• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 1, 2011

The first quarter of 2011 brought no relief for the newspaper industry, which suffered another round of declines in print advertising revenues.

The first-quarter results from the Newspaper Association of America stand out against a general recovery in ad spending for other media, and suggest that newspaper print ad revenues are locked into a permanent, long-term decline.

Total print advertising revenues fell 9.5% from $5.25 billion in the first quarter of 2010 to $4.75 billion in the first quarter of 2011, according to the NAA -- the lowest first-quarter revenue figure since 1983.

Those stats are down 55% from 2006, when total first-quarter print revenues came to $10.5 billion. This marks the 20th straight quarter of year-over-year print revenue declines.

As in previous quarters, the losses were spread across all of the main advertising categories. National advertising fell 11% from $1.04 billion to $924 million; retail fell 9.5% from $2.95 billion to $2.67 billion; and classifieds fell 8.15% from $1.25 billion to $1.15 billion.

Within the classifieds category, automotive slipped 4.7% to $266.5 million and real estate tumbled 19.3% to $197.7 million. Only recruitment increased, ticking up 4.3% to $165.7 million. All other types of classifieds fell 8.5% to $520.8 million.

The one bright spot on the newspaper balance sheet was online ad revenues, which increased 10.6% from $730.4 million to $807.9 million, representing 14.5% of total industry advertising revenues. Combined online and print ad revenues decreased 7% to $5.56 billion.