The latest numbers from the New York Times Company
confirm that advertisers and readers really are going online and
leaving print to suffer in its old age.
Overall, advertising revenues for the company decreased 3.8 percent
in August 2006 compared to a year ago, according to a statement.
Specifically, advertising revenues for The New York Times Media Group
were down 4.2 percent, and those of the New England Media Group decreased 15.7
percent. Advertising revenues for the Regional Media Group rose 1.9 percent.
That drove total company revenues down 2.2 percent over last year.
The company blamed a downturn in classified revenues, as well as a softness in studio entertainment, telecommunications and technology advertising for the low numbers.
But it is perhaps the company’s primary success that best highlights
its overall failure.
While the New York Times Company remains primarily a print publishing
company, the Internet ad revenues for each of the above media groups
combined to increase 17.2 percent in Aug. 2006 as compared to a year ago.
A New York Times Company spokesperson would not break down that
growth by group.
But the company said the source of that online growth was branded
display advertising and classifieds missing in print.
Additionally, advertising revenue for the company’s online portal
About.com rose 45.1 percent during the same period.
It’s part of an overall trend in advertising that saw online revenue
increase 30 percent in 2005.
To ride that train rather than get run over by it, the New York Times
Company is currently testing MyTimes, a feed-aggregator that takes advantage of syndication technologies in hopes of increasing user-engagement on the site.
The company also rolled out TimesSelect this year, the fee-based
product on NYTimes.com. Currently more than 537,000 readers subscribe, 37
percent of which are online only.
