Q1 2010 Online Advertising Market Report from the Rubicon Project Finds 25% YOY Growth In Online Ad Spending

Malvertising Attacks Continue to Rise, Threatening Brand Safety and Loss of Revenue for Publishers and Safe Internet Consumption for Consumers

LOS ANGELES – the Rubicon Project, the digital advertising technology company, reveals exclusive insight into emerging industry trends and market shifts that occurred in the first quarter of 2010, along with insights into what’s next for the digital ad landscape, in the ninth installment of its Online Advertising Market Report series.

Included within the report is the latest update on the Rubicon 20 Index, a measure of performance across a number of factors (including CPM, revenue and traffic volume) on a roster of twenty of the Web’s most heavily-trafficked properties. CPMs across the Rubicon 20 Index have risen by an average of 25 percent vs. Q1 2009; in addition, the highs on the index in the latter part of the first quarter of the year outperformed nearly all of 2009.

“Everything we saw in the beginning of the year indicates that 2010 is going to be strong for revenue growth and continued, rapid innovation in the digital advertising industry. Our index showed that March spending on average was 38 percent stronger than January 2010,” said Craig Roah, COO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “It’s no longer about proving the value of display market, it’s now about making it efficient and safe for publishers to transact with all demand channels available in order to monetize their inventory. With that goal in mind, we will continue to build and provide the digital ecosystem with technology that accelerates revenue for the publisher.”

Additional key forecasts and trends addressed in this report include:

Google’s relaunch of DART for Publishers (DFP), the forced integration of AdExchange and DFP for publishers, and the impact of the release in the marketplace;
Audience targeting, an opportunity for publishers to regain relevance with advertisers as publishers find targeting an effective way to drive recurring revenue from repeat business from advertisers;
The need for publisher-facing technology that addresses all the risks of real-time bidding (RTB) to publishers, as RTB continues to drive a shift in current digital ad spending;
A rise in interest for self-service display advertising for publishers, specifically as the local market ripens;
Increasing security risks via malware or “malvertising” driving the need for automation and technology innovation that assures publishers, consumers and advertisers protection against attacks and direct loss of revenue;
The Congressional privacy bill, issued by Rep Rick Boucher, expected to continue industry debate on expected requirements from advertisers and publishers.
Also included in this report is market insight from industry leaders including Jay Sears, GM of ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ; Andy McLennan, Inventory Analytics Manager at Time Inc.; Mark Rose, VP of Interactive Sales for MediaNews Group; Patrick Mersinger, Sr. Interactive Director of Creative Loafing; Andy Fisher, EVP of Global Data & Analytics Director at Starcom MediaVest; Anthony Katsur, GM of MediaMath and Zach Weinberg, Founder and President of Invite Media.

To access the full Q1 2010 Online Advertising Market Report, as well as past published reports for free, visit: http://www.rubiconproject.com/market-intelligence.

About the Rubicon Project

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 with a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. The company’s digital advertising technology & data platform, REVV for Publishers™, is engineered to accelerate revenue for premium publishers. Backed by $42 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures and GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund, the Rubicon Project serves premium publishers like NBC Universal, Gannett and CareerBuilder; optimizing more than 45 billion ads each month and reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users. the Rubicon Project also helps ad sales channels around the world gain access to precise audience-segmented inventory, at broad scale.