Daily Mail online ad revenue up 59 per cent, despite dip in traffic

Shares in Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) stood higher yesterday following the company reporting a 2 per cent rise in underlying revenues in the first five months of the year, boosted by strong online growth.

According to the newspaper conglomerate, advertising revenues at its Mail Online site shot 59 per cent in the period to the end of February.

The rise helped offset an 8 per cent drop in advertising at its newspaper titles, which include the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro.

According to DGMT finance director, Stephen Dintith, while print advertising revenues were down  £11 million in the period, digital advertising revenues rose by £13 million, an important inflection point for its business.

Mail Online, which sped past the New York Times as the world's most read online newspaper, attracted 111 million unique browsers in February, up 22 per cent on last year, though a fall of 16 million than in January.

Mobile traffic contributed to a record 43 per cent of total visits, with traffic through its iPhone and Android apps also at record levels.

The website is expected to generate £3.4 million in revenues in March, with revenues for the year to the end of September expected to be around £45 million – up from £19 million in 2011.

DMG Media – DMGT's newspaper and website division was also home to other online businesses including property website Zoopla, which it said was expected to generate revenues ''in excess of £60m''.

However, even amid strong growth across its digital businesses, DMG Media's revenues fell by 2 per cent, with a 1 per cent growth in advertising failing to fully offset a 6 per cent fall in circulation revenue.

Meanwhile, over half of all usage of MailOnline would be on mobile by the end of this year, the company said yesterday.

The forecast came from Daintith as he reported 43 per cent of users were already using mobile to access MailOnline, the world's most popular newspaper website.

Annual revenues are set to touch £45 million, up two-thirds, and should reach £100 million in ''three to five years''.

Online readership had risen over a fifth to 111 million web browsers, and US brands like retail chain Macy's and TV giants Fox and ABC were advertising for the first time.

In a watershed moment, Daintith said digital advertising growth was offsetting print ad revenues. He added the company was not chasing profits at this stage, as its goal was growing global revenues.

Analysts, expect digital to generate close to £200 million or a quarter of revenues at DMG Media. Underlying sales at DMGT, a minority shareholder in the Evening Standard, were up 2 per cent in the five months to February.