• by March 13, 2006

Advertising expenditures at newspapers and their Web sites totaled $14.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005--a 1.4 percent gain over the same period a year earlier, according to new figures from the Newspaper Association of America.

However, the real growth came on newspaper Web sites, where spending continued to show double-digit growth--with a 32.5 percent increase over the same period the previous year, for a total of $552 million. It was the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit online increases, the NAA reported. For the full year, ad spending on newspaper Web sites jumped 31.5 percent, reaching a new record of $2.0 billion.

"Despite a challenging year for advertising overall, ad spending on newspaper Web sites were extremely strong, and newspapers enter 2006 aggressively taking steps to build an audience across online and offline platforms," said NAA President and CEO John Sturm. "Not only have newspaper Web sites captured a large and growing audience, but these ad spending estimates for 2005 demonstrate that newspapers are successfully monetizing the value of their Internet investments, leveraging online advertising opportunities, and building consumer loyalties on the Web."

Among the major print categories in the fourth quarter for print newspaper advertising, classified led the way with a 3 percent increase over 2004--while retail was down 1.3 percent, and national was down 0.53 percent.