BII
Yahoo's push into native and mobile prompted BI Intelligence to look at Yahoo's overall global display ad business, which had been contracting for five straight quarters year-over-year.
- Display ad revenue, including mobile, topped $409 million in the first quarter of 2014, minus traffic acquisition costs. That was up 2% from the same period in the previous year. This was the first gain after five quarters of year-over-year contractions. That said, Yahoo's display ad revenue is still down nearly 10% from the first quarter of 2012.
- Yahoo's growth was more or less in line with competitor AOL's display ad business, which declined 3% year-over-year in the same quarter, but would have gained 4% on improved pricing were it not for the shuttering of local news site, Patch, and other one-time impacts.