NEW YORK (AP) -- Overall newspaper advertising revenues rose 1.8 percent in the first quarter of the year, an industry group reported Friday, with most of the growth coming from online ads.
The Newspaper Association of America reported that newspapers took in $11.1 billion in advertising in the first three months of the year, with the largest gain coming from classified ads, which rose 4.7 percent.
Most of the overall growth came from online ads, which jumped 34.9 percent to $613.3 million in the quarter compared with the same period a year ago. However, that represented a slower pace than the 39.7 percent growth clocked in the year-ago period.
Print-only advertising edged up 0.3 percent to $10.5 billion, which the NAA said was led by gains in real estate advertising.
Online advertising has been growing for newspapers but still makes up a relatively small part of overall newspaper revenues, coming in at about 5.5 percent in the first quarter, up from 4.2 percent in the same period a year ago, according the NAA's figures.
While online ad revenues are growing, industry analysts remain concerned that the overall ad picture for newspapers remains sluggish. Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine told investors in a note this week that she was "concerned" about the outlook for the newspaper industry because of changing media habits and the shift of classified ads online.
Fine lowered her estimates for full-year ad growth at newspapers in 2006 to 1.2 percent from 1.8 percent previously.
