August 21st, 2006
Web 2.0 advertising: Google vs. MSN vs. Federated Media
Robert Scoble has had some fun “auditing” Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces. In “Is Microsoft really the largest blog vendor?” Scoble challenges Microsoft’s assertions:
Microsofties take it on face value that they host the most blogs. They even love shoving it in your face… So, over the next few hours I’m gonna do some analysis and see if I can find out how much overcounting there’s going on.
In “The Elephant in the kitchen” Scoble discusses the results of his "audit":
What does Microsoft do when it says ‘we have the most blogs?’ Or, when it says really ANYTHING about its Internet services?
It takes them to advertisers and says ‘pony up, we know you paid MySpace ‘XXX’ and we have the most now, so we want ‘XXX+y’.” See, the little game we’re all playing in this Web 2.0 world is advertising.
The other little dirty secret of advertising? Not all readers are the same.
Scoble may have pulled off the covers of Windows Live Spaces metrics, but, at the same time, puts forth advertising metrics related assertions about Google, MSN, Federated Media…that may need to be “audited” as well.
Also in “The Elephant in the Kitchen”:
Google is charging more per click than MSN is (Google has more influential users)…
Federated Media is closing advertising deals left and right.
Backup would be welcome supporting the various assertions on relative advertising rates, advertiser usage, audience profiles…for Google, MSN, Federated Media.
Below is some publicly available data of interest on the companies cited.
MSN Advertising says MSN Tech & Gadgets (MSN and partner content) is “the place to reach technology users”:
Demographics
Gender: 70% male, 30% female
Age: 69% are 25-54
Income: 61% have household income $50K+, 41% have household income $75K+
Education: 50% college graduates or higher
Occupation: 42% are professional/managerial
Federated Media says its sites “cater to cultural influencers, technology decision makers, early adopters…”:
Demographics
Gender: 79% male
Average Age: 32.7
Income: Average household income range $50,000-$74,999
Occupation: 50% management, 20% Director or above
In “The Mojito Show” Scoble cites Google CPM metrics provided by Jeremy Wright, b5mMedia:
Google Adsense advertising doesn’t pay bloggers as well as other advertising networks do. He says that most of the time Google only pays about $.50 per CPM (thousand page views). He says that B5 network is getting paid somewhere between $10 and $15 per CPM on most blogs.
Of note, b5media blogs carry “Ads by Goooooogle.”
“Federated Media is closing advertising deals left and right,” may be related to the new client promo the network is featuring. Federated Media touts:
Deal Of The Week
Special discount for first time sponsors! Email us for more info.
