If the first quarter brought good news for newspapers, it was only relative to previous quarters, as the industry posted yet another (but smaller) decline in overall ad revenues. Combined print and online ad revenues fell 9.7% to just under $6 billion in the first quarter of 2010, down from just over $6.6 billion in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Newspaper Association of America.The 1Q drop was due entirely to an 11.4% decline in print ad revenues, which fell from $5.92 billion to $5.25 billion. Online ad revenues increased 4.9% from $696 million to $730 million -- a welcome contribution, but still too small to offset the overall drop on the print side.
Although it's hard to put a happy face on an almost 10% drop, the first-quarter decline is significantly smaller than previous quarters, holding out hope that the precipitous drop in newspaper ad revenues is finally nearing its bottom.
Read more at Media Post.
