MDLinx Offers Doctors Free Access to Medical Articles, Charges ‘Premium’ Advertising Rates
The Washington Post yesterday reported on MDLinx.com, a company that collects articles from medical journals and organizes them by specialty online. The site offers free access and hopes to earn a profit this year by charging "extremely high" advertising rates. While average Web advertising costs between $13 and $15 per 1,000 viewers, MDLinx charges from $100 to $125 per 1,000. David Rothenberg, MDLinx.com's chief executive, said that pharmaceutical companies are "more than willing" to pay for the advertising since the Web site is used by a "prized audience" of physicians. With 70,000 registered users, MDLinx's traffic is "relatively light," but Rothenberg said the "premium ad rates" compensate for the small online traffic volume. In addition to providing links to articles in medical journals, MDLinx offers e-mail newsletters on "more than a dozen sub-specialties" (McCarthy, Washington Post, 4/16).
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