SQAD’s 2012 WebCosts Display Composite Index Shows Major Portal CPMs Reach Seven-Quarter High

Finance and News Categories Performed Well as Automotive and Family & Lifestyle Categories Showed Slight Decreases

TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--()--SQAD, the largest independent source in the US for TV, radio and digital cost analysis, today announced the results of its 2012 WebCosts Display CPM Review. The full review, which is provided to WebCosts subscribers, found that the 2012 Composite Group Index Average CPM year-after-year average showed a slight increase in 2012 over 2011, up fourteen cents to $11.76, representing a 1% increase. The Three Portal Index (comprised of AOL Media Network, MSN/Windows Live/Bing and Yahoo!) reached a seven-quarter high after a surge in CPM rates in the fourth quarter.

The two categories that averaged the highest gains for display advertising CPMs were the Financial and News & Information categories. Conversely, CPMs for websites in the Automotive and Family & Lifestyle category experienced more declines than gains in the Composite Group 2012 Index.

“The Financial category was clearly the Composite Group standout of 2012. Many of these sites show that branded content continues to draw dollars. Additionally, many of the larger sites have become very sophisticated as it relates to inventory management and pricing strategies,” said Tom Adams, Director of WebCosts.

The purpose of the Composite Group Index is to report a Display CPM baseline by tracking CPMs for the same group of sites and ad networks that have consistently been reported in WebCosts. All reported WebCosts CPMs are built on the aggregation of negotiated rates, which are supplied confidentially to SQAD by a growing list of agencies and marketers. WebCosts reports CPMs on a monthly basis.

WebCosts has been tracking real CPMs every month since January 2010.

For more information or a preliminary copy of the WebCosts Composite CPM Index and WebCosts Leading 15 Index, contact tadams@sqad.com.

About SQAD

SQAD® is recognized as the industry standard media cost forecasting source for national TV (NetCosts™—network TV, cable and syndication), Spot TV, Hispanic Spot TV Plus, Spot Radio and the Internet (WebCosts®). SQAD provides reliable media data to advertising agencies, buying services, advertisers, television and radio stations, cable operators, program syndicators and Internet publishers. SQAD enjoys strong partnerships with market leaders in both data and analytics. Established in the 1970s, SQAD serves 1,500 clients and is privately held.

Contacts

Dukas Public Relations
Ben Jaffe, 646-808-3601
ben@dukaspr.com

Contacts

Dukas Public Relations
Ben Jaffe, 646-808-3601
ben@dukaspr.com