The online advertising business may be starting to turn a corner. After a dismal start to 2009, Internet advertising perked up in the fourth quarter, hitting an all-time quarterly high of $6.3 billion -- a 2.3% increase over the previous year.

Evidently, hamsters are good for sales, or at least for getting viewers to remember your product. A Kia Motors ad featuring dozens of the furry critters was awarded Automotive Ad of the Year at the Nielsen Automotive Advertising Awards this week.

The average value of a coupon for consumer package goods in 2009 was $1.37, according to new report by NCH Marketing Services. And consumers redeemed 23% more coupons last year, the first increase in 17 years. That created $3.5 billion in savings for coupon-clippers.

Most advertising giants lost money in 2009, but French firms Publicis Groupe and Havas lost the smallest percentage of their revenue compared to their peers. In today's advertising environment, that counts as a victory.

They're distracting to drivers -- maybe. They're "television on a stick" -- to those who hate them. Digital billboards, banned in several cities and states, are getting scrutinized by the Federal Highway Administration, but their defenders say they're generating lots of money.