Here are highlights of recent quarterly earnings reports from selected Internet, media and advertising companies and what they say about the state of spending on advertising:
Oct. 14: Google Inc. says its average cost per click rose 3 percent from a year ago, meaning companies paid more to place ads. People clicked on ads 16 percent more than they did in the same period last year. Executives also indicate that display advertising accounted for nearly 10 percent of ad revenue in the quarter, and mobile advertising was almost 4 percent. Those figures helped justify two of Google’s biggest acquisitions — of DoubleClick Inc. and AdMob.
Oct. 15: Gannett Co. reports a 37 percent rise in third-quarter earnings on Friday, helped by a jump in broadcasting revenue. A recovering auto industry and political campaigns heading into midterm elections poured money into Gannett’s 23 television stations. That, plus an increase in advertising on the company’s websites, helped the biggest U.S. newspaper publisher halt declining revenue for the first time since 2006.
Oct. 19: The New York Times Co. and McClatchy Co. both report that print advertising fell compared with a year ago, when ad sales had already taken a big plunge from 2008 levels. And neither company was able to draw enough new business from its digital operations to make up for the losses in print.
Yahoo Inc. says search advertising revenue fell 7 percent from last year to $331 million. But Yahoo generated slightly more revenue from each search in the third quarter, the first time that has happened in two years. The company fared much better in its stronghold, the “display” advertising category that covers banner and full-screen ads, sometimes featuring video. Revenue in this segment climbed 17 percent to $465 million.
Oct. 27: IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Internet company run by billionaire Barry Diller, says its third-quarter revenue jumped 25 percent because of growth in its search business, which makes the majority of its revenue from online advertising. The results further show that the online advertising market is continuing to bounce back from a slump that hurt IAC throughout most of last year.
Comcast Corp. says its programming unit, which includes the E! cable TV channel, saw revenue grow 8.7 percent during the third quarter because of strong advertising sales at its channels and strong viewership at E!.
Oct. 28: Microsoft Corp says its online revenue, which comes primarily from search advertising, edged up 8 percent to $527 million. That segment widened its operating loss in the quarter to $560 million, however, as the company continued to spend money on chasing Google Inc., the No. 1 search provider.
Wednesday: Time Warner Inc. says advertising revenue grew 9 percent, driven by growth in its networks and magazine units. Providing more evidence that the advertising freeze has begun to thaw, the company again raised its adjusted earnings outlook for 2010.
AOL Inc. says advertising revenue dropped 27 percent. AOL attributed much of the drop to reductions in its European operations, the sale of social network Bebo in the second quarter and overall declines in search and display ad revenue. The company has been trying to shed unprofitable businesses even if they contribute to higher revenue.
News Corp. reports growth in advertising revenue throughout the company. Ad revenue at domestic cable channels including Fox News Channel grew 16 percent because of higher prices and more ads bought. Ad revenue at international cable channels grew 27 percent because of better ad markets and viewership. Ad revenue grew 22 percent at Fox television stations and 13 percent at News Corp.’s newspapers, which include The Wall Street Journal.
Thursday: CBS Corp. produced more evidence of an advertising revival in the broadcast media in reporting a 53 percent increase in its third-quarter net income. The results mark the third consecutive quarter of financial improvement at CBS, which owns the most watched TV network in the U.S.
Among earnings reports coming up: Friday: Washington Post Co.; Nov. 11: Viacom Inc., Walt Disney Co.
(source: Associated Press)
