Online advertising spending at U.S. newspapers rose 21 percent in the third quarter but failed to offset a print ad spending decline, according to a study released Tuesday.
While ad spending on newspaper Web sites rose to $773 million in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, print ad spending fell 9 percent to $10.1 billion, a Newspaper Association of America study showed.
The third quarter's online ad growth marked the 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit percentage growth for newspapers.
Total ad spending at newspapers fell 7.4 percent to $10.9 billion in the quarter.
Last week, Gannett's USA Today said it would cut 45 positions, or 8.8 percent, of its editorial staff.
But online ads remain a small percentage of overall ad spending at the papers.
"Broader economic issues are impacting our industry the same way they are impacting other media--the continued fallout from declines in the housing market clearly affects real estate, recruitment and retail advertising," association President and Chief Executive John Sturm said in a statement.
The hardest-hit advertising sectors were classified ads, down 17 percent to $3.4 billion; retail ads, down 4.9 percent to $5.1 billion; and national ads, down 2.5 percent to $1.7 billion, in the third quarter.
©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. CNET , CNET.com , and the CNET logo are registered trademarks of CNET Networks, Inc. Used by permission.
