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."
Published: March 7, 2002
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