Survey: Age of Sites Correlates with Profits

Market research firm ActivMedia Inc. said its annual “Real
Numbers Behind ‘Net Profits” survey of Web site revenue confirms the
correlation between time online and profitability.

In fact, 58% of business executives surveyed who have three or more years of
Web presence reported that their site is profitable.

For the past three years, roughly 3 in 10 Web execs reported profitability.
This year, for the first time, nearly half (46%) are reporting profits, the
survey showed. The length of online experience is proving to be a clear
indicator of marketing success that holds true across all industry sectors.

Revenue among respondents in the study ranged from $0 to $50 million. In 1997,
the top 10% of revenue-producing Web sites averaged $4 million.

The survey also found that the average B-to-B sale is almost $3,000. For
1-in-10, it is above $10,000. And 37% of manufacturing/industrial sites
(having at least 1,700 employees) are profitable; 1-in-4 expects to be
profitable in 1998; and 29% declare that their Web site is not a tool for generating revenue.

“The global economic impact of e-commerce is surging across all industry sectors,” said ActivMedia’s vice president of research Harold Wolhandler. “Our findings, based on a global random sample of all Web sites, indicate that the high-profile leaders are not the only successes online. Large and small companies alike have learned the ropes of on-line marketing and find that cyberspace is a wonderfully productive marketplace.”

The study is available for purchase as a single report copy for $2,995 or as a multi-seat site license–allowing access for an entire department–for
$5,000.