Business News
The New York Times Company Reports October Revenues
Friday 21. November 2008 - The New York Times Company announced today that in October total Company revenues from continuing operations decreased 9.4% compared with the same month a year ago. Advertising revenues decreased 16.2% and circulation revenues increased 3.9%.
All comparisons are for October 2008 to October 2007 unless otherwise noted:
News Media Group
Advertising revenues for the News Media Group declined 17.2% because of weakness in print advertising.
The New York Times Media Group – Advertising revenues for The New York Times Media Group decreased 15.3%. National advertising revenues decreased as weakness in the studio entertainment, healthcare and home furnishing manufacturer categories offset very strong growth in financial services advertising as well as increased advocacy advertising. Retail advertising revenues declined mainly due to lower home furnishing store, department store and fashion/jewelry advertising. Classified advertising revenues were down because of weakness in real estate, help-wanted and automotive advertising.
Home furnishing manufacturer and home furnishing store advertising were adversely affected by shifts in the timing of two issues of T Style Magazine. T Design was published in September this year but appeared in October last year; and T Living was published in November this year but ran in October in 2007.
New England Media Group – Advertising revenues for the New England Media Group decreased 21.8%. National advertising revenues were lower mainly because of decreases in the studio entertainment, live entertainment, telecommunications and financial services categories, which offset double-digit growth in banking advertising. Retail advertising revenues declined primarily due to weakness in the sports/toys, department store, discount store, furniture/home furnishing and jewelry/luggage categories. Classified advertising revenues were lower due to softness in help-wanted, real estate and automotive advertising.
Regional Media Group – Advertising revenues for the Regional Media Group decreased 20.1%. Retail advertising revenues were down mainly because of declines in the home furnishing, home improvement, specialty store and medical/dental categories. Classified advertising revenues decreased due to weakness in real estate, help-wanted and automotive advertising.
Internet advertising revenues included in the News Media Group increased 5.3% as more moderate growth in display advertising was partially offset by continued weakness in online recruitment advertising. Year-to-date October 2008, Internet advertising revenues included in the News Media Group were up 12.7% compared with the same period in 2007.
Circulation revenues for the News Media Group grew 3.9%. Revenues increased at The New York Times, New England and Regional Media Groups.
About Group
Advertising revenues at the About Group (which includes the Web sites of About.com, ConsumerSearch.com, UCompareHealthCare.com and Caloriecount.about.com) rose 3.4% as growth in cost-per-click advertising offset declines in display advertising. Last October was the About Groups strongest month in 2007, with advertising revenues up 45.8%, or 36.6% excluding acquisitions made in 2007. Year-to-date October 2008, advertising revenues at the About Group increased 14.7% compared with the same period in 2007.
Other Data
Internet Businesses: Total Internet revenues grew 4.3% and Internet advertising revenues increased 4.6% in October. Internet businesses include NYTimes.com, About.com, Boston.com and other Company Web sites. In total, Internet businesses accounted for 12.1% of total revenues in October versus 10.5% in October 2007. Year-to-date October 2008, total Internet revenues rose 9.6% and Internet advertising revenues increased 13.4% compared with the same period in 2007. In total, Internet businesses accounted for 11.9% of total revenues for year-to-date October 2008 compared with 10.1% in the same period in 2007.
In addition, The New York Times Company had the 11th largest presence on the Web, with 52.6 million unique visitors in the United States in October 2008 according to Nielsen Online, up about 7% from 49.2 million unique visitors in October 2007. Also according to Nielsen Online, NYTimes.com had 20.3 million unique visitors in October versus 17.5 million in October 2007, up about 16%, and was the No. 1 newspaper Web site in the United States, a position it has long held.