• by John Gaffney , October 21, 2002

While overall newspaper ad spending during the first quarter of this year may have dipped compared to a year ago, there were some notable increases in certain categories.

The top purchaser of newspaper ads came from the phone services companies, which spent $297 million during the first quarter of this year. This well exceeds the $234 million they spent a year ago and surpasses the $237 million spent last year by the then top-seated motion picture industry. This year, the motion picture industry dropped to second place in the rankings, spending $279 million, according to figures from ad spending researcher CMR.

Newspaper ad spending from furniture stores also saw a noted spike compared to a year ago when the sector held the number 10 spot. During the first quarter of this year, furniture stores spent $146 million on newspaper ads, compared with $133 million in like quarter last year, according to CMR.

As mentioned, overall first quarter newspaper ad spending was indeed down compared to a year ago, according to statistics from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Newspaper advertising expenditures for the first quarter of 2002 totaled $9.7 billion, a decrease of 6.2 percent from the same period the year before, and retail advertising in the first quarter slipped 0.8 percent to $4.6 billion, national advertising was down 3.5 percent to $1.7 billion, and classified advertising declined 13.6 percent to $3.5 billion.

The chart listing the best daily newspaper markets doesn’t match exactly with the best Sunday newspaper markets. For example, Boston claims the number three spot for daily readership, but doesn’t even crack the top ten for Sunday readership. New York City takes part in a three way tie for the number four spot in daily readership, but falls to ninth spot for Sunday. Combined, West Palm Beach looks like the best newspaper town in the country. It rates number two in the daily category and a solid number one on Sunday.