• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, June 6, 2007

According to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America, advertising expenditures for newspaper Web sites increased by 22.3 percent to $750 million in the first quarter versus the same period a year ago. Advertising on newspaper Web sites made up 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending in the first quarter compared with 5.5 percent for the same period a year ago.

NAA President and CEO, John F. Sturm, said "The percentage of ad spending generated by newspaper Web sites continues to grow as advertisers realize the value of (this) Web audience... consumers who have higher household incomes and shop online more frequently than other Internet users."

Advertising expenditures at newspapers and their Web sites totaled $10.6 billion for the first quarter of 2007, a 4.8 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $9.8 billion, down 6.4 percent versus the same period a year earlier.

Among the major print components in the first quarter:

• Classified advertising fell 13.2 percent to $3.4 billion
• Retail declined 2.2 percent to $4.8 billion
• National was down 2.8 percent to $1.7 billion

Within the classified print category in the first quarter:

• Real estate advertising fell 14.2 percent to $953 million
• Recruitment dropped 14.3 percent to $975.3 million
• Automotive was down 20.1 percent to $751.3 million
• All other classifieds were down 0.5 percent to $699.3 million

"... newspapers continue to make aggressive moves to redefine classified advertising through new online partnerships and other approaches that will position them for the future," Sturm concluded.

To view quarterly and annual ad spending numbers in their entirety, please visit here.