McClatchy online revenue stands out

McClatchy Co., the No. 2 newspaper publisher, grew online revenue more than 12% during the quarter. CEO Gary Pruitt told Wall Street analysts that success was in part a result of the publisher's push to build an online ad base independent of its print edition.

As of late 2006, he said, 70% of the paper's online ads were the result of either up-sells from print or buys in tandem with print. Today, print advertisers account for 50% of McClatchy's web business, as the chain has been able to attract a growing number of online-only advertisers in nonclassifieds categories such as retail. "This is significant because it's establishing a separate, independent business from our print product," Mr. Pruitt told analysts.

Steep spending declines
But several major publishers have not been as successful on that front and are apparently paying for it now, according to a report in Adverisitng Age. . Tribune Co., Lee Enterprises and E.W. Scripps all reported declines in web advertising during the most recent quarter, a worrying development in an industry that has been able to count on the uninterrupted growth of its websites during a period in which it has been able to count on little else.

At Lee -- which publishes a number of Midwestern titles including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- online ad revenue declined 9.1% during the quarter.

"The decline in print has been so pervasive that it's taking the online stuff with it," said Benchmark Co. Media Analyst Ed Atorino, who has covered the sector for three decades. "This is the worst market we've seen."

But not every publisher is seeing declines online. Randy Bennett, senior VP-business development at the Newspaper Association of America, said the industry is "probably" on track for double-digit online-revenue growth this year, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years. Online newspaper revenue in 2007 grew about 19%, markedly less than its 31% rate of expansion in 2005 and 2006.

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