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sell, sell, cheap, cheap, cheap
Web discounters flog the deals they have for you
By Jeremy Schlosberg
Whether times are actually hard or just apparently hard, consumers are as eager as ever for a bargain.
And even through all the troubles experienced by dot.coms over the last six months, there are still any number of web sites eager to offer such bargains.
Two sites currently competing for the attention and affection of cyber-bargain hunters have simultaneously emerged among the web’s current top advertisers.
One, CyberRebate, was the web’s No. 8 advertiser for the week ending April 15, according to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings.
The other, Ebates.com, had the web’s ninth most-viewed banner for the week.
CyberRebate, a web site that gives rebates on a wide assortment of individual items, delivered 127.5 million impressions for the week, reaching approximately 24 percent of the total web audience, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Meanwhile, Ebates.com’s banner itself delivered more than 11.5 million impressions, reaching 5.6 percent of the total audience. The banner features the line, "Ebates.com is like 400 employee discounts at your favorite stores."
Next to the copy, the site’s mascot—a stylized black-and-white figure called "Moe Money"—holds a large white card on which flash the names of 16 different stores that offer rebates through Ebates, including Nordstrom, Tower Records and Sharper Image.
The Ebates banner is part of a conscious effort to get the Ebates name out on the web. It’s one of a number of banners the company is running on a wide variety of sites, including Yahoo and Excite.
"I would say probably the last month we really decided to make a big push, a big splash, really going out there," says Petra Immenkamp, the company’s vice president of marketing.
Ebates does its own placement, working directly with web sites.
CyberRebate’s position among the top advertisers is the result of a varied campaign featuring emails, buttons, banner ads and larger-sized web ads, according to Guy Traub, the company’s director of online marketing.
CyberRebate also works with strategic partners such as Weather.com to promote itself online. In addition, the company has a network of nearly 40,000 affiliates, says Traub.
The company’s ads are served through Mediaplex and through LinkShare. "We’re looking for a very high ROI on our ads and are optimizing on a daily basis banners that work, banners that don't work, sizes that would work better on a particular site," says Traub.
Is the fact that two rebate sites are currently among the web’s biggest advertisers a coincidence?
Maybe not.
Ebates.com’s Immenkamp figures that the current uncertainty about the economy may be fostering extra interest in special offers.
"I think people are always very cost conscious," she says. "But right now it's a bit more compelling to be really smart with your money."
And yet Immenkamp doesn’t think the economic downturn is all that serious at this point. She says Ebates has in fact seen about a 40 percent increase in spending in March over December.
"People are still spending money," she says. "We've seen that people are still buying computers, they're still buying big-ticket items. We are seeing that very, very clearly.
"We find that very interesting because we hear everywhere that spending is down and people are so careful. They're still buying the big-ticket items, they're just smart about it."
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Top 25 Properties |
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Property |
Unique Audience | Reach % | Time |
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1. AOL Time Warner |
37,355,838 | 49.51 | 0:16:29 |
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2. Yahoo |
30,877,489 | 40.92 | 0:27:39 |
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3. MSN |
26,952,513 | 35.72 | 0:23:45 |
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4. Excite@Home |
11,745,402 | 15.57 | 0:14:43 |
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5. Microsoft |
11,531,042 | 15.28 | 0:05:28 |
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6. Terra Lycos |
10,604,990 | 14.05 | 0:07:28 |
| 7. Walt Disney Internet Group | 6,434,577 | 8.53 | 0:14:36 |
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8. eBay |
6,416,305 | 8.5 | 0:47:28 |
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9. About |
5,688,562 | 7.54 | 0:07:41 |
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10. eUniverse Network |
5,587,499 | 7.41 | 0:08:33 |
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11. American Greetings |
4,483,302 | 5.94 | 0:11:14 |
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12. Napster Inc. |
4,478,372 | 5.94 | 0:07:11 |
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13. Amazon |
4,353,010 | 5.77 | 0:07:56 |
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14. CNET Networks |
4,221,996 | 5.60 | 0:06:05 |
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15. Google |
4,219,824 | 5.59 | 0:06:35 |
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16. NBC Internet |
4,047,028 | 5.36 | 0:07:13 |
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17. iWon |
3,645,394 | 4.83 | 0:19:36 |
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18. Ask Jeeves |
3,581,739 | 4.75 | 0:05:42 |
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19. GoTo.com |
3,204,023 | 4.25 | 0:02:16 |
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20. The Go2Net Network |
3,140,240 | 4.16 | 0:05:26 |
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21. EarthLink |
3,045,058 | 4.04 | 0:07:01 |
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22. Gator.com |
2,904,133 | 3.85 | 0:07:43 |
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23. ClassMates Online |
2,898,570 | 3.84 | 0:07:07 |
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24. AltaVista |
2,871,129 | 3.81 | 0:05:05 |
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25. Bonzi |
2,813,876 | 3.73 | 0:03:01 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Top Ten Advertisers |
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Advertiser |
Impressions | Reach % |
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1. Microsoft |
566,624,601 | 38.77 |
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2. Yahoo! |
286,743,890 | 25.68 |
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3. Amazon |
235,982,800 | 36.83 |
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4. eBay |
176,698,616 | 15.45 |
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5. America Online |
132,152,629 | 21.29 |
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6. ClassMates |
132,136,827 | 25.66 |
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7. Barnes and Noble |
130,658,294 | 23.05 |
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8. CyberRebate |
127,499,217 | 24.27 |
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9. Netscape |
120,508,948 | 14.82 |
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10. Providian |
108,605,259 | 20.37 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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| Top
25 Domains |
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Domain |
Unique Audience | Reach % | Time |
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1. yahoo.com |
28,524,949 | 37.80 | 0:28:32 |
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2. aol.com |
25,795,214 | 34.19 | 0:14:23 |
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3. msn.com |
24,920,617 | 33.03 | 0:20:50 |
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4. passport.com |
13,397,565 | 17.76 | 0:03:36 |
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5. microsoft.com |
9,361,664 | 12.41 | 0:05:12 |
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6. geocities.com |
7,080,676 | 9.38 | 0:05:18 |
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7. netscape.com |
6,953,375 | 9.22 | 0:10:22 |
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8. go.com |
6,190,897 | 8.20 | 0:14:55 |
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9. ebay.com |
6,094,230 | 8.08 | 0:48:38 |
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10. bluemountain.com |
5,909,408 | 7.83 | 0:09:53 |
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11. excite.com |
5,417,848 | 7.18 | 0:18:25 |
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12. lycos.com |
4,689,727 | 6.22 | 0:09:29 |
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13. napster.com |
4,478,372 | 5.94 | 0:07:11 |
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14. google.com |
4,219,824 | 5.59 | 0:06:35 |
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15. amazon.com |
3,911,978 | 5.18 | 0:07:39 |
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16. iwon.com |
3,645,394 | 4.83 | 0:19:35 |
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17. americangreetings.com |
3,485,706 | 4.62 | 0:11:15 |
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18. nbci.com |
3,362,728 | 4.46 | 0:06:05 |
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19. goto.com |
3,178,248 | 4.21 | 0:02:16 |
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20. gator.com |
2,881,828 | 3.82 | 0:07:39 |
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21. classmates.com |
2,859,807 | 3.79 | 0:06:57 |
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22. tripod.com |
2,828,273 | 3.75 | 0:03:35 |
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23. bonzi.com |
2,813,876 | 3.73 | 0:03:01 |
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24. compuserve.com |
2,810,398 | 3.72 | 0:17:50 |
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25. weather.com |
2,788,807 | 3.70 | 0:05:42 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top 25 Advertising Domains |
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Domain |
Impressions | Reach % |
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1. yahoo.com |
1,392,815,801 | 32.31 |
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2. ebay.com |
862,148,767 | 7.99 |
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3. msn.com |
843,055,184 | 30.47 |
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4. aol.com |
495,931,848 | 22.28 |
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5. netscape.com |
208,213,078 | 8.56 |
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6. iwon.com |
165,564,709 | 3.84 |
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7. excite.com |
154,314,775 | 6.13 |
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8. lycos.com |
112,437,865 | 4.70 |
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9. go.com |
111,899,165 | 5.78 |
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10. monster.com |
59,465,006 | 1.84 |
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11. commissioner.com |
54,592,519 | 0.46 |
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12. passport.com |
51,890,691 | 12.29 |
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13. pogo.com |
46,787,093 | 1.44 |
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14. ezboard.com |
45,445,242 | 0.76 |
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15. compuserve.com |
45,337,602 | 2.88 |
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16. digitalcity.com |
42,989,680 | 2.49 |
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17. americangreetings.com |
41,601,896 | 3.76 |
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18. juno.com |
39,768,045 | 1.52 |
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19. cnn.com |
39,268,128 | 2.27 |
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20. mapquest.com |
38,585,859 | 2.09 |
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21. neopets.com |
37,467,381 | 0.52 |
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22. prodigy.net |
36,497,326 | 1.80 |
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23. dogpile.com |
35,001,343 | 1.72 |
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24. msnbc.com |
34,756,225 | 3.07 |
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25. cnet.com |
34,017,753 | 2.14 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top Ten Banners |
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Advertiser |
Impressions | Unique Audience | Reach % |
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1. Bonzi Software |
36,878,068 | 10,029,965 | 13.29 |
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2. ClassMates |
46,925,365 | 9,969,142 | 13.21 |
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3. JP Morgan Chase |
39,576,099 | 5,714,451 | 7.57 |
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4. Providian |
19,658,738 | 5,525,242 | 7.32 |
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5. AmericanAirlines |
21,013,477 | 5,382,968 | 7.13 |
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6. JP Morgan Chase |
26,612,195 | 5,375,435 | 7.12 |
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7. Colonize |
21,816,833 | 5,355,661 | 7.10 |
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8. Consumer Counseling |
15,914,821 | 4,487,656 | 5.95 |
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9. Ebates |
11,526,684 | 4,215,378 | 5.59 |
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10. Consumer Counseling |
14,344,273 | 4,073,398 | 5.40 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Average Usage |
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| Situation | Current Week | Last Week | %Change |
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Number of Sessions per Week |
6 | 6 | 0 |
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Number of Unique Sites Visited |
6 | 6 | 0 |
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Page Views per Week |
215 | 216 | -0.46 |
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Page Views per Surfing Session |
35 | 35 | 0 |
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Time Spent per Week |
3:07:10 | 3:08:39 | -0.78 |
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Time Spent During Surfing Session |
0:30:44 | 0:30:28 | 0.88 |
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Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:53 | 0:00:52 | 0.88 |
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Average Click Rate for Top Banners |
0.25 | 0.22 | 13.64 |
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Active Internet Universe |
75,453,893 | 75,385,941 | 0.09 |
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Current Internet Universe Estimate |
168,004,233 | 167,744,287 | 0.15 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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April 20, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jeremy Schlosberg is the senior editor for new media. Staff writer Marty Beard contributed to the reporting of this story.
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