Concurring with points made by our CEO during a lunchtime keynote, Forbes.com SVP Bill Mills told an Internet and Media panel at the Gridley conference yesterday that while Forbes.com pageviews continue to go "through the roof," ad spending going down 10% "would probably be a good year."
Update: A Forbes spokesperson wants us to say Bill wasn't speaking for the company and that we should consider his projection one for the industry, not Forbes.com specifically.
This spokesperson tells us: "Forbes.com is expecting positive growth in 09 over 08 with regards to advertising revenue. Early indications are supportive of that budgeting process."
Either way, numbers from ad revenue optimization company PubMatic echo the dire prognostication, reporting that between Q407 and Q408, the average CPM in Business and Finance vertical ad networks fell from $2.13 to $.83 -- a 61% crash. Premium CPMs are holding up better, but not that much better.
Forbes.com and its print counterpart, Forbes magazine, finally merged operations earlier this month, laying off staff in the process.
See Also:
Let's Be Serious: Display Spending Will Fall Sharply In 2009
