Newspaper ad revenue plummets in 2008

Print advertising revenue for newspapers fell a record 17.7 percent in 2008, according to the Newspaper Association of America via Editor & Publisher.

"The industry has shed nearly $11.6 billion in sales since achieving its all-time peak of $49.4 billion in 2005," media consultant Alan Mutter noted in his blog "Reflections of a Newsosaur," which was the first to publicize the figures. "Thus, 23.2% of its revenue base was vaporized in just three years."
The destruction of classified advertising was well documented with every quarterly report of newspaper publishers in 2008 -- but the NAA figures nonetheless make startling reading.
Real estate classified ad revenue, NAA said, plunged 37.8% in the year to $2.48 billion.

Perhaps most worrying for an industry trying to work toward the future, online ad revenue failed to make gains for the first time, falling 1.8 percent over the previous year.

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