The Fall From Grace of the Premiere Homepage Placements

January 29, 2009 – 10:29 pm | by Kevin Skobac
Picture from Chris Brogan

Picture from Chris Brogan

Recently I’ve been noticing remnant inventory being displayed on the Yahoo.com homepage.  Maybe this doesn’t surprise some people, but Media Planners know that the Yahoo! Homepage was once the most heralded display placement on the web.  It upwards of $1 Million to roadblock (own all of the inventory) for the day, and only major brands could play there.  So when I noticed ads like “check your credit score” showing up on the homepage, I was noticeably caught off guard.

Ironically a similar thought was crossing Chris Brogan’s mind when he saw a similar ad on the homepage of NYTimes.com. A conversation broke out on his blog about the merits and demerits of major brands such as Yahoo! and NYTimes filling premiere brand spots with remnant inventory that must give them only a fraction of effective CPM.

On one hand, the sites need the money.  If  Yahoo! has overrun of impressions or NYTimes doesn’t sell a day-takeover, then they are almost obligated to find a way to monetize it.   On the other hand, what does it say to a perspective advertiser when the properties try to command high CPM’s and the first thing I see when I visit the site is a junky credit-score banner.  It makes me think Yahoo!’s homepage doesn’t deserve a crown title anymore, and I called immediately to try to negotiate with my rep over buying homepage ads on the cheap but at a higher price than the filler ads must be paying.

The NYTimes to me is even more embarrassing.  Yahoo’s homepage is busy and filled with syndicated content.  NYTimes is a major brand that has significant cache just from the thought of the front page of the NYTimes (online or off).  It’s almost a slap in the face to the news content and the NYTimes empire to see this type of ad on the homepage.  My gut is that if they continue to do it, they’re going to lose a fair amount of credibility and will no longer be able to charge the rates they do for their homepage.  In the long run it’ll do more harm than the incremental change they’re bringing in today.

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  • Mike Bohn
    In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges large sites like the NYTimes or Yahoo! face is the balance between premium inventory and network/exchange monetization. As network technology/targeting grows, that balance will be even more crucial.

    In a perfect world, when exchanges have matured and there's enough demand, CPM's for bidded inventory could approach if not pass the arbitrary CPM's that most publishers set for the premium inventory.

    Until that time though, the variance is pretty big across the board I imagine, but in this scrappy market, every dollar counts. short and long term goals don't always mesh.
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