July 5, 2003 Web sites for consumer magazines are further away from break even and profitability than their b2b peers, a recent study by FIPP found. B2b sites, which were reviewed in an earlier study at the beginning of the year, have been more successful at attracting advertising and sponsorship revenues.

Both b2b and consumer sites have done will in terms of marketing. Almost two thirds (65%) of consumer magazines surveyed reported that they have gained significant number of new audiences via web.

63% of sites had some e-commerce capability, mostly subscription sales. Unfortunately the report does not discuss how successful magazines were in earning revenues with the help of this feature.

More than half of publishers have gained advertisers to their web site who do not advertise in the print product.

Only a quarter of the sites (26%) were making money, A whooping 79% of web sites were developed by dedicated, internal teams – which could explain the high proportion of loss making sites.