Newspaper Ad Revenue Falls To Lowest Level In 27 Years

NEW YORK — U.S. newspaper advertising revenue fell 7 percent during the first three months of the year. That left the industry's quarterly ad revenue at its lowest level in 27 years.

Combined print and online advertising revenue totaled $5.6 billion in the first quarter. That compared with $6 billion a year earlier.

Revenue was $5.2 billion in the first quarter of 1984. It had peaked in the fourth quarter of 2005 at $14.3 billion. Newspapers have struggled with the weak economy and a shift by advertisers to free and cheaper outlets on the Internet.

In a bright spot for newspapers, their online advertising revenue increased 11 percent to $808 million. But that hasn't been enough to offset the declines in print.

Comments

[MikeStrong]

12:30 PM on 06/06/2011

Part 3 of 3
5 - first and fourth quarter comparisons - 1984/2005 -
what was first quarter in both 1984 (5.2, given) with the same in 2005 - adjusted for inflation
then do the same for the fourth quarter in both years.
Is this a standard quarter to quarter pattern, if so for how long?

6 - Why compare to 1984? The internet had not made an impact yet especially not under that name
and the web did not yet exist.
If we are going to do that then we should have a year by year comparison, and a set of graphs
a - graph total revenue
b - graph print versus online revenue

Basically, the figures are too mixed to make this comparison usable.

[MikeStrong]

12:30 PM on 06/06/2011

Part 2 of 3
Problems I See:

1 - inconsistent units - Billions and Millions
2 - inconsistent measurements - as absolute numbers (6.0 and 5.6 billion) versus relative (up 11% to ...)
3 - Comparing different quarters in between 1984 and 2005
4 - background - we are told 1984 saw 5.2-billion Q1 and 2005 was 14.3-billion Q4
- without giving us a way to compare 1984 dollars with 2005 dollars.

You can find a lot of these calculators on the web, such as this one:
http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm
which was one of pages worth by Googling for "dollar value calculator"

$14.3-billion in 2005 = $7.61-billion in 1984 dollars
$ 5.2-billion in 1984 = $9.77-billion in 2005 dollars

So the comparison is either 5.2b to 7.61b (1984 amount / 2005 value)
or 9.77b to 14.3b (1984 value / 2005 amount)
even then we do not know the right numbers for the same quarters (1st to 1st and 4th to 4th)

[MikeStrong]

12:29 PM on 06/06/2011

Part 1 of 3
Try this as one of those old math word problems.

Last year newspapers made 6.0 billion dollars on print ads.
This year newspapers made 5.6 billion dollars on print ads.
They also made 0.808 billion dollars on online ads, and increase from last year of 11-percent.

The article asserts: "... that hasn't been enough to offset the declines in print."

What is the difference in total ad revenue for Q1 from last year to this year and is the assertion true?

Answer:
6.0 - 5.6 = 0.4 billion dollar loss on print ads in the first quarter
0.808 billon / 111* 100 = 0.728 billion last year (unspecified time - can we assume Q1?)
0.808 - 0.728 = 0.080 billion (80 million) increase online

5.6 0.080 = 5.68 billion total ad revenue for Q1

Basic claim is hard to see as presented

[Eagleman]

08:25 PM on 06/05/2011

Here are some tips:

1. Stop endorsing candidates - Left or Right
2. Focus on the issue and not ideology
3. Just report news
4. Maintain journalistic ethics

[Lancer 101]

05:43 AM on 06/06/2011

Nice, maybe I would keep my subscription to the Albuquerque Journal if they did these things.

[kinnycut]

08:05 AM on 06/06/2011

Another thing not among your list that is killing Newspapers is they need to stop operating from the first news mindset that newspapers have operated from since the beginning of time. Their persistent desire operate from this totally obsolete premise in any way will insure the demise of all news print media. Newspapers need to shift gears now and be the better more in depth news, and focus on things mentioned in the comment above. Stop endorsing candidates - Left or Right because doing so makes you either a Right wing or Left wing rag depending on your endorsements, focus on the issues without pushing any ideology in other words just report the news. Take a novel approach and let the reader draw their own conclusions good or bad. You do all this by maintaining things called journalistic ethics, and integrity.

[Slash14]

06:26 PM on 06/05/2011

Save trees, Let these outdated object disappear

[JoeDGoy]

01:41 AM on 06/05/2011

All I watch is FOX News, so let the commie rags go broke!

[renoman9]

07:18 AM on 06/04/2011

I use to get three newspapers a day to read. then I figured out that they were the same articles and opinions in all three ( The same talking points by sometimes the same writers ) I canceled them all Whats the point

[wforvendetta]

12:41 AM on 06/04/2011

Newspapers are going the way of photographic film and the telephone book.

[Twincities]

03:27 PM on 06/04/2011

I agree but often wonder what will happen when en EMP goes off or our electrical grids go down. I know I will survive but I am afraid for those who can't get to the local target without GPS.

[Slash14]

06:29 PM on 06/05/2011

If a EMP goes off then the papers wont be printed. Since they use computers to run the printing press

[arabbit]

10:52 AM on 06/03/2011

I read everything I get my hands on. I didn't give up main stream newspapers because of the internet. I gave them up because they are organs for corporate and government propaganda. Cheerleaders for war and rapine.

[TFlint]

07:05 PM on 06/03/2011

Paranoia forever!

[ZGuile]

08:12 AM on 06/04/2011

Hey, ease up. I like rapine.

[josephXY]

09:38 AM on 06/03/2011

It is really incredible how the media, even though in a permanent crisis, are
incapable of comprehending why the audience is vanishing: no news, just drivel and
advertising. It's no surpise things are working out like this: http://tinyurl.com/6dfasrn

[TFlint]

07:06 PM on 06/03/2011

No news in newspapers? Maybe you are reading them upside down!

[NHBill]

09:31 AM on 06/03/2011

All 20th Century analog media is doomed.

[rbchilds]

06:06 PM on 06/05/2011

Yep, the world has embraced the false digital world.

[Twincities]

07:43 PM on 06/05/2011

Analog: an object, concept or situation which in some way resembles a different situation.
Analog (literature), a literary work that shares motifs, characters or events with another, but is not directly derived from it.

I get what you were trying to say but your choice of words is wrong. Just letting ya know :)

[born 2b different]

10:28 AM on 06/06/2011

Analog: of, relating to, or being a mechanism in which data is represented by continuously variable physical quantities

[NHBill]

08:46 PM on 06/06/2011

You might want to update your dictionary.
Just sayin'.

[robert horwitz]

09:10 AM on 06/03/2011

Here is a novel idea. Try putting some news in the papers and while you are at it you might consider putting some on television.

[SpookyTwo]

08:09 AM on 06/03/2011

Liberal documents don't sell.

[JayPhilosopher]

09:24 AM on 06/03/2011

Conservative documents don't sell and stink.

[graceaustin]

09:53 AM on 06/04/2011

Are you saying newspapers are only "liberal documents?"

[Slash14]

06:31 PM on 06/05/2011

Not all, But most