Tribune’s LATimes.com expects to generate $25 million in display ad revenue this year, more than tripling the $6 million that area attracted three years ago, according to Rob Barrett, SVP interactive media and site GM at the paper’s website. By 2011, the site will account for about 20 percent of the paper’s cash flow, he told the Kelsey Group’s conference on local media, according to ClickZ. In keeping with the event’s theme, Barrett focused on the paper’s expanded local efforts rather than its national newspaper ad alliances, such as QuadrantOne, which is backed by parent Tribune, NYTCo (NYSE: NYT), Gannett (NYSE: GCI) and Hearst.

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To ensure it doesn’t lose ground among LA readers and marketers, the paper is concentrating on the hometown’s movie business with a forthcoming section called HollywoodBacklot.com and tapping into local passions for environmental news, immigration and the city’s car culture. The site has revamped its travel section, with additional categories on the California wine country and has taken a wider regional focus on cities like San Diego and Las Vegas, 

At the same conference, Patricia Lee Smith, VP for new media at The Seattle Times Co., also emphasized the importance of local digital ad efforts. Smith claims that its NWSource, an online city guide to about 30 neighborhoods, has a CPM rate that’s three times that of The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer sites.