New study discovers link between social media popularity, stock prices

NEW YORK, US: A new study conducted by a researcher at Pace University, in association with Famecount.com, has looked at the link between social media popularity of key brands and their respective share prices - and identified a statistically significant correlation. 17 Mar 2011 11:12

Emerging auto insurance and aggregator sites attracting meaningful market share

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the availability of an expanded competitive set of insurers and aggregator sites for its online auto insurance benchmarker. In Q4 2010, these additional sites accounted for 724 000 submitted quotes, making up 8% of quotes submitted online. 8 Mar 2011 09:58

Fees could alienate online bill pay users

CHICAGO, US: Online banking continues to grow in popularity, and according to Mintel, 79% of consumers visit their banks' online website on a daily or weekly basis. However, it seems that loyalty to online banking would vanish if the service wasn't complimentary, as just less than 80% of consumers would stop using their banks online bill pay services if their financial institutions charged a monthly fee. 24 Feb 2011 08:22

Retail banks continue to resist social media

[Published by Ovum] LONDON, UK: Despite fragile consumer confidence, most retail banks do not view social media as an important tool to engage with customers, putting them in a dangerous position, according to Ovum, one of the Datamonitor group of companies. 22 Feb 2011 12:24

Top 50 US web properties for January 2011

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc has released its monthly analysis of US web activity at the top online properties for January 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. 22 Feb 2011 07:28

Financial services CEOs look to emerging markets to feed growth aspirations

LONDON, UK: Financial services companies need to look far beyond their domestic markets if they are to achieve their ambitious growth aspirations. This is according to the 14th annual PwC Global CEO Survey, which shows CEOs of financial services companies believe emerging markets are more important than developed markets to their organisation's future. 16 Feb 2011 11:21

Deloitte Consumer Spending Index continues steady decline in January

NEW YORK, US: The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (the Index) continued to decline in January, hitting its lowest level since August 2009. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending. 15 Feb 2011 10:43

Anti-corruption Act scuppers deals

NEW YORK, US: According to results of Deloitte's annual Look Before You Leap survey of corporate executives, investment bankers, private equity executives and hedge fund managers, 63% of respondents reported that the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and anti-corruption issues caused their companies to renegotiate or pull out of planned business relationships, mergers or acquisitions over the last three years. 8 Feb 2011 11:48

2010 US online property insurance report

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc. has released its 2010 Online Property Insurance Report, based on behavioural data from comScore's 1 million person US panel and a survey of more than 2 000 US Internet users aimed at understanding attitudes and intentions with regard to conducting insurance transactions online. 24 Nov 2010 07:28

Hope for full global economic recovery in 2010 diminishes

NEW YORK, US: After an upbeat start to the year with two consecutive quarters of increases in optimism, global consumer confidence fell three points in September to an Index of 90 as consumers' hopes for a full economic recovery this year fades in most parts of the world, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index. 27 Oct 2010 06:22

SPS first processor of Street Savings mobile marketing

ORANGE, US: Secure Payments Systems (SPS), a national leader of value-added payment services and transaction processing in the US and Canada, has announced that it has become the first direct processor of Street Savings mobile marketing products. 20 Oct 2010 12:35

America still the most admired country globally

NEW YORK, US: The United States continues to lead the world in global image, according to GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, a division of GfK Custom Research North America and Simon Anholt, the leading policy advisor. 15 Oct 2010 08:21

Global ad spend on the rise

NEW YORK, US: Global ad spend increased 12.8%* in the first six months of 2010 when compared with the same period in 2009 and totalled 238 billion USD - driven by booming emerging markets and a return to double-digit ad spending in automotive, durables, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), financial services, and telecommunications. 12 Oct 2010 10:42