Online advertising revenue at Future Publishing (LSE: FUTR), the magazine, online and events group, grew 31 percent in the half year ending 31 March 2008 to £4.7 million pounds, up from £3.6 million a year ago. It now accounts for 19 percent of its total ad revenue, up from 15 percent year on year.

It was one of the bright spots for the Bath-based media company that saw revenues decline to £78.3 million from £84 million, year-on-year. Pre-tax profits dropped 34 percent to £4.1 million pounds from £6.2 million, compared to the same period a year ago, though excluding exceptional credit of £2.7 million, pre-tax profits were up 17 percent. Future CEO Stevie Spring called the results in line with expectations, and said the company continued to take a “cautious view of the markets” and expected a “satisfactory outturn” for the full year.

Additional Highlights:

-- The company called its web strategy a “do and learn approach,” rather than a “learn and do” method, which was broken down into “lots of manageable projects,” and said it planned to invest further as it continued to “experiment” in the digital arena. It did not disclose an amount it had earmarked for further online investments.

-- Future’s combined web visitors across all of its web sites total over 11 million unique users per month.

-- GamesRadar, which Future calls its most “evolved web property” accounts for more than 30 percent of its games advertising revenue. The online site is the number three games information website in the world with
up to three million page views a day.

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