9 posts and columns on ad revenue

Twitter Says "Millions" of Ad Dollars Showing Up "In the Very, Very Near Term"

in Media on October 8, 2010 at 10:45 am PT

Twitter spent last spring and summer setting up its ad business. Now it’s about to get serious, says Dick Costolo. Here’s the game plan, explained in a nine-minute clip. If you’re serious about online advertising, you’ll want to watch.

Newspapers Still Falling, Just Not as Freely

in Media on September 7, 2010 at 11:15 am PT

A reminder that the ad recession isn’t over by any stretch, at least for some industries: The newspaper business saw ads drop 5.6 percent in Q2, an industry group says. Google’s Q2, by the way: Up 24 percent.

Newspapers’ Bad News Get Less Bad–But Not by Much

in Media on September 21, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Is the newspaper advertising slump about to end? Nope. But it’s continuing to get a little bit less awful. A survey of some of the remaining analysts covering the industry, as well as people who actually work in it, concludes that Q3 ad revenue will be down 25 percent. Awful by any standard except those of this year: Q1 was down 28.3 percent and Q2 was 29 percent.
inflating-balloon

Facebook’s Zuckerberg: $10 Billion Is a “Fair” Valuation

in Media on May 26, 2009 at 10:48 am PT

Looking for lots of specifics about the $200 million at $10 billion valuation deal that Facebook and Digital Sky Technologies just announced? Then you have come to the wrong conference call, my friend. But for what it’s worth, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did sound fairly upbeat and confident during his chat with reporters Tuesday morning–the way you’d expect someone who just cashed a check for a couple hundred million to sound. The big picture: Even though Facebook’s official valuation has slid from $15 billion (November 2007, when Microsoft invested) to $10 billion, Zuckerberg is OK with that, arguing that 1) that deal was done at the peak of the market, and 2) it was never really a financial deal, but a way for Microsoft to partner up with Facebook.

Washington Post’s Slide Makes The New York Times Look Better

in Media on May 1, 2009 at 6:13 am PT

For the last year or so, the Washington Post Co. has reported steadily declining results for its newspaper business–just like every other newspaper publisher in the country. But in previous quarters, it was at least able to argue that its slide wasn’t as bad as the one the New York Times was going through. It can’t say that anymore.
newsies

Will Time Inc. Have to Cut Again?

in Media on April 29, 2009 at 5:28 am PT

Time Warner’s AOL can spin positive news out of the miserable results it offered up today. But Ann Moore, who runs Time Warner’s Time Inc. publishing business, will have a tougher time selling that story to investors and Time Warner executives. Will she need to make a second round of cuts?
ann-moore

It’s Official: YouTube, Universal Music Launching New Video Site

in Media on April 9, 2009 at 12:26 pm PT

The world’s largest video site and the world’s biggest music company are joining up. Google’s YouTube and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group will be launching a new site, dubbed VEVO, which will highlight UMG’s videos. This is essentially what I’ve been calling “YouTube Music,” and it’s been in the works since last fall; in March I reported that the two sides had basically hammered out a deal. It’s a pretty big deal for YouTube, the music business, and the rest of the media world.
lil-wayne

Voices

Yahoo: Weisel Sees Catalysts, but Chops Numbers on Declining Display Ads

in News on December 22, 2008 at 1:19 pm PT

In a report today, while chopping estimates slightly for Yahoo, Thomas Weisel analyst Christa Quarles takes a look at “2009 Potential Catalysts” for Yahoo shares–revolving, of course, around the matter of a potential deal to sell Yahoo assets to Microsoft.

YouTube’s Music Videos: Popular, Money-Losing. For Now.

in Media on December 19, 2008 at 1:12 pm PT

Music videos on YouTube are money-makers for the music labels, and a money pit for Google. That may change next year: Even Google can’t afford to lose money every time someone watches an Avril Lavigne clip.