Media General Sees Mixed May Revs: Only Online Up

Media General's May revenues didn't get raves.

Total revs were $64.3 million, versus the $71.3 million in the previous year. Political ads beefed up the broadcast division, but real-estate woes continue to plague classified ads, especially in the Florida market. Online revenues rose 16.9%.

"The Broadcast Division generated $725,000 in political revenues, partially offsetting continued softness in national time sales, driven by weak automotive advertising in particular," said Marshall N. Morton, president and CEO. But overall, the category decreased 6.1%.

He attributed the higher revenues in the interactive media division to DealTaker.com acquired in May. "Our Web-First breaking news focus continued to drive audience growth, with page views and visitor sessions up 10% and 20%, respectively. Local news page views were up 53% at TBO.com in Tampa," Morton said.

However, publishing losses continue across the board in the Florida, Virginia and North Carolina markets, where newspapers are hard-hit. A little break: revenues rose 1.3% in Alabama, due to higher telecommunications advertising, and increased 1% in South Carolina, driven by a weekly newspaper in the greater Florence/Myrtle Beach market.

advertisement

advertisement

Classified advertising revenues decreased $4.4 million, or 30.1%. For the company's three metro markets combined, employment and real-estate revenues each decreased 41.4% and automotive revenues declined 33.8%. Local time sales declined 2.2%.

Revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs partnership helped mitigate a 2% decline in classified.

Next story loading loading..