"Worst quarter in modern American history" -- newspaper ad sales fall 28.3%

Alan Mutter reports newspaper ad sales fell by an unprecedented 28.3% in the first three months of 2009, a fall of more than $2.6 billion from the prior year.

Here is a breakdown of the first quarter of 2009 compared to the previous year:

• Employment classified advertising dropped 67.4% to $205.4 million.
• Real estate classified advertising slumped 45.6% to $336.9 million.
• Automotive classified advertising fell 43.4% to $332.8 million.
• National advertising slipped 25.9% to $1.1 billion.
• Retail advertising was down 23.7% to $3.3 billion.
• Other classified advertising slid 16.5% to $587.7 million.
  

Mutter points out the drop in ad sales is due to the slow economy but also to a secular change in how advertisers spend ad dollars. The chart below shows quarterly ad sales since 2006.



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