STRONG CLASS DOESN'T TELL
EVERYTHING.
NewsInc • Sept 13, 2004 • financial reports of Dow Jones and Company Inc. and
Gannett Company Inc.
First out of the August statistics starting blocks are Dow Jones
and Gannett -- each with slightly different stories to tell about the
end of summer. By the numbers:
*Dow Jones & Co. Inc.: Losses in linage in the technology
category at its flagship paper offset gains elsewhere, giving the Wall
Street Journal a meager 4.7 percent-increase when comparing August 2003
to August 2004.
While classified volume was up 13.3 percent, general linage up 12.2
and financial up 8.9 percent, technology was off 26.4 percent, when
comparing the two months.
Volume was also off at the European edition of the Journal -- by
13.5 percent -- and though it grew at the Asian edition of the paper,
it was only by two percent. The company's Barron's weekly
paper saw volume go down 4.7 percent.
At Dow Jones' community newspaper division -- Ottaway
Newspapers Inc. -- volume gains at its non-dailies (of 4.8 percent) --
were offset by losses at its dailies (down 1.9 percent).
*Gannett Co. Inc.: Strong gains in classified ad revenue helped
propel the McLean, Va., multimedia company to an 11.9-percent increase
in total revenue and a 10.7-percent increase in newspaper ad revenue.
Total revenue for the eighth period, ending Aug. 29, was $575.1
million and newspaper ad revenue was $372.7 million. Broadcast revenue
was up 37.5 percent, to $77 million, and the ever-popular
"other" category was up 10 percent, to $31.8 million, when
comparing Period Eight 2003 to Period Eight 2004.
Newspaper national revenue was up 15.9 percent, to $55.6 million,
classified revenue was up 13.8 percent, to $162.4 million, and local
revenue was up six percent, to $154.7 million.
Newspaper ad volume was basically flat: the small gain in
classified linage (up 1.5 percent) was quashed by losses in both
national (down 3.2 percent) and local (down 1.2 percent). Pre-print
distribution was up 3.7 percent, to 865.1 million pieces.
Too early to tell what these results mean -- we'll have to
wait until next week when a few more companies report.
COPYRIGHT 2004 The Cole Group Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.