Knight Ridder Releases November Statistical Report

Knight Ridder Releases November Statistical Report

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (KRI:NYSE) -- Total advertising revenue was up 6.6% for November and up 3.0% year to date. For the month, retail was up 2.6%, national was up 18.6% and classified was up 7.2%. For the year to date, retail was up 1.0%, national was up 2.7% and classified was up 5.6%.

Total operating revenue was up 5.1% for the month and up 2.4% for the year to date.

Total ad revenue was up 11.0% in Philadelphia, 10.5% in Charlotte, 7.9% in Contra Costa, 6.8% in Kansas City, 5.5% in Fort Worth, 5.3% in St. Paul and 2.8% in Akron. San Jose and Miami were weak on softness in national and retail, respectively.

Retail for the month was up 12.7% in Columbia, 11.2%, in Charlotte, 7.8% in Contra Costa, 4.5% in San Jose, 3.1% in Kansas City, 1.7% in Philadelphia and 0.4% in Fort Worth. Miami was down.

National was up 32.1% in Philadelphia, buoyed by a State of Pennsylvania Treasury schedule and by strong auto. Fort Worth and Kansas City were up 26.6% and 26.5%, respectively, on strength of both Sprint and heavy auto advertising. Other strong national performances included 9.4% in Charlotte, 6.6% in Contra Costa and 5.7% in Miami. San Jose was soft.

Classified was up 15.1% in St. Paul, 9.7% in Charlotte, 8.6% in Contra Costa, 7.0% in Philadelphia, 6.7% in Miami, 5.5% in Kansas City and 3.9% in Fort Worth. San Jose was soft on modest growth in help wanted and modest declines in auto and real estate. Help wanted for the company was up 17.1%, with all markets except Macon showing increases over the prior year. Top performances include St. Paul, up 37.3%; Akron, up 25.5%; Contra Costa, up 23.0%; Miami, up 15.0%; Philadelphia, up 13.8%; and Kansas City, up 13.6%. Real estate was up 13.7%, while auto was down 3.8%.

Circulation revenue was down 4.2% for the month and 2.6% for the year to date. Other revenue was up 14.0%, primarily driven by an increase in earnings from Detroit, commercial print revenue, other online revenue, newsprint waste sales and alternate distribution revenue. Year to date, other revenue is up 16.9%.

Knight Ridder (NYSE:KRI) is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 32 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.7 million daily and 12.6 million Sunday. Knight Ridder also has investments in a variety of Internet and technology companies (including CareerBuilder) and two newsprint companies. The company's Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities (www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of city and regional Web sites in more than 100 U.S. markets. Knight Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.

STATISTICAL REPORT
For the period of 11/01/04 - 11/28/04

November Year-to-Date
Percent Percent
2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 Change
REVENUE ($000) -
See Notes 1 & 2

Advertising
Retail 109,442 106,696 2.6% 979,204 969,292 1.0%
National 39,256 33,111 18.6% 359,048 349,571 2.7%
Classified 65,234 60,832 7.2% 813,233 770,397 5.6%
Total 213,932 200,639 6.6% 2,151,485 2,089,260 3.0%
Circulation 41,798 43,628 -4.2% 502,978 516,544 -2.6%
Other Revenue 11,471 10,060 14.0% 107,553 91,990 16.9%
Total Operating Revenue 267,201 254,327 5.1% 2,762,016 2,697,794 2.4%

AVERAGE CIRCULATION
(000's of copies
including Detroit)
- Notes 1 & 2
Morning 3,612 3,642 -0.8% 3,581 3,590 -0.2%
Evening 176 174 1.0% 171 186 -8.2%
Daily 3,788 3,816 -0.7% 3,752 3,776 -0.6%
Sunday 5,054 5,174 -2.3% 5,102 5,145 -0.8%

ADVERTISING LINAGE
(000's of six-column
inches) - Notes 1 & 2
Full-Run ROP
Retail 1,308.5 1,297.3 0.9% 12,858.8 13,143.6 -2.2%
National 328.9 283.3 16.1% 3,079.8 2,974.6 3.5%
Classified 1,406.2 1,396.5 0.7% 17,338.0 17,043.9 1.7%
Total 3,043.6 2,977.2 2.2% 33,276.6 33,162.1 0.3%

Factored Part-Run ROP 212.4 202.0 5.2% 2,256.6 2,211.2 2.1%

TOTAL PREPRINTS
INSERTED 844,116 839,999 0.5% 7,257,308 7,228,163 0.4%



Statistical Report
For the period of 11/01/04 - 11/28/04

November Year-to-Date
Percent Percent
2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 Change

FULL-RUN ROP ADVERTISING
LINAGE DATA
By Markets (000's of
six-column inches)
- Notes 1 & 2

Akron Beacon Journal 124.6 118.9 4.8% 1,438.0 1,425.3 0.9%
Charlotte Observer 140.1 138.4 1.2% 1,493.7 1,554.3 -3.9%
Columbia State 103.8 100.8 3.0% 1,100.7 1,125.6 -2.2%
Contra Costa (Note 3) 120.1 112.6 6.7% 1,297.5 1,254.0 3.5%
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel,
Journal Gazette 135.5 107.7 25.8% 1,303.3 1,264.6 3.1%
Fort Worth Star Telegram 184.4 184.6 -0.1% 2,060.4 2,108.8 -2.3%
Kansas City Star 166.0 165.0 0.6% 1,862.8 1,842.5 1.0%
Lexington Herald-Leader 103.5 101.9 1.6% 1,083.0 1,096.0 -1.2%
Miami Herald & el
Nuevo Herald 183.9 183.4 0.3% 1,865.1 1,891.6 -1.4%
Philadelphia Newspapers 227.0 197.4 15.0% 2,200.3 2,116.6 4.0%
St. Paul Pioneer Press 105.7 111.7 -5.4% 1,148.7 1,193.8 -3.8%
San Jose Mercury News 191.6 212.9 -10.0% 2,215.3 2,239.8 -1.1%
Wichita Eagle 86.5 76.1 13.7% 849.6 822.5 3.3%
All Other Dailies 1,170.9 1,165.8 0.4% 13,358.2 13,226.7 1.0%
Total - Full-Run ROP 3,043.6 2,977.2 2.2% 33,276.6 33,162.1 0.3%



Note 1 - The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press operate under a joint operating agreement as Detroit Newspapers (DN). Revenue and linage are excluded for 2004 and 2003.

Note 2 - Measured by individual Knight Ridder newspapers. Where necessary, certain previously reported linage has been restated to be consistent with measurement guidelines currently in use.

Note 3 - Full-run ROP advertising linage represents the sum of full-run ROP linage for each of Contra Costa's three newspapers.

For further information, call Polk Laffoon IV at 408-938-7838


Source: Knight Ridder

CONTACT: Polk Laffoon, Vice President/Corporate Relations,
+1-408-938-7838 or plaffoon@knightridder.com, or Lee Ann Schlatter,
Director/Corporate Communications, +1-408-938-7839 or
lschlatter@knightridder.com, both of Knight Ridder

Web site: http://www.knightridder.com/


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