Report: Social Networks Drag Down Average CPM for Ads by 18 Percent

Facebook and other social networks appear to be the holy grail of advertising, allowing advertisers to tap into personal information and the social graph for extremely targeted – and thus profitable – ads. However, a new ComScore analysis of online advertising shows that advertising on social networks yields a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of only 56 cents on average – compared to about $2.43 for the internet as a whole. Read on for more explanations of how social networks are impacting the online advertising business.