谷歌能否阻止移動(dòng)廣告價(jià)格下跌頹勢(shì)
????廣告一直是谷歌(Google)的吸金大項(xiàng)。 ????在關(guān)鍵詞競(jìng)價(jià)廣告AdWords等產(chǎn)品的推動(dòng)下,谷歌的廣告業(yè)務(wù)去年吸金437億美元,驚人地占到了公司總收入的95%。廣告業(yè)務(wù)持續(xù)盈利,讓谷歌敢于嘗試?yán)麧欇^低的項(xiàng)目,如安卓系統(tǒng)、自動(dòng)駕駛汽車、谷歌眼鏡等。不過就像大多數(shù)科技公司一樣,谷歌在臺(tái)式機(jī)到移動(dòng)產(chǎn)品的轉(zhuǎn)型過程中遭遇了挑戰(zhàn)——如何從用智能手機(jī)和平板電腦上網(wǎng)的用戶身上盈利??梢钥隙ǖ氖牵阂苿?dòng)市場(chǎng)不容忽視。單就美國而言,移動(dòng)廣告的花費(fèi)就可能從今年的70億美元上漲到2015年的160億美元,翻了一倍還多。摩根大通證券(JMP Securities)的分析師羅恩?喬希最近預(yù)計(jì),移動(dòng)廣告如今占到了谷歌所有廣告銷售額的14%。 ????谷歌賦予廣告的一個(gè)重要指標(biāo)是“每次點(diǎn)擊費(fèi)用”。這個(gè)指標(biāo)用來衡量廣告商為用戶每次點(diǎn)擊廣告所付給谷歌的平均價(jià)格。上個(gè)季度,谷歌稱將減少移動(dòng)端搜索頁面的廣告數(shù)量以保證用戶體驗(yàn),并預(yù)計(jì)每次點(diǎn)擊費(fèi)用也將因此上漲。不過后者并未實(shí)現(xiàn)。相反,谷歌的每次點(diǎn)擊費(fèi)用比去年下降了4%,這也是該費(fèi)用連續(xù)第六個(gè)季度保持下跌。 ????實(shí)際上,移動(dòng)廣告的價(jià)格仍然比臺(tái)式機(jī)的廣告便宜,原因是人們更不愿意在手機(jī)和平板電腦上點(diǎn)擊廣告。(此外,許多用戶可能會(huì)不小心點(diǎn)到它們。)位于紐約的數(shù)字市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司eMarketer的副總裁克拉克?費(fèi)德里克森解釋說:“人們都說廣告費(fèi)是跟著眼球走的,不過情況并非完全如此。”公司可能會(huì)迅速反應(yīng),抓住機(jī)會(huì)在日漸發(fā)展的移動(dòng)端兜售產(chǎn)品。不過,最終只有10%的電子交易發(fā)生于移動(dòng)端。費(fèi)德里克森說,至今為止,手機(jī)和平板電腦只是一個(gè)消費(fèi)設(shè)備,因此許多廣告商當(dāng)前仍會(huì)著重于臺(tái)式機(jī)的廣告投入,即便臺(tái)式機(jī)已經(jīng)時(shí)日無多了。 |
????For Google, the money has always been in advertising. ????Propelled by products like AdWords, advertising generated $43.7 billion in sales last year -- a whopping 95% of Google's (GOOG) overall revenue. Its continually lucrative ad business has allowed Google to use its cash for other less-profitable ventures: Android, self-driving cars, Glass among many others. But like most of tech, Google has been challenged by the transition from desktop to mobile computing -- and how to make money from users browsing the web on smartphones and tablets. One thing is for certain: The mobile market cannot be ignored. In the U.S. alone, mobile ad spending is expected to more than double from $7 billion this year to $16 billion in 2015. JMP Securities analyst Ron Josey recently estimated that mobile ads now account for 14% of Google's overall ad sales. ????An important metric for Google tied to ads is called "cost-per-click." It measures the average amount advertisers pay Google each time a user clicks on an ad. Last quarter, the company announced it would reduce the number of ads on its mobile search page to preserve the user experience and predicted a higher cost-per-click. The latter didn't happen. Instead, Google's cost-per-click fell 4% compared with the same time last year and marked the sixth consecutive quarterly decline. ????In truth, mobile ads still command lower prices than desktop ads do, the argument being that people remain less likely to click ads on their phones or tablets than desktops. (What's more, many users may be clicking on them accidentally.) "The saying goes that ad dollars follow eyeballs, but that's not entirely the case," explains Clark Frederickson, vice president of New York-based digital market research firm eMarketer. Companies may be quick to tout growing mobile sales, but at the end of the day, just over 10% of e-commerce occurs on mobile. And until mobile phones and tablets become just as much a buying device as they are say, a consumption device, Frederickson says many advertisers will continue to focus their ad dollars on the desktop for the time being -- even if the desktop's days appear numbered. |