Online ad prices continue to plunge

Online advertising prices are continuing to fall as supply continues to massively exceed demand.

The average price of 1,000 page impressions for a European website is currently E20 (£12), according to Jupiter MMXI. Last July the price was around E30 (£18).

The survey estimates that between E60m to E70m (£36m to £42m) worth of advertising goes unsold every month, with typical publishers only able to sell 40 per cent of their advertising space.

Declining ad revenues have been blamed for many of the flurry of website closures over the past year.

Many companies are now turning to 'performance-based' marketing techniques, charging clients not by page impressions but by the number of clicks generated or volume of goods sold.