• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 12, 2007

Clearly onto something, NBC's iVillage managed to boost display ad revenue by 46% year-over-year in the first quarter--an imposing figure when compared to the industry's overall revenue growth rate of 26%, as reported by the Internet Advertising Bureau last week.

If iVillage can maintain such rapid growth throughout the year, it would be looking at annual revenue approaching $150 million--50% more than last year's $100 million.

In the midst of this strong growth, iVillage yesterday made several key changes to its sales and marketing team.

Wanda Weber was promoted to vice president, ad sales and marketing from vice president of sales. She will report directly to Peter Naylor, senior vice president, digital media sales for NBC Digital Media.

Promoting from within is the best way to maintain strong relationships, according to Naylor.

"Between our top sales people, we have over 85 years of collective DNA," he said. "Tenure has a lot to do with building relationships."

In her new role, Weber is expected to lead the sales strategies and revenue goals for iVillage as a whole, including its lifestyle content, iVillage Total Health and The Newborn Channel. She will also work hand-in-hand with iVillage Senior Vice President and Editor in Chief Jennie Baird to develop and maintain ad strategies moving forward.

Debbie Wogan, formerly vice president, regional sales, takes Weber's old position as vice president, sales for iVillage lifestyles. She will oversee ad partnerships for the lifestyles section, and lead a national team of salespeople based in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

In addition, salesperson Brenda Coan was promoted to national sales director, while Matthew Schulte joined in the same position. Schulte spent six years at Dow Jones, most recently as director of strategic sales and marketing.

Launched in 1995, iVillage was a pioneer in the community aspect of the Web--now all the rage--breaking out categories of interest to women, including health, parenting, pregnancy, beauty, style, fitness, relationships, food and entertainment.

"We were the ultimate social network before they became popular," said Deborah Fine, president, iVillage.

The site's keys to success, according to Fine, include member loyalty and community; the scope of its content verticals; and original, relevant and regularly updated content.

iVillage remains the top online destination for women, with 27 million monthly unique visitors worldwide, and 17 million monthly unique visitors nationally, according to comScore Media Metrix.

In other words, NBC scored big by paying $600 million for iVillage last year in the wake of similarly weighty Web media acquisitions--reportedly besting other big-media suitors like The New York Times and News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media.