itself assumes that leadership role. And the third model is one in which a client hires a slew of agencies and tells them to go collaborate.

“Two of the models work, and one of them absolutely does not,” Hill said. The third model, she said, is destined to fail — and yet it’s the model being used most often. “And that’s where the fighting comes in because there is no clear mission,” Hill said, noting that it’s imperative from a marketer’s perspective to have one throat to choke at the end of the day. (iMediaConnection)

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Remerge Note: As we tell our clients on a regular basis - while we understand media is struggling to understand ways to integrate new media into their business model, rest assured that agencies (even on the highest/largest scale) are in the exact same boat.

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