Gannett Revs, Profits Sink, Print Down 5%


Print advertising is not turning around as the newspaper business moves into the second half of the year, judging by second-quarter results from Gannett Co., which saw both revenues and profits contract due to continuing declines across all major ad categories.

Broadcast TV advertising revenues (which have helped offset print declines in the past) were basically flat.

Gannett's publishing division saw total revenues decline 4.9% from $1.03 billion in the second quarter of 2010 to $977.1 million in the second quarter of 2011, due mostly to the drop in ad revenues, which fell 6.5% from $692.2 million to $646.9 million over the same period.

At Gannett's U.S. newspapers, including USA Today, retail advertising slipped 5.6%, national fell 9.8% and classifieds fell 8.2%. USA Today saw declines in travel, technology, automotive and retail categories, more than offsetting increases in financial and telecoms.



Within the classifieds category, automotive slipped 4.1%, real estate was down 18.7% and recruitment was basically flat with a modest 0.4% decline.

Gannett's broadcasting business (including Captivate, its place-based digital video network in office buildings) held steady, despite the lack of political advertising this year -- with total revenues basically flat at $184.4 million, up slightly from $184 million in the second quarter of 2010.

TV revenues, in particular, inched up from $177.5 million to $177.7 million.

As in previous quarters, the main bright spot for Gannett was in digital advertising: Total revenues at its digital segment, including CareerBuilder, grew 12.6% to $173.4 million. Including digital properties associated with its publishing and TV divisions, total digital revenues increased 12.6% to $276.2 million, or about 21% of the company's total revenues.

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