February Ad Linage Up 18.6% At 'Wall Street Journal'

By: E&P Staff February was a short but sweet month for the Wall Street Journal, which reported Thursday that advertising linage was up 18.6% over February 2005.

The 2006 linage figure includes results from its Saturday Weekend Edition, which was introduced last October. Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. said the results were also due to increases in classified, general and financial advertising, partially offset by a decrease in technology advertising.

February classified linage was up 31.8% over last year, which Dow Jones attributed to an increase in the real estate and "other" categories.

The general ad category increased 21.1% with strength in industrial equipment, auto, insurance and other consumer advertising partially offset by declines in professional services and pharmaceutical.

Financial advertising rebounded in the month, increasing 12.8%, primarily due to gains in tombstone advertising that was partially offset by declines in wholesale advertising.

Technology advertising remained weak in February, down 7.9% from last year. Dow Jones attributed the decline to weak hardware, software and personal computer advertising, partially offset by gains in communications and consumer electronics advertising.

Internationally, linage was up 18.8% at The Wall Street Journal Europe, and 10.8% at The Wall Street Journal Asia.

At the Ottaway Newspapers community papers group, linage decreased 9.0% in February, Dow Jones said. It attributed the results to declines in auto classified, non-daily, display and national advertising, partially offset by a gain in real estate classified advertising.

At the financial weekly Barron's, total national advertising pages were up 21.9% in February primarily due to gains in general and financial advertising, the company said.