Index Shows Niche Web Sites Outperform Larger Web Sites, Social Network Monetization Low But Growing
PALO ALTO, Calif. – April 7, 2008 – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), the world’s first service that automates and optimizes ad inventory decision-making for Web publishers, today launched the PubMatic AdPrice Index (www.adpriceindex.com), an industry-wide measure of online ad network pricing for publishers. The PubMatic AdPrice Index benchmarks effective cost per thousand impression (eCPM) data from more than 3,000 Web sites on a monthly basis in order to provide benchmark data for publishers and trending information.
Prepared by independent statisticians and industry experts Dr. Albert Madansky and Dr. Michele Madansky, the PubMatic AdPrice Index’s key findings include:
* On average, small niche Web sites (less than 1 million pages views per month) provided significantly stronger performance for advertisers than medium Web sites (1 million to 100 million page views per month) and large Web sites (over 100 million page views per month): eCPM averages for March 2008 are $1.18 for small Web sites, $0.34 for medium Web sites, and $0.38 for large Web sites. The large Web site segment includes a higher proportion of social networking, entertainment, and gaming sites than any other segment.
* Pricing data reflects net publisher monetization via ad networks and excludes ad networks’ share of ad spend as well as inventory sold directly by publishers to ad agencies or advertisers.
* In March 2008, 76% of small publishers garnered net publisher eCPMs from ad networks of under $1.00, compared to 95% of medium and large Web sites.
* eCPMs for social networking sites are among the lowest by vertical, though they have increased 69% from $0.22 in January to $0.37 in March. The low monetization rates on these high volume sites are consistent with recent quarterly earnings statements from Google and News Corp.
“What we’re seeing is that advertisers are relying on the targeted, niche audiences that smaller Web sites represent, leading to a significant variance in net publisher eCPMs from ad networks depending on Web site size,” said Greg Stuart, former CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and member of PubMatic’s advisory board. “The traditional industry thinking is that larger Web sites perform better than smaller Web sites because of improved efficiency, reach, and brand power, but that’s simply not the case.”
The data released today is the first in a series of monthly releases of the PubMatic AdPrice Index. Showing for the first time ever net publisher monetization on inventory sold to ad networks, the PubMatic AdPrice Index provides transparency for the ad industry so that publishers, ad networks and advertisers can keep up with changes in traffic monetization and better plan for the future of their businesses.
For the complete April 2008 edition of the PubMatic AdPrice Index, please visit (www.adpriceindex.com).
About the PubMatic AdPrice Index / Methodology
* The PubMatic AdPrice Index represents 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.
* The PubMatic AdPrice Index is comprised of over 3,000 Web sites, approximately 85% of which are based in the US. 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!
About PubMatic
PubMatic is the world’s first service that increases Web publishers’ revenue by automating and optimizing ad serving decisions. PubMatic significantly increases ad sales revenue for more than 3,000 publishers by optimizing ad serving decisions across hundreds of ad networks and by using sophisticated algorithms to optimize the layout of text and display ads. PubMatic is a service of advertising company Komli and is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at www.pubmatic.com.
