• by Joe Mandese , November 14, 2003

In contrast to the other major national print medium, consumer magazines, October ad results for national newspapers are proving to be some of their strongest yet this year. Two of the three national newspapers - The Wall Street Journal and USA Today - on Thursday reported strong advertising volume for the month.

The Journal, which only just began reporting upward mobility in September, experienced a 13.2 percent surge in October advertising linage, according to estimates released Thursday by parent Dow Jones & Co.

While the Journal's year-to-date ad linage is down 2.5 percent, the financial news publisher indicated October improvements in every key category except for financial services, which declined 9.1 percent for the month. General advertising, however, rose 8.1 percent, while technology advertising soared 47.0 percent due to increases in computer software and communications advertising.

"We're very encouraged, said Rich Zannino, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Dow Jones & Co. He noted that the Journal's October results follow a 29 percent ad linage gain in September.

"As we've noted in the past, we'd like to see three to four months of consecutive gains in all our major ad categories before calling a sustainable recovery in B-to-B advertising," he said, noting for example, that November and December ad sales are pacing at relatively "flat" rates.

USA Today, meanwhile, recorded a 15 percent gain in advertising revenues on a 14 percent increase in October advertising pages, parent Gannett Co. reported Thursday. The company said national ad demand was strong from the technology, automotive, telecommunications and pharmaceutical categories, although travel and retail remained soft.