Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Case study: My (weak) ad sales vs. last quarter's

Gannett Blog's quarterly ad revenue has plunged 65%, to $442, from last year's fourth quarter -- my first, publishing Google text ads in the rails, on your right. Reader donations, meanwhile, are down just 31%. Until now, I blamed slower traffic for the ad revenue dive. But we've recorded 846,000 page views so far this quarter, just 4% fewer than in the previous one. Have ad rates really fallen this low?

7 comments:

  1. Just tells me that there may not be any relationship between page views and ad money. Do you suppose Gannett has thought about that?

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  2. There is no relationship between this blog and credibility.

    Let the rumors fly!

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  3. You need to account for a diminishing reader base as Gannett losses employees.

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  4. Given the steep decline in revenue, maybe it's time for a management shakeup? ;-)

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. No silly - just threaten your sales reps with termination. That always improves ad sales!

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  7. You need to have each person pay a $1 or less each time they log onto your site. That is what Gannett is doing with their contests. Take a page out of their book. If you get money in small increments it is not overwhelming and people will do it.

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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