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The Association of Online Publishers (AOP) annual census, released this week, has shown optimism among publishers despite the worsening economic conditions.

The AOP predicts a 16% growth in digital revenues for 2009 as its members eye up alternative ways to monetise their sites.

Tim Faircliff, co-chair of the AOP and general manager of consumer media at Thomson Reuters, said the results demonstrated robustness and optimism within the industry.

"Digital revenues are coming from different sources," he said. "This survey gives a realistic snapshot. Members continue to have conversations about exploring different revenue streams."

Andy Mitchell, group commercial director of Associated Northcliffe Digital (AND), said 16% growth was a realistic figure.

"Within certain areas of our business, we're predicting higher year-on-year figures," he said.

A BBC Worldwide spokeswoman said the average forecast growth is an enviable figure when compared with the broader media industry.

"The figures are testament to the fact that, despite a challenging market, publishers of quality content are still able to work with advertisers to offer a high value proposition."

However, other publishers were surprised by the predictions. Danny Ward-Lee, Future's digital commercial director, said, "I thought it would have been lower as many of the newspaper sites rely on recruitment and classifieds."

AOP members have said sites must explore alternative revenue opportunities to standard display advertising to boost revenues.

AND's Mitchell said, "We've moved into other ad revenue streams, such as run of network and behavioural targeting, so we're not one dimensional. Areas like dating continue to be important."

A BBC Worldwide spokeswoman said, "We do see opportunities for diversified revenue streams in addition to advertising and the scope varies from genre to genre."

The census comes as publishers continue to suffer from flagging ad revenues. Richard Parboo, head of online sales at ITV, said, "The display market is flat. There's no shortage of demand for video. One of the key drivers for us has been short- and long-form content across our site."

The research also found almost two-thirds (63%) of publishers expect to increase their digital investment in 2009, with just 7% predicting a decrease.

Some 65% of AOP members, which include Bauer Consumer Media, Hearst Digital and Guardian News & Media, expect further integration across departments such as advertising planning and research, product and brand research and advertising sales in 2009.

The report showed four out of ten publishers plan to increase their training budgets and 51% expect to keep budgets at the same as 2008.

Mitchell said making investments was a "no brainer" for AND. "We invest where it makes sense, especially in technology," he said.

Neil Robinson, digital director at IPC Media, said the magazine publisher intends to invest in staff.

"What's critical for us is training and development to make people feel confident and skilled," he said.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk.