Newspaper revenue: dead, just won't roll over ...

From MediaDailyNews:

Red ink: Total newspaper revenues slip 7%

Whatever the prospects for recovery in the advertising industry and the broader economy may be, newspapers aren't seeing any rebound, judging by the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America. They show total newspaper advertising revenues (including print and online) decreasing 6.9% from $6.43 billion in the second quarter of 2010 to $5.99 billion in the second quarter.

This is the 20th straight quarter to see year-over-year declines in total advertising revenue.

As in previous quarters, the picture was worse on the print advertising side, where total revenues fell 8.9% from $5.69 billion last year to $5.19 billion this year.

By contrast, online advertising continued to enjoy a healthy growth rate, increasing 8% from $744 million to $803 million. However, the proportion of total revenues derived from online advertising remains relatively modest, at 15.5%, up from 11.6% in the same quarter of 2010. Much of this apparent proportional increase is due to the decrease in total revenues.

As in previous quarters, the revenue declines were spread fairly evenly across the major advertising categories. National advertising fell 8.8% from $1.08 billion to $985 million, retail slumped 8.1% from $3.22 billion to $2.96 billion, and classifieds tumbled 10.9% from $1.4 billion to $1.25 billion.

Within the classifieds category, automotive fell 12.9% from $307.9 million to $268.2 million; real estate tumbled 19.1% from $275 million to $222 million; and help wanted slipped 1.5% from $198.7 million to $195.7 million.

The decrease in help-wanted revenues was especially discouraging, as it follows a small but promising uptick of 4.3% in the first quarter.