Advertising sales broke down this way: Local time sales fell 20% -- a drop of $9.6 million -- while national advertising sales declined 21%, or $5.4 million. Much like other companies, Media General blames lower automotive spending as the main factor for its advertising declines.
Overall, Media General had a net loss in the first quarter of $21.3 million -- which is similar to its losses of a year ago, when Media General reported a net loss of $20.3 million in the first quarter.
For its publishing business, revenues also headed south into the double-digit arena -- down 20%, with advertising revenues sinking 25%. Classified advertising revenues sank $13.8 million, or 38.6%, across all its markets. In specific advertising categories, employment revenues had the biggest drop at 67%; real estate ads were down 53%; automotive revenues sank 33%; and retail advertising revenues fell 18%.
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The company said it managed to reduce total operating spending by 14% during the period.
In its digital businesses, Media General had an operating loss of $1.1 million, compared with a loss of $2.7 million in the prior year, with revenues rising 25%.
Major gains resulted from strong profits by its DealTaker.com. There was also a 31% increase in local online revenues on the company's local media Web sites. This was partially offset by digital ad declines in classified and national advertising: 36% and 7%, respectively.