• by Wayne Friedman , January 31, 2011

Strong political advertising rocketed Gannett's broadcasting revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 -- but near-term periods will see much weaker gains.

Broadcasting revenues gained 27.1% to $232.8 million in the last reporting period of 2010, with broadcasting operating income at $115.8 million. Political advertising totaled $52.4 million for the quarter. These broadcasting results included its out-of-home Captivate elevator video-channel -- which also posted a major increase. Just looking at its television revenues, results were $220.2 million versus $174.5 million.

Non-political advertiser revenues only grew 1.2% during the period. Retrans revenues climbed 16% to $16.4 million for the fourth quarter, with the company estimating to reach $75 million in 2011 -- a nearly 19% gain over 2010.

"Broadcasting had an outstanding year in terms of ratings, revenue and profitability," said Craig Dubow, chairman and chief executive officer of Gannett. "Operating income in broadcasting in 2010 grew over 50% and significantly exceeded 2008 results, which was a presidential election year."

Now entering a non-Olympic year, Gannett warned that ad results could soften in the upcoming periods. Gannett executives are expecting only mid-single-digit percentage business gains.

But Gannett expects a big gain in 2012 -- from the Olympics and the presidential election.

More or less on par with the rest of the industry, Gannett's publishing businesses sunk 4.7% in revenues to $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter. Advertising revenue fell almost 6% to $722.3 million from a year earlier, mainly due to weakness at national newspaper USA Today and the UK newspaper division. Overall operating income for publishing was down 8.6% to $172.1 million during the period.

Digital revenues up were 15.8% higher; digital advertising revenues at USA Today improved 19.0% in the quarter. Digital operating income was $37.8 million, 45.3% higher than the fourth quarter last year. Operating revenues gained 5.2% to $165.8 million, compared with $157.7 million in 2009.

Total revenue at Gannett inched up 0.4% to $1.46 billion -- on par with analysts' expectations. Net income gained 30% overall to $174.1 million.