Company spun off of UCG is reaping "extraordinary results" from the internet.

TechTarget.com, founded in 1999 as a spin-off of United Communications Group, currently has four information technology (IT) web sites whose exponential growth "is running way ahead of our expectations," says UCG founding partner Bruce Levenson. "It's our biggest and boldest internet venture, and the results have been extraordinary."

TechTarget.com evolved from a Boston-based technology division of UCO with the launch of a web site called Search400.com targeted to IT professionals using IBM AS /400 computing systems. Greg Strakosch, who is now CEO of TechTarget.com, oversaw the launch.

Strakosch describes their industry-specific search engines as huge time savers. "Rather than go to 10 sites a day, or go to a general content search engine like Yahoo and get 2,000 useless hits, specialists know that our information is organized and prioritized so they only have to go to one site. By word of mouth alone, Search400 just took off." It now has a base of 20,000 users.

Last August, with a $12 million investment from UCG, TechTarget launched SearchDomino.com aimed at Lotus Domino software users. That was followed by the launches of SearchNT.com, targeted to WindowsNT/Windows 2000 users, and SearchStorage.com, which serves architects and managers in the data storage field.

Revenues come principally from ad sponsorships. Strakosch told NL/NL that they've sold a dozen ranging in annual fees of $50,000 to $300,000. "Our users are very, very qualified," Levenson adds. "We've sold huge chunks of ad space to big vendors, including IBM." He says major advertisers are attracted to the web sites because they know they're reaching the exact audience they want. Ads will soon include lucrative employment classifieds and equipment auctions.

Asked why UCG spun TechTarget off as a separate company, Levenson said that with the nature of internet industry they had to be able to attract the best in the business, offering them a piece of the company. For example, they recruited Computer World editor-in-chief Paul Gillin, who is vice president of editorial content.

TechTarget continues to publish print versions of its IT newsletters, with no plans to change their multi-format offerings.

United Communications founding partner Bruce Levenson says the company has been offering electronic access to its specialized information since 1980, with the launch of one of the first successful online business information services--one that is still thriving today.

Last summer, in a keynote address at the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Assn. conference, he said UCG will generate $420 million via the internet by 2003. Currently 40% of UCG's revenues come from online publishing.

UCC is one of the most respected companies in the newsletter business, not only for its business acumen but also for the way it treats its employees, its award-winning journalism, and its philanthropic work in the Washington, D.C. area.

It publishes just over 100 newsletters in the following nine divisions: automotive, computer, financial, energy, government, health & human services, telecommunications, transportation, and mortgage banking.