US newspaper ad revenue drops

US: US newspaper advertising revenue declined for the 20th quarter in a row in the three months ending in June, according to Newspaper Association of America (NAA) figures published Thursday.

Total print and online advertising spending fell 6.93 percent to $5.99 billion in the second quarter compared to a year ago, the NAA said.

Print advertising spending declined 8.88 percent to $5.19 billion while online advertising spending grew eight percent to $803.4 million, rising for the sixth quarter in a row.

Among the categories of advertising, classified ads suffered the biggest drop during the quarter, declining 10.85 percent to $1.24 billion, the NAA figures showed.

NAA president and chief executive John Sturm welcomed the continued rise in online advertising spending during the quarter.

"This trend clearly demonstrates the progress that newspapers have made, and continue to make, in leveraging the power and reach of their digital platforms," Sturm said in a statement.

He said online advertising accounted for 14 percent of all newspaper advertising spending through the first half of the year, up from 12 percent for the same period last year.

Sturm also said the industry was experiencing "the effects of a slowing economic recovery, particularly in those categories most dependent on consumer spending."

US newspapers have been grappling with declining print advertising revenue, eroding circulation and the migration of readers to free news on the Web, and online ad revenue growth has not kept pace with losses on the print side. AFP