Merchants hit by sharp rise in online advertising costs

[mandy]

MEDIA executives and investors get a pleasant neck ache from watching the skyward path of online advertising revenues. But for those who have to pay for advertising, the trend is bringing some anxiety.

Prices for some online advertising are going up, and some retailers and brand marketers say the big question mark hanging over 2007 is whether publishers will be so emboldened by a strong advertising market that they will raise the prices of ads sharply...

Joanne Bradford, MSN’s corporate vice president and chief media officer, would not specify the extent to which her site will raise prices next year, but she said that during the last two years “there’s been unbelievable price pressure...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/techno...om.html?em&ex=1167195600&en=50a6c289328fed76&ei=5087%0A