The Daily Mail's website became profitable for the first time in June, reports Media Week. The magazine says that after achieving a near 80% year-on-year rise in revenues, mostly due to advertising, MailOnline is set to generate almost £30m this year.
The site includes all the editorial material published in print in the Mail and Mail on Sunday plus generating a considerable amount of its own content.
It has long been the most popular newspaper site in the UK and, according to comScore figures, overtook the New York Times to become the leading online English-language newspaper at the start of the year.
Evidently, the publisher benefited from ad spend during the Queen's Jubilee and Euro 2012 football championships.
The magazine quotes a source as saying: "We always knew we would achieve a monthly operating profit this summer, with total revenues up more than 75% year on year, but to do it in June was very welcome."
The site, run by Martin Clarke, is serviced by fewer than 30 people in the UK, a team of 20 in New York and 10 more in Los Angeles.
The digital growth contrasts with the fortunes of Daily Mail & General Trust's national newspaper print division, which posted a 26% fall in operating profits in the six months to 1 April.
MailOnline attracted more than 5.6m daily unique browsers in May, according to the last audited ABCe figures, and almost 92m monthly uniques.
Mobile users account for about a quarter of daily users, with the site's iPhone and Android apps attracting more than 220,000 people a day.
Source: Media Week
