NEWSPAPER AD EXPENDITURES FLAT IN 2002.

A strong 4.43 percent growth in the fourth quarter helped 2002 become an essentially flat year for newspaper advertising expenditures.

The Newspaper Association of America released it preliminary figures for the quarter and the year last week, setting overall ad spending for the year

The Vienna, Va.-based trade group's numbers showed negligible growth in the third quarter of 2003 and a small drop in the second quarter couldn't offset the first quarter's 6.23 percent loss. For the year, national advertising was off 2.9 percent, to a total of $7.2 billion, retail was up 1.5 percent to $2.1 billion and classified was down 4.4 percent to $1.59 billion.

In the quarter, national was up 12.4 percent to $7.2 billion, retail was up 3.8 percent to $2.1 billion and classified was up 2.2 percent to $15.9 billion.

When comparing years in constant 2002 dollars, the best year in the last decade for newspaper ad expenditures was 2000, with more than $50.6 billion in constant 2002 dollars spent; when comparing 2002 to 2000, the year was off more than $6.5 billion. In constant dollars, national was down 9.5 percent, retail was off 5.8 percent and classified missed the mark by 22.1 percent.

This just in to NewsScene: Though we didn't have the specifics, all these numbers have been telegraphed in the year-end result statements of the public companies. Though the economy is down and can account for part of the $4.5 billion in classified difference between 2000 and 2002, we have to ask a fundamental question here: how much of our lunch has the Internet eaten?