Vortals appeal to online advertisers, because they serve well-defined audiences. Vortal users also tend to be more action-or market-oriented than their portal counterparts. As a result, vortal ads typically cost two to three times more than ads placed on portals.
In the competition for online advertising dollars, portals have copied vortals to some extent by organizing their content around specific interests. Portals also offer advertisers a much broader reach than vortals. In 2000 Forrester Research estimated that the top three portals—Yahoo!, America Online (AOL), and the Microsoft Network (MSN)—accounted for 15 percent of all Internet traffic and 45 percent of all online advertising.
As vortals evolve, they will likely not remain committed to an advertising supported business model. They will generate revenue by membership or subscription fees, transaction fees, software licensing, and other sources.
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