Online advertising is shrinking but micropayments may yet have legs, if earnings from Fotolog‘s French operator Hi-Media are anything to go by.

The company, which publishes several vertical content sites including JeuxVideo.com, ActuStar.com and the Blogorama network, saw Q1 web ads dip 5.5 percent from last year to €13.2 million, but its Hi-Pay and Allopass mobile payments wing grew 65 percent to €23.4 million, helping the company finish 30 percent up overall at €36.6 million. Hi-Media, led by CEO Cyril Zimmerman, processed seven million micropayment transactions, 255,000 mobile payments through Allopass.

The outfit also operates an ad network, which in the period added Wamba.es, Sonico.com and Netlog.es in Spain, and deinfussballclub.de, motor.de and freitag.de in Germany to join. Flickr rival Fotolog, popular in Latin America, now has 25 million members. Hi-Media also has stakes in popular content sites Sport.fr, vivat.be and rue89.com. It confirmed its earlier guidance targeting double-digit 2009 sales growth. Results.

• Earnings: France’s Hi-Media Still Expects Strong Ads Growth
• Hi-Media Rejects Reverse Takeover Bid From French Rival Rentabiliweb
• French Digital Ad Growth Slowing - But Still Selling Better Than Other Media