Ask HN: Why is WebMD so profitable?

2 points by AKSHAYUDAYBHAT ↗ HN
I have a question regarding WebMD and it's good financial performance. WebMD is a publishing company similar to (in a sense) the Old School Magazine publishers. However in a time when other content producers are loosing money continuously, WebMD seems to earning quite handsomely?

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=WBMD+Profile

Can you help me understanding reasons for it: Here are my guesses

1: Unlike other publishers WebMD reviews it contents from a certified doctor hence people are more likely to trust it over mom and pop blogs.

2: A real good SEO job, since for nearly any health related term it is one of the top few results.

3: Web focused content development, unlike other companies which are still focusing on print media.

4: A niche market and first mover advantage. ( WSJ, Newsweek have many competitors)

5: Aggressive nature of advertisers. Most of the advertisers on WebMD seem to be drug companies which spend significant amounts on advertising, and WebMD represents a perfect platform to reach out to potential consumers?

Also in light of potential competitors like HealthLine (a focused semantic search engine) receiving VC funding. Is content aggregation a good idea as far as healthcare related information of internet is concerned? http://deals.venturebeat.com/2010/04/26/healthline-funding/

These are few reasons I could come up with. Please Comment!

2 comments

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I would guess that they get a lot of hits (everyone gets sick), and that the pharmaceutical companies give them large amounts of money for ads.

Also, unlike 'Old School Magazines', almost all of their content is reusable. It is really more like a database of health information than a magazine.

a.) How much new content do they add on monthly basis? b.) How much competition do they have in SERPs? ( subclass of 2, no comp from wikipedia).