NYT: Retail Down, Movies Up

The New York Times’ unique advertising mix powered it to a 4.7% revenue gain for February, with ads for movies, computers, and political advocacy were all up, spokesman Catherine Mathis said, while retail ads fell.

The mix of ads at The New York Times is markedly different from the mix for other newspapers, Mathis noted, with 65% of ad sales being “national ads,” against just 9% retail. The average newspaper gets 47% of its ads from retailers, just 16% of its ads from national brands. So the fall-off in retail advertising may have hurt most local papers, but its impact was muted for the Times, while national advertising was even stronger during February than normal at the Times, Mathis added, representing 80-90% of revenues.

The results prove the company’s strategy of making its flagship a truly national newspaper is paying off, “very much so.” Among the industry sectors cited for the good month:

  • A competitive race for the Academy Awards, and ads for new wide-screen movies.
  • Political advocacy, especially surrounding the potential War with Iraq.
  • Technology ads, especially for cellular phones and laptop PCs.

    Sales at the International Herald Tribune, of which the Times Co. acquired full control in January, were also strong, as were national ad sales at the company’s New England newspaper group, which includes the Boston Globe, but those represent small percentages of total revenues.

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