• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 27, 2012

McClatchy Co., which publishes newspapers including TheMiami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Charlotte Observer, reported that total revenues slipped 4.8% from $314 million in the second quarter of 2011 to $299 million in the second quarter of 2012.
 
The decline was due to a drop in advertising revenues, which slid 5.7% to $222 million, and circulation revenues, down 2.4% to $63 million. Digital advertising revenues grew 4.9%, but failed to offset decreases on the print side.
 
By category, retail advertising tumbled 18% to $15 million, national was down 7.1% to $61 million, and classifieds slipped 0.5% to $20 million. Within the classified category, automotive fell 18.2% to nearly $10 million, and real estate slid 10.1% to $12 million -- but these losses were mitigated somewhat by a 1.8% increase in miscellaneous classifieds to $31 million. 
 
McClatchy President and CEO Pat Talamantes noted that advertisers are "consolidating their marketing budgets around specific holidays. This was evident in the second quarter around the Easter, Mother’s Day and Fourth of July holidays, with the impact clearly evident in the revenue results in each month. Advertising revenues were down 8.2% in April, 0.5% in May and 7.9% in June.”
 
Looking ahead, Talamantes said the company expects positive results from digital paywalls using a metered model, which will be introduced in four or five markets in the third quarter of this year. However, she added that “we continue to see a very choppy economic recovery that is affecting our advertising customers, and therefore our visibility into our own advertising revenues.”

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