Mail Online has reported digital advertising growth of 16% in the 11 months to the end of August, a significant slowdown on the almost 50% rate of growth seen a year ago.

Parent company Daily Mail & General Trust said Mail Online has reported ad revenue growth of 16% year on year, a £9m revenue increase to about £62m, in the year to the end of August.

This compares with a growth rate of 49% reported for approximately the same period last year.

Stephen Daintith, finance director at DMGT, said the company expects Mail Online to “comfortably” pass £70m for its full financial year to the end of September.

The company has previously said that it was aiming to make £80m in revenue this year, although it has said this is not a “hard target”.

The slowdown prompted analysts at Exane to publish a note to investors earlier this month warning that Mail Online was likely to miss its stated revenue target of £100m by the end of next year.

“We see the recent revenue slowdown of Mail Online (despite strong audience growth) as more structural than cyclical, with mobile, ad blocking and social media all bringing new challenges to monetisation,” said William Packer, analyst at Exane. “We now expect Mail Online to miss their £100m revenue target.”

Daintith admitted that given the slowdown, hitting £100m next year was now a “big goal”.

“In light of the current performance, it remains an ambitious target but we like to set big goals,” he said. “It is fair to say it is a more challenging target than it was a year ago. It remains a terrific aspiration and an indication of the direction we are pursuing. It will be achieved in the medium term.”

He said that over the past 11 months, Mail Online in the US has seen 46% ad revenue growth, it now accounts for about a quarter of Mail Online’s total ad revenues.

The UK operation, which accounts for two-thirds of total revenues, has grown ad revenues 15% over the same period.

The rest of the world has seen 17% growth in ad revenues and accounts for about 12% of total Mail Online revenues.

For the full year to the end of September 2014, Mail Online reported 41% revenue growth to £62m, beating its target of £60m.

DMGT said total underlying advertising revenues across Mail Online, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday were down 5% for the year to the end of August.

The newspaper titles have seen ad revenues fall 9% in the 11 months to the end of August.