INDUSTRY AD REVENUE RISES 4.2% IN 4Q.

Solid gains in both classified employment advertising as well as on-line ad revenue led the way for the newspaper business in the last quarter of 2004, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) said last week,. For the entire year, overall ad spending increased 3.9 percent, to $46.7 billion.

Print ad expenditures rose 4.2 percent, to $13.7 billion, when comparing the fourth quarter of 2003 to the fourth quarter of 2004, the trade group said.

For the first time, the NAA is now reporting both on-line ad revenue as well as print ad revenue: When newspaper on-line advertising -- which went up 24 percent, year-over-year, to $416 million -- is rolled into the equation, total fourth-quarter newspaper ad expenditures rose 4.7 percent, to $14.1 billion.

The NAA said that classified advertising revenue was up 5.2 percent, to $5.1 billion, for the quarter, that retail advertising revenue was up 3.7 percent, to $6.5 billion, and that national ad spending was up 3.6 percent, to $2.2 billion.

Fourth-quarter classified ad spending was led by employment advertising, up 19.1 percent, to $1.4 billion, real estate up 7.7 percent, to $1.3 billion, and the ever-popular "other" category, up 4.9 percent, to $876 million. Automotive classified advertising was down 6.2 percent, to $1.6 billion. "Fourth quarter ad performance was solid across the three major categories in what has otherwise been a spotty advertising market recovery," said John Sturm, the trade group's chief executive and president.

For the year, classified ad revenue was also king, up 5.1 percent, to $16.6 billion, when compared to 2003. Also for the year, national advertising was up 3.7 percent, to $8.1 billion, and retail advertising was up 3.1 percent, to $22 billion.

Full-year classified spending saw employment advertising go up 15.1 percent, to $4.6 billion, real estate go up 6.8 percent, to $4.2 billion and the "other" category go up 4.4 percent, to $2.8 billion. Much like the year's final quarter, automotive classified ad revenue went down 3.4 percent, to $5 billion.

First quarter on-line ad revenue was up 28.3 percent from the previous year, to $325 million, and second quarter revenue was up 32.1 percent, to $389 million. Third quarter on-line ad spending was up 23.4 percent, to $409 million, and for the full year, on-line ad spending was up 26.7 percent, to $1.5 billion.

"Overall results for the quarter were in line with our expectations, led by good classified performance," said Jim Conaghan, the NAA's vice president of business analysis and research. "We expect similar trends to drive industry advertising revenue growth in 2005, with the Internet playing a growing role in supplementing print advertising growth."

These numbers were foreshadowed by what the public companies have reported earlier, but it's always comforting to find that the trends of the public companies are reflected in the overall industry. I haven't seen any speculation as to the whereabouts of automotive classified revenue -- any clue as to where it might have gone?