• by March 7, 2001

Newspaper advertising expenditures for 2000 totaled $48.7 billion, an increase of 5.1% over 1999, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America.

National advertising continued to lead the way with a gain of 13.7%, reaching $7.7 billion for the year. Retail advertising was up 2.4% to $21.4 billion, and classified increased 5.1% to $19.6 billion.

"While some media are seeing slowdowns in ad spending, these numbers show respectable increases across the board for newspapers last year, particularly in national, which faced tough comparisons from the previous year," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

Within the classified category last year, recruitment advertising increased 8.6% to $8.7 billion, automotive gained 2.3% to $5 billion, real estate was up 1.6% to $3.2 billion and all other classified increased 4.1% to $2.7 billion.

For the fourth quarter of 2000, total ad spending in newspapers was $13.9 billion, up 4.1% over the year before. National increased 8% to $1.9 billion, retail grew 2.9% to $6.3 billion and classified gained 4% to $5.7 billion (see attached table).

Within the classified category in the fourth quarter, recruitment grew 4.1% over the same period last year to $2.4 billion, automotive gained 1% to $1.55 billion, real estate increased 5.8% to $994 million and all other classified increased 7.8% to $770 million.

"Despite the sharp slowdown in the economy during the final quarter of the year, advertisers continued to demonstrate that newspapers remain the mainstay of their marketing plans by increasing their advertising investment in our medium," said NAA VP/Market and Business Analysis Jim Conaghan.