• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 4, 2010

Thanks to the improving performance of Shopzilla and Bizrate, Scripps Networks Interactive on Thursday said third-quarter revenue from interactive services rose 7.2% to $41.8 million, while profits rose 11% to $7.1 million.

The company attributed signs of life at Shopzilla to the success of its European properties, along with continued efforts to reposition the domestic business.

"All of our networks and our online shopping-related businesses contributed to double-digit revenue and earnings growth," company chairman, president and chief executive Kenneth Lowe said Thursday.

In particular, "we've turned the corner at Shopzilla, where we've been working diligently to improve our position in the market with both consumers and advertisers to set the stage for renewed growth," Lowe said.

"We view Shopzilla's positive results for the quarter as the inflection point in our efforts to restage this business and enhance its competitive position as one of the most influential players in online retail."

Meanwhile, expenses at the company's interactive services segment increased 6.4% to $34.7 million.

Scripps Networks' online comparison-shopping Web sites include BizRate.com, Beso, Tada.com and Shopzilla.com.

Going forward, the company said Shopzilla was better positioned thanks to the "improved utilization of the 80 million monetized product search results now under management."

The sites are also experiencing greater visitation rates, which it attributed to better search indexing and broadening of the product portfolio to include Beso.com, a product discovery service for so-called "taste-based" products.

In the third quarter, redirects per user session were up 17% year-over-year, which indicates that the ecommerce sites are effectively helping consumers find what they are looking for.

Overall, Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. -- which also runs the Travel Channel, Food Network, and other cable channels -- said third-quarter profit rose a healthy 55.7%.

During the third-quarter, the company said it earned $101.7 million -- up from $65.3 million this time last year -- while revenue rose 39.6% to from $364.5 to $508.7 million.