• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 3, 2009

In the fourth quarter, traffic to consumer magazine Web sites rose 11.1% year-over-year, according to new data released Tuesday by the Magazine Publishers of America trade association in conjunction with Nielsen Online.

The increase nearly quadrupled the rate of growth for the overall U.S. Web universe, which grew 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the MPA. The reason for the disparity in growth rates is clear, according to MPA President and CEO Nina Link. "There's simply richer, better content," she said during opening remarks at an MPA-hosted conference in New York on Tuesday.

During the fourth quarter of 2008, consumer magazine sites averaged 75 million unique monthly visitors, compared to 67.5 million during the same period in 2007. The average fourth quarter monthly reach for magazine sites was 45.1% of the total U.S. population--an increase of 7.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, during which time the average monthly reach was 41.8%.

In addition, visitors to magazine sites spent more than a third more time with their online magazine brands, the MPA found. In the fourth quarter, visitors spent an average of 2.4 billion minutes per month, resulting in a 34.4% increase compared to the same period in 2007, with 1.78 billion minutes.

How is the economy affecting industry shifts? For better or worse, it is causing "an acceleration of the digital trends," Roger Neal, EVP and general manager of BusinessWeek.com, said during a conference panel, "Raising the Digital Bar in a Down Economy."

Publishers in attendance on Tuesday also expressed a growing interest in e-commerce, which now accounts for over 20% of revenue at The Knot, according to Carley Roney, co-founder and editor in chief of the "life-stage" online media company.

John Loughlin, EVP and general manager of Hearst Magazines, said he is also in the process of launching a major e-commerce effort, which will include "three major store efforts," and ultimately support more than six efforts.

The data released Tuesday is based on MPA analysis of Nielsen Online-supplied data from 476 consumer magazine brands on the Web.