Newspaper Ads Fall 8.6 Percent in 2Q

By Seth Sutel, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Advertising revenues at newspapers fell 8.6 percent in the April-to-June period of this year, as an accelerating decline in print ads more than outweighed gains in online advertising, an industry group reported Friday.

Print-only advertising at newspapers slumped 10.2 percent to $10.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of declines, according to figures compiled by the Newspaper Association of America.

Online advertising at newspapers continued to grow, rising 19.3 percent to $795.7 million, although that was a slower rate than the 22.3 percent gain recorded in the first quarter and the 35 percent gain in the fourth quarter of last year.

At the same time, the share of online ads as a portion of all newspaper revenues continued to rise, making up 7 percent of total revenues in the first quarter, compared with 5.4 percent in the same period a year ago.

On a combined basis, print and online advertising combined fell 8.6 percent compared with the same three-month period a year ago to $11.3 billion, following declines of 4.8 percent in the first quarter and 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

Newspapers still make up the largest category of overall advertising expenditures in the United States, but advertisers are steadily shifting money out of print advertising to the Internet as people increasingly go online for information and entertainment.

A study released by the media investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson in early August predicted that overall Internet advertising spending, including the ads on Web sites of traditional media outlets, will overtake print newspaper advertising in 2010 as the largest advertising category.