• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 7, 2010

The Washington Post Co. announced first-quarter results showing a smaller decline in newspaper ad revenue than previous quarters. Along with stringent cost-cutting measures and a strong performance by WaPo's Kaplan educational division, the smaller drop made it possible for the company to post a profit for the quarter.

However, the news is tempered somewhat by the decision to sell Newsweek -- evidence that print is suffering.

The company's total revenues increased 11% from $1.05 billion in the first quarter of 2009 to $1.17 billion in the first quarter of 2010. This was driven largely by Kaplan, where total revenues jumped 20% from $594 million to $711 million. The increases at Kaplan were led by a 33% jump in higher-education revenues, from $333 million to $443 million.

The flagship newspaper saw total revenue slide 3% from $160.6 million in the first quarter of 2009 to $155.8 million in the first quarter of 2010. In better times, a charitable observer might even describe it as "flat."

On the upside, revenue for the Washington Post Co.'s broadcast division increased 20% in the first quarter of 2010 to $73.5 million, from $61.2 million in 2009. The company attributed the rise in revenue and operating income to improved ad demand in all markets, including $5.1 million in incremental winter Olympics-related advertising at the company's NBC affiliates and a $1.3 million increase in political ad revenue.

The overall decreases resulted largely from an 8% drop in print newspaper revenues, which management attributed to modest losses in national and retail ads. Online advertising was a bright spot, with total revenues up 8% to $23.7 million, thanks to strong growth in display advertising.

Things were considerably less rosy at the troubled magazine division, where long-term declines culminated in the decision to sell Newsweek. The magazine's ad pages fell 6.7% in 2007, 19% in 2008, and 26% in 2009, dropping from 1,991 in 2006 to 1,117 in 2009 -- an overall drop of 44% in just three years, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Over the same period, the title's official rate-card revenues fell by half, from $483.3 million to $241 million. In the first quarter of 2010, ad pages fell another 20.4% to 208. The Washington Post Co. revealed that ad revenue at the magazine division tumbled 36% in the first quarter.