Media General Reports March
2008 Revenues
RICHMOND, Va., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (
NYSE:MEG
) today released its monthly revenues report for March 2008. Total company
revenues were $62.8 million, compared with $72.2 million in March 2007.
The year-over-year decline was primarily attributable to lower Publishing
Division revenues, driven mostly by continued weakness in Classified
advertising, especially in the Tampa market. In the Broadcast Division,
increased Political advertising revenues partially offset lower Local and
National time sales. In the Interactive Media Division, higher Local and
National/Regional advertising more than offset a decline in Classified
advertising.
Publishing Division
Publishing Division revenues in March 2008 declined 19.8
percent compared with March 2007. Excluding Florida, Publishing Division
total revenues in March were down 14 percent, and revenues in Virginia,
North Carolina and all other states decreased 16.1 percent, 10.8 percent,
and 8.8 percent, respectively, while revenues in Florida declined 30.8
percent.
Classified advertising revenues decreased $4.5 million, or
28.4 percent, driven mostly by shortfalls in the Tampa market, and to a
lesser degree in Richmond. For the company's three metro markets combined,
real estate revenues were down 42 percent, employment revenues decreased
40 percent and automotive revenues declined 32 percent.
Retail advertising revenues declined $2.8 million, or 15
percent, primarily due to lower spending in Tampa in the home improvement,
furniture, department store and financial categories. National revenues
decreased $1.2 million, or 33.7 percent, as a result of lower advertising
for telecommunications, travel and automotive categories in the Tampa
market. Circulation revenues decreased $300,000, reflecting Daily and
Sunday net-paid circulation volume declines.
Broadcast Division
Gross time sales decreased 5.7 percent, as a result of
lower Local and National time sales, partially offset by Political
advertising revenues of $555,000. The March 2008 Political revenues were
generated from presidential campaign spending at the company's NBC
stations in Ohio and Rhode Island, as well as gubernatorial primary
spending in North Carolina, U.S. Congressional races in Mississippi, and
issue spending in Florida and Ohio.
Local time sales declined $920,000, or 5.5 percent,
primarily from lower furniture store, fast food and automotive
advertising, partially offset by higher spending in the medical category.
National time sales declined $1 million, or 9.7 percent, as a result of
decreased advertising in the automotive and entertainment categories.
Interactive Media Division
In the Interactive Media Division, higher Local and
National/Regional advertising revenues more than offset lower Classified
advertising. A year-over-year increase in revenues from the company's
Yahoo!HotJobs partnership helped mitigate the Classified revenue decline.
Local online revenues increased 47.5 percent over March
2007, reflecting continued solid growth in direct sales. National/Regional
advertising rose nearly 64 percent, resulting from higher spending by
national agencies.
Page views and visitor sessions increased 22.9 percent and
34.3 percent, respectively, driven by an aggressive "Web-First"
focus on breaking news stories, weather events and other information on
all company Web sites. In March, TBO.com in Tampa generated a 37.4 percent
year-over-year increase in page views, driven by this initiative.
About Media General
Media General is a leading provider of local news,
information and entertainment over multiple media platforms. The company
serves markets primarily in the Southeastern United States. Media General
publishes 25 daily newspapers, including The Tampa Tribune, Richmond
Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal; and community newspapers in
Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; plus
approximately 275 weekly newspapers and other targeted publications. The
company owns and operates 23 network-affiliated television stations that
reach more than 32 percent of the television households in the Southeast
and nearly 9.5 percent of those in the United States. The company's
interactive media operations include Web sites and portals that are
associated with each of its newspapers and television stations as well as
with many specialty publications, and two growing interactive advertising
services companies, Blockdot, Inc. and DealTaker.com.
MEDIA GENERAL, INC.
Revenues and Page Views
March
2008 2007 % Change
Revenues (000)
Publishing $35,820 $44,660 (19.8)%
Broadcast 24,769 25,341 (2.3)%
Interactive Media 2,717 2,701 0.6 %
Eliminations (501) (517) 3.1 %
-------------------------------
Total Revenues $62,805 $72,185 (13.0)%
===============================
Discontinued Operations(1) $2,893 $2,809 3.0 %
===============================
Selected Publishing Revenues by
Category (000)
Classified $11,371 $15,887 (28.4)%
Retail 15,541 18,294 (15.0)%
National 2,310 3,483 (33.7)%
Other 465 559 (16.8)%
-------------------------------
Total Advertising $29,687 $38,223 (22.3)%
===============================
Circulation $4,925 $5,228 (5.8)%
===============================
Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)
Local $15,664 $16,581 (5.5)%
National 9,373 10,385 (9.7)%
Political 554 177 213.0 %
-------------------------------
Total Time Sales $25,591 $27,143 (5.7)%
===============================
Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites 61,086,359 49,692,301 22.9 %
(Excluding Blockdot)
Year-to-Date
2008 2007 % Change
Revenues (000)
Publishing $113,590 $136,335 (16.7)%
Broadcast 74,731 75,637 (1.2)%
Interactive Media 7,667 7,926 (3.3)%
Eliminations (1,524) (1,634) 6.7 %
--------------------------------
Total Revenues $194,464 $218,264 (10.9)%
================================
Discontinued Operations(1) $8,841 $8,689 1.7 %
================================
Selected Publishing Revenues by
Category (000)
Classified $35,698 $49,514 (27.9)%
Retail 48,420 54,279 (10.8)%
National 8,006 10,136 (21.0)%
Other 1,285 1,503 (14.5)%
--------------------------------
Total Advertising $93,409 $115,432 (19.1)%
================================
Circulation $16,065 $16,936 (5.1)%
================================
Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)
Local $46,956 $49,120 (4.4)%
National 25,838 30,263 (14.6)%
Political 4,440 336 ---
--------------------------------
Total Time Sales $77,234 $79,719 (3.1)%
================================
Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites 193,755,088 172,134,724 12.6 %
(Excluding Blockdot)
Notes: All data are subject to later adjustment.
(1) Discontinued operations include the following TV Stations: WMBB in
Panama City, Florida; KALB/NALB in Alexandria, Louisiana; WNEG in
Taccoa, Georgia; WTVQ in Lexington, Kentucky and WCWJ in Jacksonville,
Florida.
Source: Media General, Inc.
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