From MediaPost. 

An average 74 million people visited a newspaper Web site each month in the third quarter of 2009, equaling just under 40% of all active U.S. Internet users, according to the Newspaper Association of America, citing research performed by Nielsen Online.

This is the most unique visitors recorded since the NAA and Nielsen began tracking newspaper Web site audiences in 2004; the previous record was 73.3 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Although year-over-year comparisons are difficult because of a big increase in Nielsen's panel size in June, the active-reach figure appears to be remaining stable, as newspaper Web sites have hovered around 40% for the last two years. 

Full story here.

Full Story from Marketing Charts here

"For the second quarter of 2009, total newspaper ad sales fell 29% to $6.8 billion, down from $9.6 billion last year, according to Q2 figures released by the Newspaper Association of America. 

As  evidence of the continued toll the recession is taking on the industry, online ad sales were significantly affected again this quarter, slipping 16% to $653 million. Online newspaper advertising declined 1.8% in all of 2008, but tumbled more than 13% in Q109.

Print Takes Hardest Hit

Total print advertising totaled $6.2 billion, a decline of 30% over the same period last year. Within the print category, national ads fell nearly 30%, while retail ads fell nearly 25%.

Classifieds ads took the biggest hit within the print category, falling a total of 40%. Job recruitment classifed ads declined 66%, the worst slide of any classified category. Automotive classifieds fell 43%, while real estate classifieds fell 46% for the quarter, the NAA said.

Newspaper ad losses have grown worse in each of the last 12 quarters, experiencing the worst declines in newspaper history, reports Media Buyer Planner.

For the first half, ad revenue fell 29%, to $13.4 billion. Ad revenue fell 28% in the first quarter.

The numbers, give perspective to what John Sturm, chief executive of the association, calls “a terrible stretch of bad road,” writes Mediaweek."

This survey shows some very positive numbers for response from newspaper advertising. Most of the vital stats are below. As we have said before, surveys showing that newspaper advertising works are pretty common. What is not common is the ability to show advertisers that it is working for them. At Mediabids.com, we do this by incorporating unique 800#s into many of the ads we place. This allows us to show the thousands of advertisers who use our website to buy print ads exactly how many responses (at least by phone) they have received. It isn't hard and much of the time the results we show validate the findings of surveys like this (this one from printinthemix.edu), which in the absense of hard data, can seem too good to be true:

July 15, 2009 -- Newspaper advertising remains the leading advertising medium cited by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing decisions, according to early data from a MORI Research survey of more than 3,000 adults, conducted on behalf of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

This study, part of a series entitled “American Consumer Insights,” examined the impact newspaper advertising has on consumer shopping and spending patterns. Early results indicate:

• Nearly six in 10 adults (59%) identify newspapers as the medium they use to help plan shopping or make purchase decisions
• 82 % of those surveyed said they “took action” as a result of newspaper advertising, including:
  • Clipping a coupon (61%)
  • Buying something (50%)
  • Visiting websites to learn more (33%)
  • Trying something for the first time (27%)
• 73% of adults say they regularly or occasionally read newspaper inserts
• 82% have been spurred to action by a newspaper insert in the past month.

 A story in this week's BusinessWeek, on Google's per click rate downturn shows that if print is serious about proving it's worth as a medium which can drive response, this is a perfect opportunity to gain some ground:

"The downturn is finally getting to Google," says Jeffrey Lindsay, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein who has an outperform rating on Google's stock. The drop in revenue per click shows that Web users are clicking on ads to comparison-shop without buying products, and buying lower-cost items online compared with a year ago, Lindsay says. Those behaviors mean ads are less valuable to marketers, and result in lower payments to Google"

I suspect it also has to do something to do with results - Google is driving poorer results causing advertisers to point their marketing dollars elsewhere. Now if newspapers and magazines can begin to show advertisers that print can yield a competitive ROI, there should be some good opportunities for print. Of course, that would depend upon print taking it upon itself to measure and report results. The opportunity appears to be there - even Google loses advertisers when it underperforms. At Mediabids.com, we measure the results of thousands of ads each week for our per-inquiry ad program, by far the largest print per-inquiry program in the world. We see first-hand that print works and outperforms other mediums - when measured.

From Media Life Magazine:

Full-year 2009 spending will decline by 14.5 percent, from $189 billion to $161 billion, and that’s excluding the impact of political and Olympic advertising.

During first half alone, ad spending will be off 18 percent.

Though declines will lessen through 2010, with ad revenues declining by 2 percent, any real recovery is still years off. The global media agency predicts a mere 1.0 percent compound annual growth rate through 2014.

Full Story here.

The Association of Free Community Papers reported today that 70% of its members reported decreased revenues in the second quarter of 2009:

More than 70% of reporting publications indicated that revenues are down more than 1% in the latest AFCP quarterly revenue poll. This compares to 67% in the first quarter, 72% in the fourth quarter 2008 and 58% to 68% in previous quarters.

Hardest hit were the west coast (85%) and Mid-Atlantic (85%) regions with the Northeast reporting improved results. The Southeast continued to show about 70% of reporting publications were down.

The Midwest appears to be weakening as 73% indicated revenue declines. Previously, the Midwest had been much stronger than the rest of the country. The Rocky Mountain States still appear stronger than the rest of the country, but only 11 papers reported in this region.

Community Newspapers seem to be faring slightly better than shoppers during the past two quarters while rural markets appear to be slightly better than suburban ones. Only a few Urban publications reported results which make trends in this area difficult to discern.