By Erik Sass
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Newspaper publishers continued to take a battering in the 2nd quarter with The Washington Post Co. the latest to report significant drops in ad revenue at its flagship newspaper.
The WaPo Co.s overall revenues fell 10 from just under $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2010 to just over $1.07 billion in the second quarter of 2011 the company reported. Thats due to drops in print and online advertising as well as revenues from its Kaplan educational testing unit.
WaPos newspaper publishing division saw total revenues slide 6 from $173 million to $163 million as total print advertising revenues fell 12 from roughly $75 million to $67 million while online advertising tumbled 13 from roughly $27 million to $23 million over the same period.
On the print side as in previous quarters losses were spread evenly across classifieds and display advertising including both local and national categories.
On the online side display advertising decreased 16 in the second quarter while online classifieds slipped 2.
Separately WaPos educational unit including Kaplan Higher Education saw total revenues decline 15 from $743 million to $629 million; this was due almost entirely to declines in the Higher Education division which plunged from $507 million to $362 million a 29 drop.
WaPo attributed the declines to decreasing enrollment severance payments and new costs associated with complying with federal regulations. (In the wake of the credit collapse that began in 2008 Congress moved to tighten restrictions on how government student loans can be spent -- specifically targeting private for-profit test prep services like Kaplan. The result has been a sharp decrease in the number of students paying for test prep services with federal loans.)
All these declines were partially offset by modest increases at the companys broadcast TV division.
Broadcast TV revenues increased 3 from $83 million to $85 million due to improved ad demand across a number of categories; the increase is especially noteworthy in light of the absence of political and
Olympics-related advertising this year.
WaPos cable TV revenues were basically flat at $191 million with increased demand for Internet and telephone services offset by promotional discounts.
Erik Sass is a Los Angeles based journalist. When not writing for mental_floss he reports on the media & advertising business for MediaPost.com.
