Newspaper Ad Revenue Continues Death Spiral

Coming off record losses in 2008, things are getting even worse this year. Still, every media report continues to ignore the relentless leftwing slant of major newspapers as even the slightest factor.

US newspaper advertising revenue fell more than 28 percent in the first quarter of the year with both print and online posting declines, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Print advertising revenue fell 29.7 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year to 5.9 billion dollars, according to figures posted on the NAA website.

Online advertising revenue declined 13.4 percent during the period to 696.3 million dollars.

Print and online advertising revenue were down 28.3 percent to 6.6 billion dollars during the quarter while classified advertising revenue alone declined by 42.3 percent during the period to 1.46 billion dollars.

The weak revenue figures for the first quarter come on the heels of the worst year ever for the US newspaper industry.

Total newspaper advertising revenue fell 16.6 percent in 2008 over the previous year to 37.8 billion dollars, according to the NAA.

The US newspaper industry has been struggling with competition from free classified ad sites such as Craigslist and the migration of readers to free sites online.

Grim Milestone: Newspaper Death Spiral Accelerating

They'll blame it on the faltering economy, the Internet, whatever. But an undeniable fact is people are tuning out newspapers in record numbers because they're sick and tired of the product.

Relentless leftwing bias has a price, and now they're paying it.

The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.

According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 -- the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.

The drop-off points to an economic slowdown on top of the secular challenges faced by the industry. The second worst decline in advertising revenue occurred in 2001 when it fell 9.0%.

Total advertising revenue in 2007 -- including online revenue -- decreased 7.9% to $45.3 billion compared to the prior year.

There are signs that online revenue is beginning to slow as well. Internet ad revenue in 2007 grew 18.8% to $3.2 billion compared to 2006. In 2006, online ad revenue had soared 31.4% to $2.6 billion. In 2005, it jumped 31.4% to $2 billion.

As newspaper Web sites generate more advertising revenue, the growth rate naturally slows.

Apparently it hasn't occurred to anyone that if they weren't so biased they might be able to lure some readers back, hence increasing potential ad revenue.