Revenue Down 4.2% at Belo Newspapers in July

By: E&P Staff Belo reported today that consolidated revenue increased 1.1% in July compared to the same period last year. Growth at the television group offset declines at the newspaper group.

For the newspaper group, total revenue dropped 4.2%. Advertising revenue slipped 7%. Online advertising, which is included in total advertising, advanced 36%.

"The newspaper advertising environment has been more challenging with results across the industry fluctuating from month to month," Robert Decherd, Belo's chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. "June was a relatively strong revenue month for Belo's newspapers; however, while we expected July to be the softest month of the third quarter, July revenues were blow our original internal projection."

At The Dallas Morning News, total revenue decreased 4.4%. Advertising revenue declined 8.6%. Interactive revenue was up 33%. General run of press (ROP) revenue dropped 6.4%. Retail revenue slipped 14%. Classified revenue fell 7.6%. Within the classified category, employment grew 1%, real estate decreased 4.6%, and auto plummeted 21%.

At The Providence (R.I.) Journal, advertising revenue declined 7.1%, while total revenue was down 7.4%. Interactive revenue jumped 60%.

At The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., total revenue was down slightly, 0.5%. Advertising revenue slipped 1.8%.