Federated Media had more than $10 million in sales last year, John Battelle told BusinessWeek. Battelle is predicting a fivefold increase in 2007—and profitability. The blog ad network keeps 40 percent of the revenue from the ads it sells. The article for the Feb. 12 issue actually includes a slate of announcements “made on Feb. 5”—published online days before Feb. 5. The announcements, which were made Feb. 1, push FM’s network past 100 sites. Jason Calacanis makes a cameo appearance, explaining that not owning the sites limits FM’s prospects: “The second you build your client’s business past $500,000 a year, they hire their own sales force.”
Despite all the different ways to measure and track online activity, good, valid, meaningful metrics are hard to come by. One of the latest attempts: ComScore Networks and FM are starting an R&D initiative design to measure “conversational media” like blogs and community sites. The ratings service will build a database using “a customized weighting and projection system” designed for conversational media ie smaller sites than comScore usually measures; comScore will use FM’s 100-plus blog ad network to start. Release.