• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 1, 2005

Led by a surge in entertainment spending, U.S. consumers shelled out $987 million for online content during the first half of this year, marking a 16 percent increase from the first half of 2004, according to a report issued Monday by the Online Publishers Association.

Spending at entertainment and lifestyle soared by about 45 percent to $265 million in the first half of this year, from $183 million in the first six months of 2004. Almost half of the total entertainment/lifestyle spending--$115 million--was from single-purchase sales, such as digital music.

The uptick in entertainment spending is likely to last for a while, said Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association. "That trend is going to continue as broadband grows," he said, adding that more rich content and high-value entertainment is available online now than in the past.

Still, the vast majority of Web surfers--around 89 percent--didn't pay for any content as of this June.

Other categories showing large gains were research sites, which surged by 39 percent to $73 million; games, which grew by 23 percent to $54 million; personal growth, which jumped 19 percent to $58 million; and personals and online dating sites, which grew by 8 percent to $245 million.

But, in what might prove a bad omen for news publications, general news sites, such as NYTimes.com and CNN.com, saw a 14 percent decline in consumer spending to $39 million in the first half of this year--from $46 million last year. In the beginning of this year, NYTimes.com was mostly available for free, but had some limited premium content, such as archived stories; the company's decision to put many of its most popular columnists behind a paid wall wasn't implemented until last month.

"We haven't seen any great indication that there's an inclination to pay for general news," Zimbalist said. But, he added, consumers might be swayed by new marketing and packaging--such as the New York Times Co.'s new Times Select, which since September has offered access to columnists and archived stories, and might prove popular with consumers.

For the study, comScore Networks analyzed behavior of its panel members at a variety of paid content Web sites, excluding business-to-business sites and adult-oriented sites--including pornography and gambling sites--among others.