Newsquest ad revenue down 7.9% in third quarter

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Regional newspaper publisher Newsquest , which owns more than 200 titles in the UK including the South London Guardian series and Brighton Argus, has reported a 7.9 per cent year-on-year fall in advertising revenue for the third quarter, down from worse declines of 10.3 per cent in the second and 12.4 per cent in the first quarters.

This year's third-quarter ad revenue decline is slightly worse year-on-year, up from 7.2 per cent in the same period in 2010, but substantially less than 2009, when the publisher suffered a 28.7 per cent downturn.

The third-quarter decline consisted of a 7.4 per cent increase in national advertising, offset by declines of 5 per cent in retail advertising and 11.6 per cent in classifieds.

The worst declining category was employment, which fell 13.9 per cent, followed by automotive at 12.8 per cent and property at 11.6 per cent.

Gannett's US publishing arm, which publishes USA Today along with a number of regional titles, suffered worst than Newsquest with a 9.3 per cent decline overall.

Total publishing revenue for Gannett was $917.8 million (£583.2 million), down from £615.9 million in the third quarter of 2010.

Gracia Martore, president and chief executive officer at Gannett, said: "All of our business segments continued to deliver consistent profitability in the third quarter." She also hailed the company's digital strategy, which saw a 10 per cent company-wide increase in revenues.

Newsquest, which publishes more than 200 local titles in the UK including the Brighton Argus, has suffered from a series of strikes this year over staff cuts.