The BBC has put a figure on how much advertising it has sold on BBC.com. The controversial decision to plaster ads on the international version of the BBC News website and other properties made £1.5 million ($2.96 million) from ads and sponsorships since its November launch. The ads have been appearing on the news, weather and home pages.

By comparison, the BBC earned £7 million ($13.8 million) from the distribution and sale of clips to destinations like YouTube and Apple iTunes.

Digital income still only accounts for a fraction of profits at the commercial arm of the BBC. Overall BBC Worldwide profits were up 17% to £118 million. Digital account for 2.7%, up from 1.1% compared to the past year.

According to the annual report of BBC Worldwide:

The company intends to build on the existing strong position of the BBC website internationally, grow its reach, add more content, and make this content more relevant to overseas users through personalisation and localisation. bbc.com delivers a new flow of income into the BBC for investment in its core journalistic mission and capabilities, in addition to the fees that BBC Worldwide pays the BBC for the rights and services it uses.

These initial figures from ad sales on the BBC website suggest Worldwide has struggled to grab a significant slice of the online advertising market, even though the BBC has one of the most valuable and popular properties on the net.

By comparison, the New York Times was expecting around $350 million in online revenue for 2007, while the Washington Post’s website accounted for most of its $114.2 million in revenue for 2007.

Clearly BBC Worldwide has some catching up to do.

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