Gannett: 4Q Rev Drops Across Media

The Gannett Company suffered tag-team blows in the fourth quarter of 2007, with the expected decline in newspaper revenues joined by a drop on the broadcast side, too.

Overall, the company's earnings were $245.3 million, down 31% compared to the same period in 2006, as revenue dipped 12% to $1.9 billion. For the full year 2007, Gannett's newspaper ad revenues sank 6.4% to $4.9 billion, as broadcasting slipped 7.7% to $789 million. These decreases were partly due to the fact that fourth-quarter 2006 had an extra week and no political spending.

In line with the rest of the industry, Gannett's newspaper division saw advertising revenue drop 12% to $1.2 billion--7.7% counting the extra week--with revenue at flagship USA Today sliding 12.7%.

Like other newspaper publishers, Gannett reports that the collapse of print classified advertising revenue has been joined by declines in local and national advertising, including retail. Classifieds were down 11.4%, local 3.3%, and national 11.6% (again counting the extra week).

On the broadcast side, the fall in political ad revenues took a toll, with total broadcast revenues down 18% to $212 million, counting the extra week. Gannett's broadcast division includes the Captivate Network, which operates place-based video screens in elevators in major office buildings.

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