Newspaper advertising expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2001 totaled $12.3 billion, a decrease of 11.9 percent from the same period the year before, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America. Total ad spending in newspapers for 2001 was $44.3 billion, down 9 percent from 2000.

Retail advertising in the fourth quarter fell 6.2 percent to $5.9 billion, national advertising was down 10.7 percent to $1.7 billion, and classified advertising slid 18.5 percent to $4.7 billion. For the full year 2001, retail advertising was down 3.4 percent to $20.7 billion, national advertising declined 8.5 percent to $7 billion, and classified dropped 15.2 percent to $16.6 billion.

"The terrorist attacks of last September, and the ensuing soft economy certainly had a chilling effect on ad spending across all media," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. "The newspaper industry, however, is in good shape to move forward when the economy turns the corner, and we're expecting a gradual climb back into positive territory over the course of the year. We're confident that the fundamental strengths of our industry to build readership, improve efficiency, maximize the potential of online and explore new ways to reach our audience put us in a great position to grow in 2002, albeit rather slowly at first."

Within the classified category in the fourth quarter, real estate continued to show strength, gaining 6.3 percent to $1.1 billion. Automotive was up 2.4 percent to $1.6 billion, recruitment sank 46.5 percent to $1.3 billion, and all other classified ads were down 5.4 percent to $728 million.

For the full year 2001, real estate increased 10.9 percent to $3.5 billion, automotive declined 2.7 percent to $4.9 billion, recruitment dropped 34.5 percent to $5.7 billion, and all other classified ads slipped 6.9 percent to $2.5 billion.

"The economy shed over 900,000 jobs in the fourth quarter and that drove down performance in the recruitment category, while a strong housing market helped secure gains in real-estate advertising," explained NAA Vice President of Market and Business Analysis Jim Conaghan. "There have been indications of a gradual improvement in the overall economy in the past two months, and our expectation is that this improvement will translate into better advertising numbers during the second half of 2002."