IVillage recorded 6.9m page impressions during January 2002. This is ahead of competitor Femail.com, the Daily Mail's women's portal, which recorded 4.2m page impressions for the same period.
Handbag.com, a joint venture between Boots the Chemist and Hollinger Digital, has yet to report figures for January, but its last audit, recorded in October, saw the site score 6.3m page impressions.
According to Phil Rooke, chief executive at iVillage.co.uk: "We don't have the same marketing budget as handbag.com, so we decided to prove to our advertisers that we have a bigger audience."
IVillage.co.uk is a 拢50m joint venture between Tesco and iVillage in the US, where it operates iVillage.com. It has 11 content channels, such as diet and fitness, relationships, and pregnancy and baby, and generates revenue through advertising, sponsorship and some paid-for services.
Rook added: "Our audience has grown five-fold since December 2000. The market is currently an open one and there are only a few sites attracting and sustaining the attention and activity of women. I'm glad to say that iVillage UK is leading the field."
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