List Rental Prices Becoming More Competitive In Fall ‘09

While consumer list rental prices continue to decline, other categories are beginning to show some promise.

By Chandra Johnson-Greene
Monday, October 12, 2009

Permission-Based Email B-to-C lists continue to lead the list rental price decline, showing the largest price decrease of all categories, according to Worldata’s Fall 2009 List Price Index. However, categories including Donor and Newsletter are showing some increases this year.

The Permission-Based Email B-to-C category dropped $36/M, or 24 percent, from Fall 2008 to $114/M with a decrease occurring every quarter. Newsletters showed the greatest price increase over the previous year, with a straight average price of $171/M, a $6/M, or 3.64 percent, increase over last fall. The lowest price decrease occurred within the Public Sector category, which dropped $1/M, or from last year.

“Although consumer postal and email lists still show a seemingly downward trend, prices are becoming more competitive because it appears that we have reached a bottom in terms of pricing in these categories,” Ray Tesi, SVP, Worldata, said in a statement.

Permission-Based Email B-to-B is the highest-priced domestic category, with a Fall 2009 straight average price of $288/M, a decrease of $5/M from last year. Public Sector ranks as the next highest-priced category range, with a Fall 2009 straight average price of $173/M, decreasing $1/M from last year. Donors remains the lowest-priced category, with an average list price of $84/M, increasing $1/M over last year.

Fall 2009 marks the first full year that International Email data has been tracked. The category decreased $14/M from last year with a current straight average price of $406/M. However, this category has remained relatively consistent quarter-to-quarter, increasing $2/M over Summer 2009 average list rental prices.

The Worldata List Price Index serves as a barometer for the pricing and trending of all list rental pricing and is reported quarterly, providing a comparison of list prices during any given 12-month period and tacking price fluctuations, as cost per thousand (CPM), for lists in various categories.