Ad data from PubMatic

Metrics: Trouble in Online Adland


PubMatic, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup focused on online advertising, just released its PubMatic AdPrice Index based on data from over 3,000 publishers and billions of ad impressions. The findings of this month’s report: The U.S. economic slowdown is beginning to impact online advertising in a big way, with overall monetization dropping by 23 percent — 38 cents eCPM in March vs. 49 cents eCPM in March. Not a big surprise since housing related advertising was big on the web. Even electronics retailers are feeling the pinch and cutting back.

* eCPMs for large web sites (more than 100 million page views per month) dropped dramatically by 52 percent from 38 cents in March to 18 cents in April 2008.
* Medium web sites (1 million to 100 million page views per month) were nearly flat, with monetization dropping from 34 cents in March to 33 cents in April.
* Small web sites managed to improve their monetization, increasing from $1.17 in March to $1.29 in April.

The overall trends you pick up from the report are not that surprising. For instance, the improved monetization of small web sites is because they have more focused content, which presents more targeted advertising opportunity. Again, no surprise that Social Networking led the plunge, with monetization dropping 47 percent to 19 cents in April from 37 cents in March, below January lows of 22 cents. Too much damn inventory. You can get the full report here:

The PubMatic AdPrice Index is a broad-based measure of ad network pricing information. It is based on anonymous data from over 3,000 publishers who work with PubMatic for ad network and layout optimization services.

PubMatic AdPrice Index

The PubMatic AdPrice Index revealed surprising weakness in monetization for the vast majority of Web sites. Large Web sites fared the worst while Small Web sites managed to maintain their monetization rates. eCPMs for large Web sites (more than 100 million page views per month) dropped dramatically by 52 percent from 38 cents in March to 18 cents April. Medium Web sites (1 million to 100 million page views per month) were nearly flat, with monetization dropping from 34 cents in March to 33 cents in April. Small Web sites managed to improve their monetization, increasing from $1.18 in March to $1.29 in April.
Segment Definitions

* Small Web site segment: Less than 1 million page views per month.
* Medium Web site segment: Between 1 million and 100 million page views per month.
* Large Web site segment: Over 100 million page views per month.
* Aggregate Index: Data for All Web sites is computed using a weighting of 65% large Web sites, 20% Medium Web sites, and 15% Small Web sites based on an estimate of overall traffic in the online publishing market.
* Note: The pricing data reflects net publisher monetization via ad networks and excludes ad networks' share of ad spends as well as inventory sold directly by publishers to ad agencies or advertisers.

Key Findings

* On average, Web site monetization dropped by 23 percent from 49 cents in March to 38 cents in April.
* Among the verticals, Social Networking led the plunge with monetization dropping 47 percent, from 37 cents in March to 19 cents in April, below January lows of 22 cents. Entertainment monetization dropped 17 percent from 40 cents in March to 33 cents in April. Gaming and Sports were down marginally (4 percent and 5 percent, respectively). Technology remained relatively flat at 83 cents in April vs. 82 cents in March, but is still off January highs of 92 cents.

Additional Findings

* eCPMs dropped significantly in most categories and verticals. However, Small Web sites, consistent with earlier findings, continued to outperform medium and large Web sites.
* In April 2008, 77 percent of Small Web sites garnered net publisher eCPMs from ad networks of under $1.00, compared with 95 percent of Medium Web sites and 100 percent of large web sites.
* Across all Web sites, the range of eCPMs was $0.002 to $18.45.

Methodology

The PubMatic AdPrice Index is a broad-based measure of ad network pricing information based on anonymous data from over 3,000 publishers who work with PubMatic for ad network and ad layout optimization services. Approximately 85% of these publishers are based in the US.


* The pricing data reflects the pricing of text and banner inventory sold to ad networks only, and does not include inventory sold directly to advertisers.
* The pricing data reflects net publisher monetization, not gross advertising spend or the money paid by the advertiser to an ad network.

The PubMatic AdPrice Index is prepared by leading independent statisticians and industry experts:

* Albert Madansky, Ph.D. is the H.G.B. Alexander Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and was the recipient of the 2005 American Statistical Association Founders Award.
* Michele Madansky, Ph.D. is a media and market research consultant and former VP of Global Market Research for Yahoo!