Abstract
Despite its widespread use and acceptance, the World Wide Web has yet to produce a consistently profitable revenue model for most site proprietors. Boasting some of the most popular and well-trafficked sites on the Web, the online sports segment typifies this plight.
This research offers a profile of three distinct categories of sports sites; identifies the revenue models being used by online sports sites; determines how much online sports sites are earning and spending on the Web, and gauges the opinions of respondents regarding the profitability of sports Web sites both now and in the future.
Results of this survey reveal that the sites studied are relatively established, highly trafficked and content rich despite a general lack of personnel resources. Banner ads were currently the leading revenue source, although sponsorship and underwriting were expected to play larger roles in the future. One third of the respondents indicated having spent no money promoting their Web sites. Finally, although nearly two thirds of the respondents said that profitability was a current goal of their sites, and that nearly all felt that sports sites in general were capable of operating profitably, fewer than half of the respondents indicated that they were operating profitably at the current time.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.