While it has become more expensive to advertise on computing and software sites, most other categories have either maintained or lowered their cost per thousand (CPM) impressions, according to a survey by Boca Raton, FL-based WebConnect (www.webconnect.com).
The WebConnect survey reveals that prices for computing, download/shareware, and search engine sites have increased in the 12 months ending February 1999. Sites in the women, sports, news/information, and financial areas maintained their costs, while those in the travel, gaming, entertainment, children, and business executive categories fell slightly.
The fluctuations in CPM, both gains and losses, are less dramatic than those reported in the company’s November, 1998 report, partly due to the medium’s maturation.
Among the highest-priced sites in each category, most maintained their CPM from February 1998, while two-Ad Age and Discovery Online-dropped their priced by $5/M. For Ad Age, which had increased its price in 1998, this represented a pullback.
The biggest drops in price were seen among the gaming category, in which CPMs fell by 11%, while the biggest gains, at just under 4%, were experienced by search engine sites. The drop in gaming site prices is a continuation of an earlier trend, which is attributable to additional entries in this field.
WebConnect’s survey evaluates sites both regardless of traffic and with a weighting analysis that factors in traffic volume. Regardless of weight, the patterns of CPM gains and losses are similar in each category.
