ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Six websites that sell prostitution advertising generated combined revenue at an annual rate of at least $34.1 million from September 2010 through May 2011. That’s nearly one-third more revenue than the annual rate million the AIM Group estimated last September –- before Craigslist stopped selling adult-services ads.

The largest beneficiary of the Craigslist change continues to be Backpage.com, a general classifieds site owned by Village Voice Media. Backpage.com is now the leading U.S. online publisher of prostitution ads. Since last September, Backpage has generated online revenue from escort and body-rub advertising at an annual rate of $22.7 million. That’s a 30 percent increase over the $17.4 million projected by the AIM Group before Craigslist stopped publishing adult services ads.

Craigslist pulled adult services ads due to pressure from law enforcement officials and anti-sex-trafficking groups who complained the ads promoted both prostitution and sex slavery involving girls under 18.

Village Voice Media, which is also facing pressure from law enforcement officials and anti-trafficking groups, has changed the adult advertising sections of Backpage but has not eliminated paid ads for escort services and body rubs. Backpage is the online classified advertising site for VVM’s 13 alternative weekly newspapers, the five weeklies published by Creative Loafing, and a number of other publications, mostly alternative weeklies.

U.S. publishers of online advertising posted directly by advertisers are protected by the Communications Decency Act if the ads have not been reviewed before they appear online – even if they promote prostitution or include illegal references to discrimination in housing, for example.

Backpage.com generated $1.97 million in May from online ads for escorts and body-rubs, according to conservative estimates by the AIM Group. That’s up 1.8 percent from April, and 36 percent higher than August 2011, when it sold at least $1.45 million in escort and body-rub ads.

The six sites tracked by AIM Group, including Backpage, generated $2.9 million in revenue from prostitution advertising in May, down 0.2 percent from the previous month. One of the tracked sites, Escorts.com, closed on June 1. Revenue there had declined for several months before the site shut down.

Unique visitors to 24 websites that promote escort services and prostitution advertising have increased 21.9 percent since Craigslist dropped adult services ads. Based on figures from Compete.com, unique visitors to those sites in May increased 2.8 percent to 5.4 million.

Of that total, 3.2 million visited Backpage, a 5.2 percent increase from April, and 36.7 percent increase since August 2010. The number includes visitors who go to all sections of Backpage.com, not just the sections displaying escort and body-rub ads.

By comparison, Craigslist had 60.9 million unique visitors in May, according to Compete.com.
This chart shows the growth in unique visitors since last July:

In general, Craigslist’s departure from the market has created a windfall for other sites that advertise or promote prostitution. Some sites have benefited more than others. AdultSearch.com, which launched just as Craigslist changed its policies, has grown rapidly and in May had revenue of about $94,000, based on AIM Group estimates. One of sites tracked, Escorts.com, announced in April that it would close at the end of May. After an initial boost in the fall of 2010, revenue on Escort.com has been flat or declining. In an unsigned e-mail, the company said it had decided to redirect its resources to pursue other ventures.

The AIM Group, an interactive-media consultancy based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., has been tracking prostitution advertising since August 2010.

The AIM Group counts the number of Backpage ads for female escorts and body rubs in 23 U.S. cities over a 30-day period. Revenue is estimated by multiplying the number of ads by the advertising rates in each city, plus an assumed additional charge to republish the ads four times. The research does not count ads published outside the primary cities, so it is likely revenue has been substantially underestimated.

The AIM Group also tracks revenue for five other sites that sell prostitution advertising – Eros.com, CityVibe.com, MyRedbook.com, Escorts.com and AdultSearch.com.

Two of those five sites had a revenue increase in May. AdultSearch.com showed a revenue gain of 17.9 percent to $94,167, and CityVibe.com showed an increase of 4.2 percent to $393,865 for the month.

The consulting group also tracks the number of listings on nine sites and unique visitors to 24 sites that promote prostitution either with listings or by allowing “reviews” of prostitution services.

The AIM Group tracked prostitution ads and, where possible, calculated the revenue they generate in these cities: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Dallas / Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Fla., Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Sarasota, Fla., Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington, D.C.

Overall, the AIM Group studies 24 websites that either sell listings or promote prostitution in other ways. Of those 24, we are able to compute revenue based on the number of listings and published advertising rates for six – Backpage.com, Eros.com, CityVible.com, MyRedbook.com, Escorts.com and AdultSearch.com. We can also count listings on three additional sites – NaughtyReviews.com, Eccie.com, and A1List.net. For the remaining 15, we track only unique visitors because the other data is not publicly available or because the sites have so little traffic that their revenues or listings would be insignificant. The remaining 15 sites are TheEroticReview.com, Sipsap.com, Preferred411.com, SexyEscortAds.com, BigDoggie.net, LocalEscortPages.com, HotLocalEscorts.com, MyProviderGuide.com, TNABoard.com, FindHotEscorts.com, EscortGuide.com, EroticServicesGuide.com, EpicDreams.com, Escortme.com, and BarebackEscorts.com.

The unique-visitors metric counts a user – a computer or IP address – only once no matter how many times the site is visited from that same location. It does not account for more than one person using the same computer, or one person visiting the same site from two or more different computers (one at work and one at home, for example).

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About the AIM Group: The AIM Group, formally known as the Advanced Interactive Media Group LLC, is the world’s leading consultancy in interactive media and classified advertising. It publishes Classified Intelligence Report, a continuous advisory service often called “the bible of the classified advertising industry.” The AIM Group works with leading media companies, broadcasters, dot-coms, yellow-page publishers and technology companies. It provides strategic and tactical consulting; sales training; proprietary and published research about interactive media, and other services. Founded in 1998, it is based in Altamonte Springs, Fla. For more information call (407) 788-2780 or see http://AIMGroup.com.

This monthly update report has been funded by a foundation that has asked not to be identified, in part because it does not want to seem to be taking credit for the Craigslist change in practice, nor promoting other adult-services advertising media.

The original Sept. 15, 2010, report can be purchased at www.aimgroup.com, and proceeds will be given to report’s sponsor. In addition, the AIM Group’s 47-page 2010 report on Craigslist, “Craigslist revenue to top $122 million,” is available through AIMGroup.com.

Note: Mark A. Whittaker, senior consultant for the AIM Group, and Peter M. Zollman, founding principal of the AIM Group, are available for comment on the research. Whittaker is available at 724-553-8428 or markw@aimgroup.com; Zollman is available at 407-788-2780 or peterz@aimgroup.com .