Backpage.com, a Village Voice Media property, and Eros.com were top beneficiaries of Craigslist's decision to stop accepting adult-services ads, according to classified ads consultancy AIM Group.
The consultancy estimates that Village Voice Media's Backpage.com received a total of $1.67 million in revenue from adult-services ads in September, an increase of $221,000 or 15 percent compared to the prior month. Eros.com saw its revenue from adult-services ads total $566,225, an increase of 36 percent compared to the prior month.
Craigslist had been collecting an estimated $3.7 million a month in adult-services advertising, according to AIM Group.
In August, AIM Group projected that the top sites for adult-services ads, including Craigslist, were on track to bring in a total of $76 million in annual revenue. With Craigslist out of the picture, the consultancy revised that estimate to $39 million for 2010.
The AIM Group report comes one day after Backpage.com said it would review all ads and images in the personals and adults sections of its site. Backpage.com executives said the company would search ads based on keywords to identify and ban inappropriate advertising and discussions as well as dedicate additional staff to identify questionable advertisements.
| Number of Listings | Estimated Monthly Revenue | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | September | August |
September |
|
| Backpage | 86,598 | 101,783 | $1,450,000 | $1,671,000 |
| Eros.com | 3,440 | 3,468 | $417,000 | $566,000 |
| CityVibe.com | 5,898 | 9,615 | $215,000 | $253,000 |
| MyRedBook.com | N/A | 43,489 | $16,000 | $19,000 |
| Escorts.com | 309 | 4,181 | $13,000 | $22,000 |
Source: AIM Group
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Anna Maria Virzi, ClickZ's executive editor from 2007 until 2012, covered Internet business and technology since 1996. She was on the launch team for Ziff Davis Media's Baseline and also worked at Forbes.com, Web Week, Internet World, and the Connecticut Post.
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