Revenue Trending Up for Remainder of 2009
LOS ANGELES – the Rubicon Project, the Internet advertising infrastructure company, reveals exclusive insight into emerging industry trends and market shifts for 2009 in the fifth installment of its Online Advertising Market Report series. Among the findings, culled from the 40 billion monthly ad transactions that run across more than 20,000 premium websites powered by the Rubicon Project’s infrastructure, is the emergence of a new class of inventory – secondary premium – with the potential to add $15 billion in incremental revenue worldwide to Web publishers’ bottom lines, and the key role of sales channel management for premium publishers who aim to capture that revenue.
“The innovation and growth we’ve witnessed in the past two years has been dramatic, but our industry is just starting to make its biggest shift yet. Today’s tough environment is driving that change, as some of the Web’s largest publishers begin to realize that without strong channel management, they’re losing out on millions,” said Frank Addante, CEO and Founder. “As we demonstrate in this Market Report, publishers who are succeeding – like Time Inc. Digital, for example, which brought in $245 million in digital ad revenue last year — have well-evolved channel management strategies.”
From its independent operating position between premium Website publishers and sources of demand like ad networks, the Rubicon Project offers a unique perspective on the changing Internet advertising landscape.
Key forecasts and trends in the report include:
* Expected seasonal pressures (post-holiday budget adjustments typically lead to 20-30% rate dips at the beginning of the calendar year) drove CPM rates down, but revenue across the marketplace continues to outperform with quarter over quarter growth of 150%.
* Advertisers demonstrating increased confidence in ad networks as a channel to increasingly reach consumers, with an influx of dollars starting to enter the pipeline;
* Secondary premium (sometimes referred to as non-guaranteed or preemptible) display advertising, sold at CPM rates in the $2 to $10 range, emerging as a largely untapped $15 billion opportunity, per investment bank and research firm ThinkEquity, which also predicts that on a percentage basis, secondary premium inventory will prove to be the highest-growth category in online media;
* The move to audience-based buys as networks and premium publishers invest in technology that captures, classifies and packages their audiences for advertisers;
* Sophisticated publishers generating additional revenue by tapping into fellow publishers’ inventory (also known as audience extension) to sell based on audience or intent;
To access the full Q1 Online Advertising Market Report, as well as past published reports for free, visit: http://www.rubiconproject.com/market-report.
About the Rubicon Project
Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 and set on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. Responding to one of the largest problems plaguing website publishers today – monetizing ad space that goes unsold (as much as 70 – 80 percent) across a fast-growing number of global ad networks – the Rubicon Project pioneered the category of Ad Network Optimization (ANO). Backed by $33 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, and IDG Ventures, the Rubicon Project developed its patent-pending Smart Matching™ technology, which uses billions of pieces of proprietary market data to match each publisher ad impression to the best money-making opportunities from ad networks.
The company serves more than 1500 premium customers (publishers like Gannett, CareerBuilder, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and YellowPages.com) by optimizing more than 40 billion ads each month across hundreds of demand sources. Reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users, the Rubicon Project is one of the largest sources of ad inventory and reach on the Internet and the preferred source of targeted, audience-segmented inventory for ad networks and other resellers, many exclusive, around the world. The unique combination of demand optimization and SmartMatch™ technology drives revenue lift ranging from 30-300% for the Rubicon Project’s customers.
