McClatchy Revenue Fell 14.6% in April on Huge Drop in Real Estate Classified

By: E&P Staff The McClatchy Co. on Wednesday became the latest newspaper chain to report weak April results, disclosing that overall revenue fell 14.6% compared to April 2007 on steep drops in real estate and help-wanted classified.

Advertising revenue dropped 14.8% for the month.

For the year so far, McClatchy said, total revenue is down 14%, and ad revenue has fallen 15.2%.

The one bright spot is online ad revenue, which jumped 14.3% in April, and is up 11.6% in the first four months of 2008.

McClatchy gets nearly a third of its total ad revenue from its newspapers in Florida and California, which have been hit particularly hard by the housing slump. The result is a continuing sharp fall-off in real estate and related ad revenue.

Ad revenue was down in all markets, McClatchy said, but the drop in California, where revenue plummeted 20.7%, and Florida, down 22.8%, were steeper than the rest.

In April, McClatchy said, classified ad revenue fell 27.6% as real estate plummeted 35.1%, employment plunged 38.9%, and automotive was off 17.8%.

Retail advertising was down modestly at 2.8%, while national ad revenue fell 18.8%.

Circulation revenue was down 4.7% in April.