Online publishers' revenues up 38.2% in 2003

A poll of 26 of Online Publisher Association member companies found that year-to-date online ad revenues increased 38.2% over 2002.

• WashingtonPost.com and NewsweekInteractive: National and local ad revenue jumped 143% in first nine months of 2003 over the same period in 2002.
• Wall Street Journal Online: Saw a 40% jump in year-over-year revenue for the third quarter. Achieved paid circulation of 686,000 as of Sept. 30.
• CondeNet: Epicurious and Concierge grew ad revenue 95% in the third quarter over 2002; year-to-date revenue is up 61%.
• Knight Ridder Digital: Posted third-quarter revenue of $21.5 million, up 51.3% from the same period in 2002. Knight Ridder's Real Cities Network had a year-over-year increase of 32% in men 18 to 34 years old visiting its sites as of September 2003.
• New York Times Digital: Profitability for nine consecutive quarters. Year-to-date ad revenue through third quarter rose 29% from same period a year ago.
• Belo Interactive: Precision targeting capabilities on its 22 newspaper and broadcast Web sites are expected to account for 25% of the company's total revenue in 2004, up from 6% in 2002.
• USAToday.com: Launched behavioral and demographic segmentation advertising products in September 2003 that helped contribute to a 28% year-over-year increase in its advertising account base through October.
• Meredith Interactive Media: Reported sales of 1.5 million magazine subscriptions on its Web sites in the last three years.
• Tribune Interactive: Saw third-quarter revenues of $25 million, up 24% on the strength of classified, banner and sponsorship advertising.
• Bankrate.com: Third-quarter publishing revenue increased 30% over the same period in 2002.
• MarktWatch.com: The site was profitable for the third quarter and total revenue for the quarter increased by 5.4%, spurred by a 30% increase in ad sales revenue.
• SportingNews.com: Achieved more than $7 million in new revenues from premium content in the past two years, representing 60% of its total online revenues.
• Weather.com: Third-quarter ad revenue rose 59.4% over the same period last year; year-to-date revenue jumped 48.8% over last year.