Q3 Ad Results: New York Times Has Seen Some Better Times

A few days after USA Today and The Wall Street Journal reported improved advertising results, the third major paper in the so-called national newspaper group, The New York Times reported Thursday its ad revenues are essentially flat.

The Times saw ad revenues drop 0.3 percent to $238.7 million for the third quarter due mainly to weakness in July and August. September's ad revenues rose 1.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago, with gains in national advertising but declines in retail and classified. Year-to-date ad revenues through Sept. 30 were on track to rise just under 2 percent to $789.1 million.

Like their counterparts at Gannett and Dow Jones, New York Times Co. executives said they believed that the economic funk was slowly lifting and would soon show up in stronger ad revenues. Leonard P. Forman, senior vice president and chief financial officer, echoed many of his contemporaries in print and broadcast when he said Thursday that it seemed that many advertisers waited until after Labor Day to commit ad dollars to media. But, Forman said, September and October seem to be more consistent and continues to improve. Times executives said they expect to see year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter for the entire company and advertising gains in all newspapers during that period.

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National advertising revenue was the big story at The Times, with telecom jumping 25 percent, transportation and technology both rising 17 percent, and entertainment increasing 9 percent. Color advertising now represents 22 percent of total advertising revenue at The New York Times, up from 17 percent a year ago.

Another big player in the industry, Tribune Co., announced that it had solid revenue growth in its newspaper division. Ad revenues in Tribune's publishing division - which includes the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant - rose 2.5 percent to $738.4 million compared to the third quarter of 2002. Like many other newspaper groups, national advertising was the major contributor, jumping 6.1 percent to $173.6 million in the quarter. High-tech, financial and auto were the big drivers for the increase.

Retail advertising, which has been down at other newspaper companies, rose 2.3 percent to $302.9 million in the quarter. Dennis FitzSimons, president and chief executive officer of Tribune Co., said Thursday that Tribune wasn't as hard hit as other companies because some of its markets, like Chicago, have had good developments in retail. He also said there's reason for optimism for the rest of the year.

"We're hearing some encouraging news on retail sales for the fourth quarter. And we are hoping that translates into greater advertising in the mid- to latter fourth quarter," FitzSimons said.

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