US newspaper groups see ad sales fall

by Staff,, Brand Republic 20-Aug-02, 13:40

NEW YORK - US newspaper groups continue to report a fall in advertising revenues, despite earlier improvements in the year.

At the New York Times Group, advertising revenues across the board fell by 0.7% for July to $146.4m (£96.1m), compared with the same period last year.

At Gannett, which publishes USA Today, national newspaper advertising revenue fell by 5.6% to $53.9m for July. However, across the group as a whole ad revenue was up by 0.9% to $363.2m.

At the Wall Street Journal, owned by Dow Jones, advertising volume was down by 17% for the month, and for the year as a whole it has fallen by 22.8%.

Hardest hit is the recruitment classified market, on both a national and local basis, while other categories are still showing strength, particularly real estate and motoring.

However, according to reports, newspapers are worried about the impact of Kmart filing for bankruptcy. Kmart is one of the biggest advertisers in local newspapers.

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