• by March 5, 2002

Newspaper advertising expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2001 totaled $12.3 billion, a decrease of 11.9 percent from the same period the year before, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America.

Total ad spending in newspapers for 2001 was $44.3 billion, down 9 percent from 2000.

Retail advertising in the fourth quarter fell 6.2 percent to $5.9 billion, national advertising was down 10.7 percent to $1.7 billion, and classified advertising slid 18.5 percent to $4.7 billion.

For the full year 2001, retail advertising was down 3.4 percent to $20.7 billion, national advertising declined 8.5 percent to $7 billion, and classified dropped 15.2 percent to $16.6 billion.

Within the classified category in the fourth quarter, real estate continued to show strength, gaining 6.3 percent to $1.1 billion.

Automotive was up 2.4 percent to $1.6 billion, recruitment sank 46.5 percent to $1.3 billion, and all other classified ads were down 5.4 percent to $728 million.

For the full year 2001, real estate increased 10.9 percent to $3.5 billion, automotive declined 2.7 percent to $4.9 billion, recruitment dropped 34.5 percent to $5.7 billion, and all other classified ads slipped 6.9 percent to $2.5 billion.