It looks like this is going to become an ongoing theme of concern for newspapers. Coupon sites like Groupon continue to grow at astounding rates, offering advertisers another option and, presumably, depleting  marketing budgets off the businesses who use them. The secret to their success - advertisers pay for results, not impressions. Mediabids' per inquiry program (www.mediabids.com) has had success in measuring the results produced by publications and  paying publications based on measured calls. Will daily newspapers see the light and begin to offer a program that competes with Groupon and the other coupon/group buying sites? I guess we have to wait and see but if classifieds (Craigslist,), real estate (realtor.com) and employment (Monster.com) are any indication, I wouldn't bet on it.  Full story here.

Consumers Seek Online Coupons in November

Coupon sites ranked as the top gaining US web category for November 2010, according to [pdf] new comScore MediaMatrix data. A record 44 million Americans visited a coupon site during month, up 40% from October 2010. Groupon ranked as the number coupon site with 10 million unique visitors (up 54%), followed by CouponCabin.com with 8.8 million visitors, representing a 400% increase from the prior month. Coupons, Inc. came in third with 6.4 million, while BlackFriday.info saw 5.4 million, up nearly 1,000% month-over-month. RetailMeNot.com rounded out the top five coupon sites with 5 million visitors, up 20%.

 

 

 This story is a perfect example of what is wrong with business media in the US. Remember a few months ago when Craig- the guy who runs Craig's List - was on the cover of everything? He was giving his opinion on how newspapers should change, he was telling anyone who would listen that he didn't want to make a profit and was just in it to find good homes for couches, that kind of stuff. It was always clear that the adult industry was an important advertising base for Craigslist but no one was reporting that ONE-THIRD of his total revenue was being generated, essentially, from escorts! ONE-THIRD - according to this article, $45 million dollars a year. I am waiting for Wired Magazine to put that on the cover. Is he still a genius? Should we still listen when he tells print publications how they should change?

Craigslist Adult Services Closed Down Worldwide

Under pressure from several state attorneys general, online classifieds company Craigslist shut down its “adult services” category—estimated to have made up as much as one-third of the company’s revenue—in the U.S. several months ago. It didn’t go quietly—the company put a big black “censored” bar up where the adult category used to be for a few days. Now, the company has shut down its adult services category worldwide without any fanfare.

The adult services ads, which had cost $10 each to post in the U.S., were a significant portion of the company’s revenue—almost $45 million of the $122 million in revenue the company would have made this year, according to one estimate. (That’s a mid-year estimate that doesn’t factor in any losses from the adult category shut-down.) The estimates don’t break down international versus U.S. revenue.

Backpage.com, a Village Voice Media online property that offers ads for adult services and escorts, is estimated to have revenues of $17.5 million.

The news was confirmed by outgoing Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who told The Associated Press that Craigslist told him about the move Tuesday. Blumenthal, a Democrat who was recently elected to the U.S. Senate, has railed against Craigslist for some time, saying the company’s adult services category enables prostitution. He’s also gone after Google for its privacy policies.

Other attorney generals have gone after the site as well, including South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster, who tried but failed to bring a criminal case against the site.