Getting Religion: Faith Goes Online, Advertisers Find Attractive Demo

Keeping the faith is big business--particularly online. Increasing numbers of Americans are looking to the Internet to find spiritual nourishment, and advertisers are beginning to capitalize on the opportunity afforded by the online exodus.

According to "Faith Online," a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 64 percent of the nation's 128 million Internet users have used the Web for spiritual and religious purposes--a figure that represents a substantially higher number than the Pew Project has measured in the past. That 64 percent represents 82 million Americans.

The study also found that 38 percent, or 48.6 million online Americans, have sent and received email with spiritual content; 35 percent, or 44.8 million online Americans, have sent or received online greeting cards related to religious holidays; and 32 percent, or 41 million Web users, have gone online to read religious accounts of religious events and affairs.

The online faithful are more likely to be women, white, college-educated, middle-aged, and well-to-do. They also tend to be more active Internet users. Two-thirds of those who attend weekly religious services use the Internet for personal religious or spiritual purposes.

Steve Waldman, editor-in-chief and CEO of Beliefnet.com, an online spiritual community site, notes that the study illustrates that "the Internet is not only good for stocks, banking, and porn--it's also good for spirituality." He jokes that "thousands of years of strong interest" mark religion's importance in people's lives.

On the business end, Waldman claims that Beliefnet, profitable since October 2002, is proof positive that religion and media work well together. Waldman claims that consumer interest in religion is stronger than ever, as noted by consumer response to related media attention generated by movies like Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," as well as the newsstand success of recent issues of Time, Newsweek, and People issues featuring religious subject matter.

Waldman notes that Beliefnet has an extremely loyal user base, because the Internet affords people certain advantages in terms of being able to cultivate their faith. "Religion is very personal," he says, adding: "Sometimes people are scared to talk about faith because they might be perceived as naïve or offensive [by others]." He adds that the speed, intimacy, and anonymity of the Internet drive Beliefnet's user loyalty.

Beliefnet is free to users, so it generates revenue through selling advertising on its publishing properties. In addition to its main content site, which reaches 1 million unique users and racks up 18-20 million page views per month, according to Waldman, Beliefnet publishes several daily newsletters that reach 4 million subscribers, and has 7.1 million total subscriptions. Each newsletter serves six ads, while the Web site hosts 4-5 ads per page.

Beliefnet advertisers range from large media companies like ABC and NBC--particularly when they feature made-for-TV movies or air programming that deals with religion or spirituality--to national non-profits like Habitat for Humanity. Self-help Web sites and book publishers, along with industry verticals such as dating, dieting, cosmetics, and apparel marketers, are also advertisers. Nearly 70 percent of Beliefnet's users are women, and 86 percent of these women have kids.

"People come to our site to engage in something that is very important to them," says Waldman. Not that shopping for products and searching for information is not important, he says, but religion and spirituality are concepts that people tend to take very seriously. Waldman says that Beliefnet's core audience is "an attractive demographic to advertisers," noting that advertisers that are reticent to market to religious/spiritual sectors are missing out on a desirable consumer population segment.

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