• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 15, 2010

The newspaper industry appeared to hit bottom earlier this year, but that hasn't been followed by a recovery, judging by the latest round of quarterly results. Instead newspaper ad revenues at big publishers like Gannett are basically flat -- dragging along the bottom or still declining slightly.

Gannett's total revenues were even at $1.31 billion, thanks to the company's broadcast business, in which total revenues jumped 22.3% from $151.5 million in the third quarter of 2009 to $185.3 million in the third quarter of this year.

TV revenues increased from $145.2 million to $179.6 million, reflecting election-year political advertising and a rebound in automotive ad spending.

However, publishing revenues slipped 4.8% from $1 billion to $969.4 million, due mostly to a 5.1% decrease in ad revenues, from $681.5 million to $646.7 million. The decline in ad revenues included a 5.9% drop in retail and a 3.4% drop in classifieds, and was mitigated somewhat by a 2.4% increase in national advertising, driven by USA Today. Within classifieds, total automotive increased 6.9%, while employment slipped 1.6% and real estate tumbled 10%.

Operating cash flow increased from $256 million in the third quarter of 2009 to $283.6 million this year. Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow also noted that (unlike some other major publishers) Gannett still enjoys access to substantial amounts of credit, including "$500 million of bond financing and the extension of our revolving credit facilities," both completed during the third quarter.

Some of the most encouraging results came from the company's digital division, which includes CareerBuilder, PointRoll, ShopLocal, Planet Discover, Schedule Star and Ripple6. Total revenues jumped 10.3% from $143 million to $157.7 million. Digital revenues now account for 12% of the company's total revenues.