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Technology Stocks : Altaba Inc. (formerly Yahoo) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doug Fowler who wrote (25921)	10/11/2000 11:23:06 PM
From: Roadkill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27307

>>Can ANYONE name ANY company OR campaign that has seen a positive return on banners?<< Well, can you refer us to companies that have seen proof of a positive ROI for billboards? TV commercials? Sponsoring sports promotions? How about those ads plastered all over municipal buses? The fact that click-through rates for banner ads hover around 0.5%, and then only some of those that click through actually purchase, is only part of the point. TV ads and billboards have a 0% click-through rate. Those advertisements are designed to create brand and catch mind share, which presumably leads to purchases somewhere down the road. The fact that banner ads also lend the possibility of a click-through for further info or even a purchase is a huge benefit unavailable (at this time) in other media. And the price is right. It's far cheaper to reach 25 MM eyeballs through CPM banner advertising on YHOO than placing a prime-time ad on a major network. Both are equally likely to be watched/ignored by the consumer. In sum, banner advertising isn't perfect, but its just as effective per dollar, if not more so, than other methods. YHOO's $1 B revenue run-rate is evidence of that. If you're right that "[t]his is only the beginning of trouble for Yahoo," then an awful lot of savvy advertisers are making poor decisions, including an increasing number of sophisticated brick-and-mortar companies. YHOO's pricing power is ebbing, but will return in a year or two when the lesser portals have been washed out (e.g. NBCi and Go are already capitulating). Just as advertisers focus their expenses on the major TV networks, they will one day focus on the major portals -- MSN, YHOO and AOL -- giving the group a natural oligarchy with nearly insurmountable barriers to entry. The difference is the obscene gross margins enjoyed by the pure-play portals (read: Yahoo) that the major networks do not enjoy. Heck, YHOO has 27%+ net margins now, during a time of rapid revenue growth and huge investments in new markets. What sort of net margins will it have in five years as its business matures? 32%? 35%? 40%? IMHO, this is a speed bump. We may sink to the 50s, but this, too, shall pass. RK

To: Doug Fowler who wrote (25921)	10/11/2000 11:37:15 PM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27307

Doug - Here is the banner ad Index I use. (seriously) siliconinvestor.com

To: Doug Fowler who wrote (25921)	10/12/2000 11:07:25 AM
From: Randy Ellingson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 27307

Banner advertising does NOT work. What a statement! As if you'll never look at a banner ad, let alone click on one. And what's the click-through rate on TV ads again? I expect the Yahoo of tomorrow (OK, next year and more likely the coming five and ten years) will derive revenues on a % basis less and less from advertising. Maybe that's already happening. I added shares of YHOO today. Doug, do you invest for the long term in any Internet companies? Or related technology companies? Randy