• The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, November 11, 2010 2:20 PM

In September, 24% of all online display ads in the U.S. appeared on Facebook, according to comScore. That's "more than twice as many as any other publisher," notes The Wall Street Journal. "Yet Facebook is far from capturing a quarter of the wallets of major marketers." Presently, Facebook accounts for 9.5% of the spending on display ads in the U.S., according to eMarketer. Why the large discrepancy?

"Some marketers continue to question whether consumers pay attention to ads on social-networking sites, and wonder how effective they are in getting people to, say, buy cars." Says Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Inc.'s PepsiCo Americas Beverages: "It is a question of, are we making sure we are getting the same value out of them" as more traditional banner ads." As such, as The Journal notes, ad rates on Facebook are often cheaper than those of other sites. Indeed, according to agency sources, Facebook can now command a $2-$8 CPM compared to a $15 CPM for top media sites.

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