Yahoo continues to struggle with its mounting problem of web traffic and revenue mismatch. The company reports an 18 percent drop in its revenue, portraying a steady decline and does not seem to inspire shareholders' confidence
Despite its prolific advertising methods, the business is not booming as expected . Analysts remain baffled over this mismatch and seem to overlook that the problem did not develop overnight. Here’s why:
In 2012, Yahoo Mail took a huge blow when several accounts of users were hacked and fell through phishing and spam attacks. Even in Yahoo’s new compliance to a domain-based message authentication, TheNextWeb.com reported that individual users are still experiencing vulnerabilities as the spam emails, even from verified accounts, continue to be received.
As a result, a huge migration of users, especially in businesses, transferred to Google Mail as it tops many online fora over time. Computer World UK cited that 13 percent of business are now using Google, based on the Gartner report of 2016.
While Flickr and Tumblr are successful in inviting traffic and users, other Yahoo services and applications are trailing behind and being condensed into 7 digital magazines. In 2014, only Yahoo! News Digest was highlighted by Apple as it announced its best iPhone and iPad apps, according to Yahoo Technology. However, the lack of further development did not generate any new revenue.
As Facebook launches the instant article feature, it also appears that Yahoo is actually at a loss in lieu of this new development. According to Investor Place, Yahoo recently focused more on creating content (i.e. Tumblr) rather than sourcing it. Publishers will slowly prefer to use instant articles instead of paying high fees to Yahoo to host their content.
Yahoo must soon realize that more than numbers, user patronage is the main source of revenue.
