New Solbright Digital Media Index Finds 2010 Revenue and Impressions Rising Strongly from 2009
NEW YORK – The premium display advertising market will continue to grow revenues in 2010 and rebound from the 2009 downturn, according to initial findings from the Solbright Digital Media Index™ (DMI), the industry’s first reliable assessment of digital ad trends based on actual transactions. Solbright launched the DMI in response to the industry’s need for reliable data to help companies track, measure and compare pricing and spending trends for premium display advertising. If the strength of this market continues on its current pace through the end of 2010, the year will prove to be the most successful ever for premium inventory providers.
The inaugural data from Solbright’s DMI reveal that revenue and impressions are up strongly year over year, a trend likely to continue throughout 2010. Specific findings include:
– Cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM) revenues in the first half of 2010 rose almost 9 percent from the same period in 2009, while pricing, after experiencing a recent decline, has stabilized.
– Spending by advertisers across most vertical industries in Q2 2010 has increased strongly from the same quarter in 2009.
– Sites in the Entertainment, Travel and Sports markets have seen sharp increases in Q2 2010 revenue compared to Q1 2010.
The premium digital ad segment accounts for 80 percent of display ad revenues overall (an estimated $23 billion in 2009), but there have been no sources of reliable data to measure pricing and spending trends in the broader market. Leveraging Solbright’s vast store of data available via its relationships with the premier digital publishers in the market, Solbright’s DMI will provide premium publishers and other industry stakeholders with a quarterly resource from which to derive actionable insights and make critical business decisions.
“Solbright’s Digital Media Index came at the perfect time for us,” said Bernard Rook, SVP, Digital Media and IT at Here Media. “It has become increasingly difficult to locate accurate and reliable information on pricing and revenue trends among premium publishers in the digital space. Understanding how our business compares to other premium publishers and industry trends for display advertising, and especially video and mobile rates, enables us to better position our products and drive growth. The Digital Media Index is giving us the reliable insight we need.”
With Solbright’s DMI, premium publishers and the market makers who watch them can:
Have access to industry-wide pricing and revenue trends for digital media;
Be more competitive with digital media pricing and best practices;
Identify the strengths of growth areas like video and mobile advertising;
See how quickly the market is growing and what segments are leading or lagging; and
Spot up-and-coming companies finding new revenue opportunities through digital advertising.
“Our clients rely on Internet Broadcasting to provide them with the information and analysis to help them run their digital businesses,” said Reed Varner, VP of Sales Operations, Internet Broadcasting. “Among the challenges we face is understanding where their information fits in the display advertising landscape. With Solbright’s Digital Media Index, we have access to pricing and performance data for premium publishers like ours. The Digital Media Index helps Internet Broadcasting stay ahead with insights that lead to more revenue for our clients.”
“Because of our leadership position in the digital ad operations space, our clients represent the top publishers in the industry,” said Thomas Pace, President and CEO, Solbright. “This means we have access to the largest amount of premium digital ad transaction data available for this purpose anywhere and, with the DMI, we’re proud to be making this data available to our clients and the industry as a whole. It’s our hope that companies will use our benchmark to make decisions that will fuel the growth of the market for years to come.”
The full findings from the DMI will be provided to Solbright’s clients on a quarterly basis. Each quarter, a downloadable report highlighting noteworthy DMI findings will be made available to the public at http://www.solbright.com/dmireport.php.
About Solbright
Solbright delivers solutions that drive the business of digital advertising. The company provides the tools to help more than 3,000 leading Web sites manage the entire spectrum of their online advertising operations, from proposals and insertion orders to real-time inventory management, ad trafficking, billing and reporting. Solbright delivers a simplified – not simplistic – solution to their most daunting business challenges, enabling them to take control of their digital advertising revenue and build a proven, results-oriented plan for the future. More information is available at www.solbright.com.
