News Corp. (NWS) President Peter Chernin says MySpace has at least partly figured out the advertising puzzle, or is at least doing a better job of it than it was last spring. At a New York investor conference Tuesday, Chernin said "the MySpace advertising business is above budget, above where we expected it to be."

News Corp.'s online unit missed revenue targets for fiscal 2008, which ended in June, but it doesn't sound like that's happening again this year. News Corp. has forecasted a 30% revenue increase for Fox Interactive--mostly MySpace--in fiscal 2009, down from 57% in 2008. Chernin's message is basically the same as it was in August when he said the unit isn't seeing any weakness in online ad spending and that brand advertising on the social network had gotten stronger.

Chernin said News Corp. is open to expanding its digital business through acquisition, and expects that prices will come down during the downturn, but they haven't yet. "Most of the things we're seeing now still seem a little pricey," he said.

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MySpace Music Grunts: Please Don't Hire A CEO!
Bad News For MySpace: Growth Flattened. Good News For MySpace: It's A Real Business
Blame Google For MySpace's Advertising Problems