An unaudited survey by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has estimated advertising revenues earned by local online publishers in the first nine months last year were HK$167 million.
Analysts said this was insufficient to sustain existing portals' long-term operations.
A joint report issued yesterday by the local chapter of IAB, and the independent conductor of the survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the figure represented 114 per cent growth, year on year.
Revenues also grew in each of the three quarters, the report said.
New media research head at Lehman Brothers, Stephen McKeever, said the revenue was in line with the United States-based brokerage's forecast.
But he believed it could sustain only one or two major portals over the long term.
'There are an awful lot of Internet firms vying for the same advertising dollars,' he said.
