NYTCO said the company's total revenues declined 3.2% to $587.9 million, while McClatchy reported an 8.2% drop to $335.6 million.
NYTCO's total advertising revenue fell 6.1% to $313 million in the first quarter of 2010, the smallest decline in years -- holding out hope that the period of steep declines has ended, and that a recovery may be in the offing.
As in previous quarters, print advertising declines led the way, with a 12.3% overall drop. This was partly offset by an 18% increase in digital advertising revenues, which grew to $80 million. (Revenues at the About.com group, which is counted separately, increased 29.3% to $34.7 million.) Circulation revenue also increased 3.5% to $237 million.
McClatchy's declines were slightly steeper than NYTCO's, but still noteworthy as an improvement over the last couple of years. Total advertising revenues fell 11.2% to $252.9 million, compared to a 20.5% drop in the fourth quarter of 2009 and a 28.1% drop the quarter before that.
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Digital advertising revenues rose 2.2% in the first quarter to $46.8 million -- a relatively modest increase, but a welcome change from the depths of the 2009 downturn, when digital revenues joined the print collapse. Circulation revenues increased 1.7% to $69.7 million.
The newspaper industry could use some good news after the longest, steepest decline in ad revenues in U.S. history. After peaking at $49.3 billion in 2005, total newspaper ad revenues declined 44% to $27.6 billion in 2009, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America.