CNET page views drop 5 percent
July 25, 2006Due to the ongoing stock-options investigation, CNET was not able to release their profit numbers for the past quarter. But they did release revenue numbers. And while the topline looks good, page-view drop seems like an ominous sign.
Sales were $92 million, about 2 percent higher than Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $90 million. But that’s where the good news ends–the company’s daily average page views for the quarter dropped by 5 million, or roughly a 5% drop, year-over-year. Sure the topline growth means they’re monetizing better, but you gotta have page views to monetize in the first place.
They have to reverse that page-view trend. I know some of their smaller brands have actually done gangbusters this quarter, but clearly the big traffic drivers like Webshots and Gamespot need to step up and execute.