PubMatic Launches CPM Ad Pricing Index

Ad optimization firm PubMatic (our coverage) has launched a new tool called the AdPrice Index today. What they have created is a good start and, as an analytics nut, I look forward to the expansion of the program to allow for more criteria to be added including type of site, type of ad, day parts, etc. The actual index is prepared independently by two PhDs.

The data comes from the 3,000+ PubMatic members and reflects only ads sold from ad networks not private sales. I will assume the math makes this index statistically relevant. The amounts in the index reflect net publisher amounts.

The initial AdPrice Index findings include:

• On average, small niche Web sites (less than 1 million pages views per month) provided significantly stronger performance for advertisers than medium Web sites (1 million to 100 million page views per month) and large Web sites (over 100 million page views per month): eCPM averages for March 2008 are $1.18 for small Web sites, $0.34 for medium Web sites, and $0.38 for large Web sites. The large Web site segment includes a higher proportion of social networking, entertainment, and gaming sites than any other segment.
• eCPMs for social networking sites are among the lowest by vertical, though they have increased 69% from $0.22 in January to $0.37 in March
• In March, 76% of small Web sites saw eCPMs under $1.00, compared to 96% of medium Web sites and 94% of large Web sites
• eCPMs for technology and gaming sites are higher on average than other categories: $0.82 and $0.69 for March respectively
• Technology eCPMs have declined by 12% from January '08 ($0.92 eCPM) to March 2008 ($0.82 eCPM)

Perhaps other advertising optimization firms like Rubicon (our coverage) and YieldBuild (our coverage) can create additional indexes to provide additional industry insight.