• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 1, 2008

Newspaper revenues dropped by almost one-fifth in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, according to the Newspaper Association of America, which posted the disastrous quarterly results on its Web site last week. These grim tidings hint that an even worse fourth quarter may be on the way, making 2008 the worst year for newspapers in decades.

Total print and online ad revenues fell 18.1% to $8.94 billion. Print revenues continued their long, accelerating decline--tumbling 19.3% to $8.19 billion. Online ad revenues experienced their second quarterly decline in a row, slipping 3% to $749 million.

On the print side, the news was bad across the board, with a 31% decline in classified revenue, an 11.7% decline in retail, and an 18.4% decline in national advertising. Within classified advertising, the automotive category was down 29.2%, real estate was down 38.6%, and employment was down 43.6%.

Thus, the employment category has almost pulled even with real estate in terms of actual dollar amounts lost year-over-year, with a decline of $385 million versus $395 million for real estate. The accelerating losses in both categories reflect the unfolding of the economic downturn, which began in the housing market before spreading to other sectors of the economy.

The continuing decline of online ad revenues is perhaps the most discouraging news, however, as publishers had looked for financial salvation from the Internet, their sole area of positive growth for several years.

Online ad revenues are declining because they were mostly built on up-sells from print classified listings. As the volume of print classifieds collapses, there are fewer opportunities for these types of upsells. The 3% decline in newspapers' online revenues contrasts with an 11% increase in online ad revenues overall in the third quarter, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Looking back over the last decade, newspapers have experienced a breathtaking decline over the course of just a few years. From a total of $35.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2005, ad revenues fell to $27.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2008. That's a 21% decline in three years.