The average amount advertisers pay publishers to display their ads one thousand times -- CPMs -- dropped 11 percent from Q2 to Q3 across the 307 ad networks and 1,300 publishers that ad-optimizing firm The Rubicon Project calls clients.
Particularly hard hit: social networks (down 3% q/q), young adult (down 8% q/q), music and entertainment sites. News and reference sites actually saw a 36 percent increase.
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Also according to the Rubicon report, venture capital investment in ad networks dropped from $800 million in 2007's third quarter and $400 million in the second quarter to just $241 million in Q3.