DARREN LAWRIE <djlawrie_at_bandwidthplace.com> WROTE:
> As our page views grow I am looking for some way to
> assess what a reasonable CPM would be
Unfortunately the best answer to this question is "what
the traffic will bear"
Frankly the market for page views is slipping to an all
time low.
In the past I have sold banners at $25/CPM but for very
limited campaigns. No matter how targeted your
demographic, you will find limited demand for the space
on your site. The rate cards you will find on the web
are essentially "wouldn't it be nice wish lists."
You will also get a lot of advice as to what you should
charge and should get. In this regard a word of
caution - just because you read something from one of
the writers you really respect in places like
eMarketer, consider their sources of information - the
trade! Obfuscation, perhaps from embarrassment or
perhaps from wanting to protect a competitive position
has resulted in rather poor reporting of the real
achieved rates for advertising on the Internet.
An exercise I commend to you is check Yahoo's Q4
financials when they are reported sometime late January
or early February. At the time if you make a careful
search of the literature you will also Yahoo's monthly
impression rate reported. (It appears that public
companies make it difficult for you to find the
information but search around and you will be
successful) Do the math and you will discover that
Yahoo makes well under five dollars a thousand.
One final point: the following is a report from an
interview with DoubleClick's president when he
published the Q3 results this year: DoubleClick's
executives conceded that the sector was facing a tough
climate and the lack of visibility in its media
business resulted in caution going forward.
The company said its total number of advertisers fell
10 percent to 4,927 from the second quarter and its
exposure to "financially-questionable" companies was
less than one percent. Ad rates, or CPMs (costs per
thousand) fell about 20 percent to just under $3,
affected by the seasonality of the quarter and the
cyclical slowdown in the sector, Ryan said.
Mr. Ryan's words speak for themselves. What I would do
in your position would be either to turn my inventory
over to a network that deals in discounted space -
these firms will pay you on average $1.50 -$2 a
thousand - or if you feel you have some quality
contacts sell space at whatever price you can get. I
am assuming that your main revenue stream is selling
bandwidth so advertising is something of a sideline. I
mentioned above that I once sold as high as $25/CPM - I
honestly don't think we will see those days again.
There is at least one good site that will offer to sell
all you can turn over to it.
I hope this has helped somewhat
Best regards,
Iain Wyder
Pilgrim's Estate Consultants
Virtual Community Technology Solutions
38-3459 River Road West
Delta, BC CANADA V4K 4Y9
Direct Voice 604 946 9292 Fax 604 940 9293
email wyder_at_pilgrimsestate.com
Received on Mon Dec 11 2000 - 14:12:15 CST
