Online job board revenue outpaces classified ads

Leading online job boards nearly tripled the revenue growth of traditional newspaper classified ads in the third quarter, a market-tracking company said Friday.

Revenue growth at national online boards Careerbuilder, Monster, and HotJobs was 47.4 percent in the quarter, compared with the same period last year, versus 15.9 percent for newspapersí recruitment category in classified ads, New York-based Corzen Inc. said.

In terms of revenues, however, online boards were way behind newspapers, $217 million versus $1.1 billion.

Although the newspapers still generate more revenue in print than the job boards do online, the difference in the growth rates is dramatic, Bruce Murray, chief executive of Corzen, said in a statement.

Online job boards have posted higher revenue growth than newspapers for the last three consecutive quarters, and Corzen predicts they will eventually overtake classified ads in volume and revenue.

Corzen measures online job postings and revenue for about 200 U.S. markets, tracking the trends in advertising spending by employers.