Subscribers Stick with TheStreet.com

Subscription revenues for online financial news service TheStreet.com surged by 74 percent compared to last year’s second quarter, helping the publication narrow its net loss.

Thanks to intrepid investors who stuck with the markets and looked for specialized publications to help them navigate the turmoil, TheStreet.com managed to pull its net losses down to $2 million (8 cents per share) on $5.5 million in revenues.

The results narrowed the gap compared to last year’s second quarter net loss of $6.9 million (25 cents per share) on $3.6 million in revenue. In addition, the results were an improvement in the company’s results from the first quarter as well.

Subscription revenues brought in the lion’s share of the total sales: $3.7 million, compared to $2.1 million the same time last year, a jump of 74 percent and up 22 percent since the beginning of this year.

Advertising revenue of $1.2 million also reflected a 74 percent improvement from the first quarter, which suggests that the brutal advertising climate for online publications has begun to ease. Ad sales for the period were up about 11 percent over the same time last year.

The company’s lucky number appears to be 74 this quarter: cash burn also decreased by 74 percent for the period compared to how much it was spent last year during the period.

Total revenues were up 35 percent over last quarter, the company said, and overall the period marked its fifth straight consecutive subscription revenue increase.

Among its newsletter and other subscription-level products such as research, TheStreet.com offers RealMoney Pro and RealMoney Pro Advisor, a Web section for
stockbrokers, financial planners and financial consultants.

It also sells “Herb Alerts,” an email alert service that notifies subscribers of Herb Greenberg’s latest commentary.

Product offerings for consumers include “The Turnaround Report,” a biweekly subscription e-mail newsletter that looks for value stocks.

TheStreet has also dipped a toe into the conference market with its recent two-day seminar called “Advanced Disciplines & Strategies for Running
Hedge Funds.”