I've been thinking this for AGES!

Andrew Sullivan had a post sometime in the last three days (too lazy to look it up at the moment) about how Huffington Post was up for sale - wait, let me look (grumble)...ah! Yes, whether Huffington Post was worth $200m, as is an asking price or something. Then this:

Consider, for starters, HuffPo's revenue. As Nat reported, from January through
August of last year -- the site's most-trafficked year -- "the site collected
just $302,000 in ad revenue, according to an estimate from TNS Media
Intelligence."

This makes me nuts, because I can never get an answer: where does net revenue come from? I asked my most web-tastic buddy and he sort of rolled his eyes at my ignorance and said "I dunno, hits...ads..." But does anyone ever really click through on ads? I'm thinking of those banner ads on Drudge, for weight loss systems or a bottle opener shaped like Clarence Thomas or the latest David Baldachi [sp, on purpose, because Baldacci sux and I'm being dismissive]...why do advertisers pay for those?

Or when Rupert Murdoch comes along and scoops up the latest sensational youtube-style web-changing site/platform/gewgaw for 2 billion dollars, how does he expect to get his money back? With banner ads? What?

I don't get it. I mean, I've been writing this blog fairly frequently since July and no one had swooped down and offered me $750K? How do "they" expect me to get cash for an OLIVE FARM? Although a manzanilla tree is only 49.95 from here... (http://www.willisorchards.com/product/Manzanilla+Olive+Tree)

Still, the land, the goats, the feed for the goats...