Despite a 53 percent decline in advertising revenue in the third quarter, Demand Media shareholders were pleased to see the company’s e-commerce business growing.

Shares rose 17.6 percent today to close at $5.29 after the company reported on Thursday a net loss of $13.8 million (27 cents a share) on total revenue of $28.5 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

That beat analysts’ consensus estimate of a 42-cent loss.

During the same period last year, Demand reported a net loss of $223.8 million on total revenue of $41.3 million.

Offsetting its declining content business, Demand Media’s e-commerce business, which includes art e-retailer Saatchi Art and consumer goods e-retailer Society 6, grew 63 percent compared to the same period last year, generating $12.6 million in revenue for the quarter.

The company’s content business was especially hard hit by a decline in traffic to website eHow and lower advertising revenue. Traffic to the company’s media business has suffered as Google’s search engine algorithms have changed, the importance of social media has risen and competition has moved in.

Demand Media’s content brands include eHow, Livestrong and Cracked. The company has been trying to reverse its declining Web traffic by focusing on higher-quality content. It acquired lifestyle video creator Leaf.tv in September.

Demand Media Chief Executive Sean Moriarty said he sees a silver lining in the earnings report.

“I am excited by the rapid growth of our marketplaces business during Q3,” he said in a statement. “As we move into 2016, our top priorities will be creating high-quality and authoritative content across all of our media properties, stabilizing the eHow business and maintaining accelerating growth in our marketplaces business.”

Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.