• by Michael Shields , January 26, 2005

The New York Times Company Tuesday announced modest revenue growth for both the fourth quarter of 2004 and the full year, spurred mostly by its broadcast and online business, as its newspaper division continues to absorb the effects of an inconsistent advertising market.

Also on Tuesday, the Scripps Company reported a similar performance record, as its broadcast revenue soared in the fourth quarter bolstered by heavy political advertising, while its newspaper business lagged.

Both companies's reported profit declines in the fourth quarter despite revenue gains.

At the Times, total revenues for the company as a whole rose 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter to $903.9 million compared with $882.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Advertising revenues grew 3.2 percent, while circulation revenues were essentially flat versus last year.

But for the company's News Media Group, which includes the flagship papers The New York Times and The Boston Globe, revenues grew just 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter to $857.9 million from $841.9 million in the prior-year quarter.

That modest newspaper growth came as the company's Broadcast Media Group revenues grew by 14 percent in the quarter to $46 million, while online advertising soared by 35 percent.

As has been the story for most of the past year, smaller newspapers in the Times' portfolio outperformed larger ones, as national advertising slumped. That category was down 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter, hurt by declines from the entertainment travel, technology, and financial categories.

Yet according to Times President and Chief Executive Officer Janet Robinson, the classified, real estate, and retail categories showed improvement in the fourth quarter after shaky performances for much of the past year.

But any optimism was quelled to a degree by Robinson's comments on the current year, "At this point, the year is off to a slow start," she said, indicating that travel and entertainment categories were again down.

In the company's guidance report for 2005, the advertising revenue growth rate is expected to be in the mid-single digits, with circulation revenues expected to be on par with 2004. Like most of the major players in the newspaper business, the Times is expecting increases for newsprint costs to be in the low teens range.

Still, Robinson remained optimistic, particularly about the company's plans for expansion; the Times will open four more print sites as part of its move to more national distribution. The newspaper's color capacity will increase by 40 percent, and the main, sports, and business sections will see redesigns.

In addition, Robinson cited the Times' relaunch of its fashion magazine as "T Style" as a success story, and revealed plans for line extensions T Travel (replacing The Sophisticated Traveler) and T Holiday in 2005.

Inevitably, the question of whether the Timeswas considering going to a paid model for its Web site, www.nytimes.com, was raised during yesterday's conference call. Officials downplayed any rumors on the subject, and instead pointed to the fact that since online advertising revenue growth was so strong, "Restricting page views is something we want to be careful with," said Leonard P. Forman chief financial officer. "We like 30 percent ad revenue growth."

At Scripps, advertising revenue at the company's newspapers reached $148 million, up just 2.5 percent. National advertising increased by 4.1 percent to $11.4 million in the fourth quarter, while circulation revenues dropped 3.7 percent.

The company was buoyed by the strong performance of flagship television networks, HGTV and Food Network, as advertising revenue at Scripps Networks climbed 25 percent to $159 million.