US newspaper advertising revenue down 28%
US newspaper advertising revenue was down 28% year on year in Q3 2009, falling from $10.1 billion to about $6.4 billion, according to new figures from the Newspaper Association of America.
The NAA said that classifieds were down 64.7%, while real estate and auto both saw 43% declines.
Online also suffered in Q3, with revenues falling 17%, from $750 million in Q3 2008 to $623 million this year.
This is the 14th consecutive quarter of revenue declines, said the NAA, with online revenue falling for six consecutive quarters.
John Sturm, NAA president and CEO, said: “Given the depressed state of the overall economy, and earlier third-quarter financial reporting by publicly traded newspaper companies, the Q3 industry-wide advertising revenue summary should come as no surprise.
“These numbers are in line with most expectations, and even show some modest directional improvement in key categories like retail and national.”
Elsewhere, a recent survey of 500 online readers of newspapers and magazines found that only 5% would be prepared to pay a monthly or yearly subscription.
The survey, carried out by Continental Research, revealed that while a large majority (63%) said they simply would not pay to read their favourite articles online, micropayments – not subscriptions – were the most popular payment mechanism.
A report from Opinion Research Corporation, meanwhile, revealed that Americans are increasingly turning to online and radio sources for news and information, while relying less on daily newspapers.