The Decline of Google's (and Everybody's) Ad Business 313
Hugh Pickens writes "Rebecca Greenfield writes that during their recent earnings call, Google reported a 16 percent decline in Cost-per-Click (CPC), meaning the value of each advertisement clicked has gone down. This follows a 12 percent drop last quarter and 8 percent the quarter before that showing an unfortunate reality of online advertising — unlike the print world, internet ads lose value over time. The daily and stubborn reality for everybody building businesses on the strength of Web advertising is that the value of digital ads decreases every quarter, a consequence of their simultaneous ineffectiveness and efficiency, writes Michael Wolff. 'The nature of people's behavior on the Web and of how they interact with advertising, as well as the character of those ads themselves and their inability to command attention, has meant a marked decline in advertising's impact.' This isn't just Google's problem. Overall, Internet advertising has decreased in value over the years as online advertising continues its race to the bottom. 'I don't know anyone in the ad-supported Web business who isn't engaged in a relentless, demoralizing, no-exit operation to realign costs with falling per-user revenues,' adds Wolff, 'or who isn't manically inflating traffic to compensate for ever-lower per-user value.' For Google's overall business, this loss doesn't mean as much, since it has since expanded its business beyond AdWords — including its recent acquisition of Motorola. For companies that didn't just buy big hardware companies however, it's a scarier proposition. Like Facebook, for example."
nobody ain't got no money anymore (Score:4, Funny)
Yay! They've finally clogged the pump of consumerism!
Re:BEHOLD! (Score:5, Funny)
Adblock is great until all of the sites you enjoy for free all go under because their ad revenue couldn't sustain the site. I don't use Adblock.....I just don't visit sites who are too aggressive with ads (i.e. pop-ups) or consistently have ads that I disagree with.
I fucking hate advertisement, and I don't have money to buy what the advertisements advertise, anyway, so even if I loved it, it wouldn't make any difference. I find advertisement profoundly annoying. So I use Adblock.
As a devote believer in the free market, I'm only concerned about my own selfish interest of not seeing any ads when I surf the Web. And if everybody is as selfish as me, everything will be fine. Oh, wait...
So, you're saying a free market is not the ultimate and final solution for something? Oh, why, but why do you hate freedom? Why do you hate America?
Re:Thank god (Score:4, Funny)
The quality of the subtracts aren't all that great either.