Re: CPA vs. CPM the issue?
JANET ATTARD <attard_at_businessknowhow.com> WROTE:
>I think all that any of us who are publishers are asking
>is that we are held ONLY to the same standards print
>publications are. It's our job to create and deliver
>audiences. That's what other media, do, too. But if they
>aren't held responsible for the number of people who read
>more than the ad headline, even SEE the ad headline
>(assuming they don't read every page in every pubication,
>or sit watch every commercial on every TV show), then
>why should we be treated any differently.
Like many of you, I've spent most every day of the
last 6 years building friendships with web site
owners so I'm sympathetic to this post on the
personal level.
On the business level I think we should understand
that there is a morality component to this
argument for CPM based pricing on the Web that
just isn't relevant.
Web publishers selling ad space are being
increasingly held to a more demanding standard
than offline publishers simply because there are
so many ad supported web sites. The balance of
supply and demand is not tilting their way at this
time. Like most business equations this scenario
has little to nothing to do with fairness and
similar moral concepts.
If we wish to insist that the marketplace should
be fair then we have to face inconvenient
questions like, "Is it fair that citizens of the
United States make up only about 5% of the world's
population but we use something like 25% of the
world's resources?"
CPM is not ever going to go away entirely because
there will always be buyers with more money than
time. I can certify from personal experience that
buying via CPA is not the easy or quick way to
deploy an ad campaign.
But so long as supply exceeds demand CPA priced
campaigns are going to continue to make up an ever
larger share of the market. Publishers who aren't
emotionally or otherwise ready for this change
will increasingly find themselves competing with
all the rest of the CPM only holdouts for a
shrinking percentage of an already down market.
As in any period of change there is great
opportunity here. Publishers need tools that can
help them efficiently analyze their options in the
growth sector of the ad market, CPA campaigns.
Someone is going to make their fortune providing
these tools.
Perhaps some of us who are tired of selling ads in
a flooded market can find our salvation in that
opportuntity?
Sincerely,
Phil
Phil Tanny, phil_at_philtanny.com
http://subscription-service.com
Received on Wed Jul 11 2001 - 11:24:50 CDT
