• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 7, 2007

New York Times Company CEO Janet Robinson predicted a 30% expansion in the company's online revenues in 2007, attributing most of it to "organic growth" rather than acquisition. At the same time, she touted acquisitions such as About.com as key drivers of the predicted upward trend.

Robinson made her remarks in a presentation to the Bear Stearns Media Conference on Tuesday.

"We expect digital revenues will grow approximately 30% to about $350 million," said Robinson. While not ruling out more online acquisitions, in 2007 she said the company would focus on incremental growth in Web traffic and revenue by "attracting more users, deepening their engagement and then monetizing our readers' usage."

Citing the company's strong performance in recent months, Robinson boasted that "in January the New York Times Company was the 11th most-visited parent company on the Web, with approximately 43 million unique visitors." Robinson noted the rapid rise of online revenue as a percentage of overall revenue--from 4% in 2004 to 6% in 2005, then 8% in 2006.

The company's purchase of About.com, Robinson said, is paying big dividends by helping other properties organize online content for maximum exposure through search: "It excels at optimizing content for search. By increasing the exposure of our content through search, we are attracting additional users."

Meanwhile, the site itself "attracts more women than iVillage, more teens than MTV.com and more men than ESPN.com."

She also pointed to new Web partnerships as key online revenue drivers. The company's partnership with online job clearinghouse Monster.com received particular attention. In 2007, Robinson said "our 19 newspaper Web sites will co-brand their online recruitment advertising Web sites with Monster." Robinson was also hopeful about the company's recent investment in Brightcove, a leading Internet video provider.

While substantial, the forecast 30% growth in Internet revenues to $350 million in 2007 actually represents a slowing in percentage rate of increase compared to previous years--down from 41.2% growth in 2006. In absolute dollar terms, the projected $76 million increase over $273.9 million in 2006 is also slightly down from the 2005-2006 comparison. In 2006, revenues grew $80 million, compared to $193.9 million in 2005.