TMZ brings in $15 million in revenue
TMZ Brings Ad Sales In-House With Telepictures; Future After AOL Spinoff Under Spotlight
TMZ.com has been profitable since it launched, but remains to be seen how it looks this year and next, especially if it goes completely independent of AOL. No one would confirm the revenues, but they are likely in the $15 million range. AOL still drives a lot of traffic to it, but TMZ now has to compete with AOL’s own celeb portal Popeater, among others, and one source says the contracted number of AOL homepage placements have gone down, though TMZ says it got a lot of promotion during the Michael Jackson story. The two sites differ in tone: TMZ is focused on hard-hitting breaking news, while Popeater is a more advertiser-friendly venue focused on soft-focus stories and celeb interviews. AOL still has a prominent link to TMZ in its main navigationâ€â€and other placesâ€â€which it is contractually obligated to, so that will continue.
