Week of April 13, 2009

Facebook Creates More Traffic Than Google

Friday, April 17, 2009

According to web analytics firm, Hitwise, Facebook now sends more traffic to some sites than Google does. In the US, Facebook has 1/3 as many unique visitors each month as Google, yet Facebook is referring more of its users to sites like PerezHilton.com, Dlisted, CafeMom, Evite, Tagged.com and Twitter. Facebook referred 3.3% of all visitors to video site in February of this year, versus 2% in fenruary of 2008.

Does this mean good news for Facebook or bad news for Google? This study is a clear indication of the growth (and commercial potential) for social media. Hwovere, sites like Facebook have so far not been able to monetize in proportion to what this power would suggest. On the other hand, it's also an indication that traditional search advertising will have to continue to undergo change in order to stay relevant.

Truway...Social Net on TV

Thursday, April 16, 2009

While cable ramps up its efforts to offer video online it is also surging ahead to make TV interactive like the Web. A new company called truway will be arriving in the upcoming months that will allow videophiles that own the best TV sets to do the same things on the TV that they can do on their computers, social networking, chatting, etc. Furthermore, the service is claims that it will provide interactivity for consumers.

The hope is to allow viewers to inquire about advertiser products and eventually purchase those products much like a consumer will buy a product online. But there's a big drawback...the stodgy old cable TV remote. Time Warner is working with Panasonic to solve this. They're planning a prototype iPhone like remote that allows for much easier interactivity with the TV set.

Magazines = Canaries in the Coalmine

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

First quarter results for this year show a massive drop in ads in magazines. Ad pages drooped by 21.5% in Q1 2009, compared with the same period in 2008. That's bad news since magazines' ad pages dropped 4.6% in Q1 '08, compared to Q1 2007. This means that magazine ad pages have dropped for 5 consecutive quarters.

According the Media Industry Newsletter, which carried out this survey, only 13 of 160 monthlies were up from '08 to '09. Newsweeklies were especially hard hit, as were automotive magazines. In fact, Automobile, Road & Track and Motor Trend were all down more than 30 percent. But all categories saw drops. Among the biggest losers were these:

* Time - 47.7%

* Newsweek - 37.6%

* BusinessWeek - 34.8%

* Forbes - 33.1%

* Fortune - 24.9%

* Playboy -22.1%

Some magazines have bucked the trends and have shown increases. Family and kids magazines seem to have fared better than most. Here are some of the luck ones:

* Guns & Ammo +7.4%

* Penthouse +12.3%

* Motorcylist + 9.4%

* Sport Truck + 3.3%

* Family Circle + 5.4 %

* National Geographic Kids +1.9%

New Facebook Ad Format?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Facebook has been testing a new form of contexted ads based on a user's friends. Some of these ads, that appear on the right side where other ads normally appear, are based on the events that a friend might attend or a product or service that the friends might have used or purchased. The ads are paid for by the relevant companies, but the content of these ad modules in generated based on content of a user's friend or friend of a friend.

Having been burned by previous moves regarding users' profiles and privacy concerns, Facebook will reserve judgment on officially implanting this new approach, pending user comments.

Details on '08 Internet Ad Spending

Monday, April 13, 2009

Last time mentioned that a new report from Price Waterhouse shows that Internet ad revenue was up for 2008 but that the pace of growth is dropping. Perhaps the real news is how the profile of Internet ad spending is changing:

* Digital video increased by 116%, climbing from $324 million in 2007 to $734 million in '08.

* Performance-based ads (pay for clicks, etc.) increased from 51% of all advertising in 2007 to 57% in 2008.

* CPM (cost per Thousand) advertising fell from 45% to 39%

* Ads that were paid for based on how frequently they were shown - called C.P.M.-based pricing, for cost-per-thousand - fell to 39 percent, from 45 percent

* Sponsorships dropped from 1% to 3%