Content Web sites, once Wall Street darlings, have seen their shares pummeled. Private Net companies with advertising-based models are having great difficulty finding venture capital funding. This was, in large part, because Becker's warning fed Wall Street's existing anxiety about Internet advertising. Never mind that in the details of Becker's note, she is merely readjusting her revenue estimates. There's little doubt that the advertising market this quarter is tough.
Summer is always slow for media companies.
And this year the added distraction of the Summer Games has slowed most advertising not resting on the laurels of Michael Johnson and his Olympic brethren. I don't see one. There is a lot of concentration of the spending of those who have the largest audience and those who have the ability to target. And in the broadcast world that ended up being a small number of network players who were the strongest and the largest. And I think in our industry for a short list of global brands and networks that gets a concentration of dollars.