Does Increasing Display Ad CPM Indicate an Economic Recovery?
Although the economic downtownturn did cause some cutbacks on Internet Marketing ad spend, a new report by Adify revealed that CPM for various display advertising verticals 
increased overall in 2009.
Adify’s Vertical Guage (AVG) measures quarter to quarter online CPM data for 13 Internet Marketing vertical categories on their platform. The platform includes 200 ad networks and 12,000 sites and blogs.
Analyzing internet marketing verticals is not just handy for seeing where your CPM costs may rise, but they also reflect the current economic status of many business sectors.
Some detailed findings include:
Real Estate CPMs grew 100% between Q4 2008 and Q2 2009 and are aligned
to housing starts. Across all verticals tracked by Adify, real estate($6.49 in Q2 2009)
has shown the most noteworthy CPM growth, up 100% over
Q4 2008.Sports and entertainment CPMs are up nearly 20%. The sports vertical
($7.09) dipped slightly in Q1 2009, but is up 18 percent in Q2, thanks to
college hoops, pro-basketball championships, and the baseball season.
Entertainment has grown steadily (up 19%) since October 2008, in keeping
with the trend that the entertainment industry tends to fare well during
recessions.News recovers. In Q2, news-oriented content commanded CPMs with a
median value over $10; that represents 20% growth over Q4 2008, but a
decrease since Q1 2009’s Presidential inauguration and the temporary news
audience growth that went with it.Travel, technology, automotive, and health held onto the highest
absolute CPMs, despite fluctuations. These traditional CPM leaders are
continuing to command the highest rates among premium vertical ad networks.
Technology ($16.01) experienced a significant decrease in Q1 and has since
begun to rebound. Both automotive ($15.33) and travel ($19.89) have grown
over Q4 2008 with some contraction since Q1 2009.Moms/parents and beauty/fashion verticals are down slightly. This fits
expectations because these verticals have cyclical advertising seasons. Q4
2008 was strong due to committed campaigns and traditional holiday
advertising. Adify expects these verticals to experience CPM growth in late
Q3 2009 and throughout Q4 2009
Hopefully these verticals will continue to improve as we move into 2010.
