News Corp.'s (NWS ) been on the hunt since May, buying several firms to expand its Internet business and cash in on fast-rising online ad sales.
The media empire owned by Rupert Murdoch said last month that it would buy IGN Entertainment, a Web network for video game fans, for $650 million.
A month earlier, it said it would buy online sports company Scout Media for $60 million. And in July, it revealed plans to buy Intermix Media for $580 million. Intermix owns MySpace.com, a social networking site.
This summer, News Corp. also created a unit called Fox Interactive Media. Its job is to oversee the company's growing roster of online businesses.
"News Corp. recognizes sticky sites like (the ones it's buying) engage audiences and provide more avenues for increasing ad revenue," said Gerry Davidson, an analyst with market tracker Nielsen/Net-Ratings.
So-called community Web sites - and that includes those run by IGN, Scout and Intermix - have become hot meeting spots for people with common interests. This makes them appealing to advertisers looking to target specific groups.
When the IGN, Scout Media and Intermix deals close, News Corp. says its Web traffic will surge to 70 million unique users a month, from fewer than 25 million.
That number would make News Corp.'s Net holdings the No. 5 most visited on the Internet. Besides Yahoo and Google, it would trail only Time Warner's (TWX ) AOL unit and Microsoft's (MSFT ) MSN.
Spending on such U.S. sites soared 387% in August to $57.6 million vs. August 2004. This compares with June's 214% jump to $33.5 million. Nielsen tracks the figure every other month.
Online ad spending overall continues to rise. The Interactive Advertising Bureau, a New York trade group, says Internet ad revenue for the first half of 2005 jumped 26% from the year-earlier period to $5.8 billion.
"Disney, Time Warner, all of them have realized the importance of the Internet as the major driver on the advertising side," said Standard & Poor's analyst Tuna Amobi.
Viacom, (VIA ) for example, agreed in June to buy kids' community Web site Neopets for $160 million. Neopets hosts virtual pets that children "adopt" online.
Rather than create offshoots of, say, its Fox News Channel, News Corp. seems focused on creating independent sites that attract its type of customer.
Net gamer IGN, for example, attracts the same profile as Fox. Analysts say its users favor such activities as dating and sports, in addition to video games.
San Francisco-based IGN runs several Web sites. They include GameSpy.com, movie review site RottenTomatoes.com and male lifestyle site AskMen.com.
Its first-half revenue more than doubled from a year earlier to $28.7 million. It said its net loss narrowed to $7.5 million from $11.6 million.
Intermix runs more than 30 sites. They include Grab.com, a gaming site where users also do social networking. Intermix has 27 million monthly visitors.
"Look to them to invest more in newer digital platforms like wireless that will spur growth and allow them to monetize the content they already have," Amobi said.
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