Political Advertising Drying Up
Posted on February 19, 2009
Back when the election season first started I joined MSNBC Politics advertising network. They promised fifty five cents per one thousand impressions and they delivered. As soon as the election was over they quit advertising on my site without explanation. I finally contacted them and they gave a poor explanation that their company was going in a different direction now that the political season was over. I also joined the Buzzlogic advertising network in their beta period. They promised two dollars per one thousand impressions and they delivered as well, until this month. I basically got the same explanation as I got from MSNBC’s network. They won’t be advertising with us in the near future. I’ve got other advertising, but its much slower and much less revenue. Maybe that will mean its more reliable. Blogads has always been faithful and steady. Its obviously a bad economy now, cuz my regular advertisers through blogads were no shows this month as well. It seems I’m not alone either. Pajama’s Media’s advertising network went belly up, and John Hawkins explains why this may not be a good year for conservative political blogs.
1) There’s a recession going on and although internet advertising isn’t the gamble it was back in 2000, it’s still advertising, and thus is destined to see a cutback.
#2) Because there are fears that this recession may be particularly harsh and can conceivably go on much longer than the typical recession, people are even more reluctant to spend than they would be normally in economic down times.
#3) Political websites produce more traffic and draw in more ads in an election year. Because we’re in an off year, we wouldn’t be likely to see the same sort of revenues we saw back in 2008 even if the economy were good.
#4) There are simply more viable options out there for internet advertisers than there were a few years back, starting with the social networks — Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc., etc.
#5) Political advertisers have taken to paying people to get links placed on blogs instead of actually buying the ads on those blogs. For example, at one point, I literally had 3 different people trying to get me to feature anti-card check articles on RWN behind the scenes. Undoubtedly, all 3 of those people were getting paid a significant amount of money that could have been used to just buy ads on RWN.
Put it all together and it will probably be a rough year for those of us who are dependent on online advertising to pay the bills.
And so, I echo John in pointing out the donation button in the sidebar for those inclined or in a generous mood. Looks to me like the advertisers grabbed up political blogs when they were hot in the election cycle and dropped them as soon as it was over. Pretty crappy.
P.S. I guess I’m late to all of this. My life’s been in a chaotic state lately.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Politics As Usual, Uncategorized
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4 Responses to “Political Advertising Drying Up”
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“Looks to me like the advertisers grabbed up political blogs when they were hot in the election cycle and dropped them as soon as it was over. Pretty crappy.”
Well, yes, crappy in that you’re losing revenue, but not crappy on the part of the advertisers, really. Regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea to pull their advertising, they have a right to spend their money where they wish – and you have a need to change your business model to reflect the current environment.
If all you meant by “Pretty crappy” was, “Dammit, I liked that money and I’m bummed” that’s fine. But if it was aimed at the advertisers… well, welcome to the realities of running a business!
Now you have a chance to flex and adapt, right?
;^ )
And all this under OBAMASES THE STINKER dont you get a little tired of seeing his ugly mug in every liberal news rag around?
Re: Card check
One thing about conservative political organizations is that they prefer to operate by hiring a PR firm or a consultant. And there are a lot of what have been call “Internet snake-oil salesmen” operating as GOP/conservative online consultants. Like you said, they get good fees for pushing their clients.
It was much the same way when I was a print journalist. A think-tank, activist group or lobby shop, for the most part, is not going to pick up the phone and call a reporter directly to pitch a story. Instead they’ll hire a PR agency go-between, because that’s more “professional.”
While journalists and PR people are kind of hostile, I’ve found that cultivating relationships with PR people can be very helpful in terms of getting leads and access for interviews, etc. You work with them, they’ll work with you. But *monetizing* your work is always a tough gig for a journalist. If you’re all about the money, PR is more lucrative, but you don’t get to be picky about who or what you promote.
How about the fact that your site is called “Stop the ACLU?” Now that the economy is down and online ads are evolving, people are being more careful where their money is being spent.
I’m not sure that many respected companies would want to be around such a controversial site.