Eyeblaster released its Research Global Benchmark report for 2009, which provides an analysis of the performance of different types of display ads like banners and rich media ads. The research found that while clickthrough rates for standard banners improved with an increase in size, size did not factor into the performance of clicks on rich media ads.

"In rich media, size is only one component of banner visibility on the site," says Eyeblaster.

Web app company Gomez, Inc. released the findings of a study on consumer mobile web experiences today, and found that most of them aren’t happy with the performance of mobile web sites in general.

Twitter can be a lot of things for a lot of different people. However, according to online ad network Chitika, more of them want news than anything else. Chitika released results from a study of its users, looking at what Twitter users want.

Chitika categorized the sites that get the most links from Twitter. Here’s how it shakes out by genre according to the ad network:

A new study from King Fish Media, HubSpot, Junta42, and UpShot found that where traditional advertising was once a "foregone conclusion" and a focal point of all marketing efforts, companies are now "revising old formulas" and creating new ones. They find that companies are abandoning other’s media platforms in favor of creating their own original channels and content.

ExactTarget released some new findings today about email use, finding that it is increasing, with social media and smartphones playing key roles.

Nielsen released its latest findings on online video usage in the United States today. The firm found that time spent viewing online video is up 25% per viewer, year-over-year. In addition, they found that total streams were also up 25%.

The Nielsen Company reported overall online video usage and top online brands ranked by video streams for the month of September. Here are a couple of charts documenting their findings:

The AT Internet Institute conducted a study comparing investments in online marketing campaigns among France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The firm’s findings are that the UK far exceeds the other three countries in this realm.

SearchIgnite has released a report, which indicates that paid search spending in the United States was flat year-over-year in the third quarter, yet up 10% quarter-over-quarter. This comes largely from multi-channel retailers, who increased paid search spend by 40% in the quarter, according to the firm. This is despite flat conversion rates and average order value.

comScore has released the results of a study on locally targeted online display ads in the US, which focused on four major markets: Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. In these areas, the results indicate that about 10% of all display ads are locally targeted.

"Locally targeted ads are an increasingly important component of the digital ad landscape because they represent a more efficient allocation of ad dollars," said comScore vice president Brian Jurutka. Here’s a look at some additional numbers:

Google has been pushing Google Apps use big time this year. They took out billboard space, and they recently sponsored a survey about IT departments and cloud computing.

The poll covered 1,125 IT decision-makers. Google has prepared an entire report based on the findings, which is available for perusal here (pdf).

Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research have released findings from a study of companies sponsoring online communities. The study found that enterprises are continuing to invest in social media tools and online communities.

A Social Media Survey conducted on behalf of PRWeek and MS&L by PRWeek and CA Walker found that marketers don’t make changes to their products based on customer feedback, despite monitoring feedback being one of the most common business uses of social media in the first place.

The survey found that 70% of marketers say they’ve never made a change to a product or marketing efforts based on feedback from consumers on social media sites.

New research from Robert Half Technology indicates that over half of chief information officers (CIOs) do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while they’re at work. This information comes from a survey of 1,400 CIOs from companies around the US with 100 or more employees.

There’s no question that search engines can be a tremendous source of traffic. Social networks are also proving to be big traffic generators for a lot of content producers, and Twitter is one of the big ones.

However, it is Facebook and Digg that are driving the most repeat readers according to a study conducted by online ad network Chitika. Traffic is great, but traffic that returns is even better.

According to comScore, Hitwise, and Nielsen, Bing gained ground in August, but StatCounter has released info indicating that Bing has experienced its first monthly decline in the US, in September.

Nielsen has shared some findings from research involving how American consumers intend to spend their money during the upcoming holiday season. About 42% expect to spend less.

Research from Nielsen indicates that wealthier people and people who live in big cities (at least in the US) are more likely to use social networks than people with less money that live in smaller towns.

Nielsen Claritas, a branch of Nielsen that looks at segmentation in consumer behavior, says that there is a "marked difference" in the demographic makeup between the two largest social networks – Facebook and MySpace. According to Nielsen Claritas:

For the second year in a row, ARAnet has shared survey results about the news consumption habits of Americans. This year’s survey found that Americans are increasingly turning to online sources, as well as radio for their news, while going less to daily newspapers and television.

Paid Content UK conducted a Poll with Harris Interactive, asking respondents how much they would pay for online news, and what they would do if they’re favorite news sites started charging. The findings, perhaps not so shocking, indicate that users basically don’t really want to pay.

Mzinga and Babson Executive Education recently conducted a survey, which examined the adoption, use and current state of social technologies in business. The findings revealed that 86% of respondents use social technologies in one or more areas of business, including marketing, internal collaboration/learning, customer service and support, sales, and HR.

Crowd Science revealed some interesting findings from a survey on Twitter use today. It would appear that Twitter is the most used social network by drivers. I’m not sure if that’s the kind of endorsement Twitter wants (the most dangerous network), but its short-form texting-like format caters to the mobile user.