Search services and advertising firm LookSmart pulled in $13.3 million during first-quarter 2009, down both from $17.5 million a year earlier and $14.9 million during fourth-quarter 2008. The company’s recorded a net loss of $2 million, deeper than the $500,000 net loss it racked up a year ago, but less than the $12.4 million loss it took in fourth-quarter 2008.
The company’s first-quarter 2009 loss included $800,000 in expenses related to the evaluation of strategic growth alternatives. The fourth-quarter loss included a $9.8 million goodwill impairment charge.
“Our first quarter results reflect that LookSmart, along with the rest of the search advertising marketplace, is by no means immune to the broader economic challenges we face,” Ted West, the company’s president and CEO said in a statement. “Therefore, we focused on increasing revenue through ad network segmentation and enhanced advertiser campaign performance and improving gross margin through improved network traffic quality and traffic monetization. At the same time, we continued to implement prudent cost controls.”
Revenue from the LookSmart’s Advertiser Network was $12 million in the first quarter of 2009, a decrease of 24% from $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2008. Revenue from its Publisher Solutions was $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2009, a decrease of 29% from $1.7 million in the first quarter of 2008.
Revenue levels from the company’s Advertising Network and Publisher Solutions were $13.5 million and $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, respectively.
The company did boost the number of total paid clicks it generated from last year. During the most recent quarter it racked up 184 million paid clicks, compared to 152 million for the first quarter of 2008 and 201 million for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Average Advertising Network revenue per click (RPC) for the first quarter of 2009 was seven cents, a decrease from ten cents per click it saw in the first quarter of 2008 and consistent with seven cents per click during the fourth quarter of 2008.
According to the company, the year-over-year decrease reflects a shift in the channels to reach search advertising network customers and the segment composition of search advertiser network customers.
Traffic acquisition costs of 63% for LookSmart’s Ad Network increased from the 62% rate in the first quarter of 2008, and decreased from the 67% rate in the fourth quarter of 2008. The sequential decrease in these costs reflects improved campaign management and traffic monetization within the company’s search advertiser network.
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