More comments–points well taken, around monetizing Blogspot, aka what kind of revenue can you make from a blog services site.
Point-n-Click points out that it’s not just about the ad dollars but the overall ROI.
Rick Bruner made a similar point in another email.
Guys, you’re right–up to a point. It’s inarguable that there’s a network effect in which low cost of production/high page volume can make text ads amazingly lucrative–and make the Blogspots of the world wonderfully high-margin ventures.
BUT, most agencies–and many marketers–want to spent their ad dollars online on rich media, intrusive blockades, and brand-building programs–this kind of stuff they buy on cable TV.
No matter how much companies such as Revenue Science and Tacoda overlay their ad targeting capabilities on blogging sites–and on targeted and aggregated RSS feeds–we don’t know that the high CPMs agencies spent on campaigns on their favorite sites will spill over into the blogosphere in a broad way ( Nick Denton has already proven he can get this kind of advertising, but who else has? And, I would argue, Gawker Media is a far cry from the unwashed masses at Blogspot, of which, somehow I am one).
The Times is a good example of a media company that is hedging their bets–they’ve invested a huge amount in reporting and targeting so they can get premium ad buys on their sites–and they’re now the owners of About.com–so they can pull in more types of ad revenue–and get a cool platform to build out. But for the Blogspots of the world, crack sales teams or not, I’d say that those premium agency dollars are going to be harder to come buy, and/or will be spent only when agencies have exhausted most of their budget on their favorite premium sites–for now.
And will this change in the future?
Of course.
Blogging is the road ahead.
But it ain’t all there just now.