Bad To Worse: Newspaper Revenues Down 7.9% in 2007, Online Growth Slows

TOTAL NEWSPAPER REVENUES TUMBLED TO $45.37 billion in 2007--down 7.9% compared to 2006, according to a year-end summary released by the Newspaper Association of America. Within the total revenue figure, online revenue grew 18.8%, to $3.16 billion--but failed to offset a much larger drop in print revenues, down 9.4% to $42.2 billion.

The 2007 figures confirm that the revenue decline at newspapers accelerated from 2006 to 2007. In 2006, total revenues declined a more modest 0.32%, as well as from quarter to quarter within 2007. Over the course of last year, the slide turned into a free fall with a 4.8% drop in the first quarter, followed by 8.6% in the second, 7.4% in the third, and 10.3% in the fourth. More