As evidence, they sent a link to a graph like the one below, which shows that Yahoo’s worldwide traffic has essentially remained steady, not collapsed: We don’t dispute this (and, as Yahoo shareholders and employees, we’re comforted by seeing it*).
ComScore
But the traffic drop we mention here is in Yahoo’s most important market: the United States. A staggering 75% of Yahoo’s revenue comes from the US. And in terms of revenue per unique user, US visitors are far more valuable than international visitors, especially those in the emerging markets that are the source of their international growth (see this chart).
According to Comscore figures released by the WSJ this morning, over the past seven months Yahoo’s monthly unique visitors have fallen from 125 million to 110 million. That’s a collapse for a site that has been growing for the past 15 years.**
ComScore, WSJ
Yahoo’s sharp decline in U.S. traffic is a big problem, and the company needs to put a lot of effort and ingenuity into solving it.
I don’t think an ad campaign is going to do that, I’d rather see the company spend the $80 million on innovation and content.
*I’m the host of Yahoo TechTicker, a markets and economics video show on Yahoo Finance (3 million viewers). I’ve owned this stock since 1998.
** One reader claims this is simply due to seasonality. We suspect it, but don’t yet have enough Comscore data to prove it (we’ve requested it and will update when we get it).
But here’s a graph from Comscore that takes a longer view: This graph of US uniques shows that traffic increased until last summer, then dropped off sharply, although it is still up year over year, supporting the “seasonality” argument.
ComScore
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