Media General Reports October Revenues

Media General Reports October Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported that October 2005 Publishing Division revenues increased 2.2 percent, Interactive Media Division revenues rose 55.8 percent, and Broadcast Division revenues declined 23.3 percent compared with last year's same month, which included record Political advertising. Total company revenues of $92.6 million declined 7.8 percent from October 2004.

"Our revenue performance was strong in the month, helped by Publishing Division initiatives to enhance Classified and Retail growth and continued Broadcast Division new business development efforts to drive Local revenues," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "Publishing Division revenues of $58.6 million set a record monthly high, and 10 of our newspapers, including The Tampa Tribune, generated their highest ever revenue levels in October. In the Publishing Division, continued strong help-wanted and real estate advertising in most markets helped fuel a 7 percent increase in Classified advertising revenues, or 9.3 percent when online is included, and Retail revenues were up, mostly driven by strength at The Tampa Tribune.

"In the Broadcast Division, increases of 29.8 percent in Local advertising and 35.9 percent in National spot sales were driven by new revenue initiatives and fundamentally stronger advertising spending in several key revenue categories, including automotive and telecommunications, which enabled us to replace a substantial portion of last year's $18.9 million in Political revenues," said Morton.

Newspaper advertising revenues for the month increased $1.5 million, or 3.2 percent. Including revenues from the company's newspaper Web sites, newspaper advertising revenues rose 4.3 percent for the month and total Publishing revenues increased 3.1 percent.

Despite weak automotive advertising, Classified revenues increased $1.4 million, or 7 percent. Product expansions in some markets helped the growth in Classified revenue. Total Classified advertising increased 13.3 percent at The Tampa Tribune compared with last October. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Winston-Salem Journal were up 7.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

At the company's three metro newspapers, employment linage followed the strong growth trends of recent months and rose 8.6 percent, including increases of 7.4 percent at The Tampa Tribune, 10.5 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and 5.8 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal. Real estate linage increased 34.6 percent for the three markets combined, while automotive linage was down 19.2 percent.

Retail revenues increased $560,000, or 2.5 percent in October. Several markets introduced new products, including the addition of new Spanish- language newspapers, CENTRO Mi Diario in Tampa, and Fronteras de la Noticia in Northern Virginia. Tampa Tribune revenues were up 6.5 percent, reflecting gains in department store and financial advertising, higher preprints and color revenues as well as new products. Retail revenues at the Richmond Times-Dispatch decreased 1.4 percent due to reductions in the department store and furniture categories while the Winston-Salem Journal was down 2.7 percent due to lower department store advertising and business closings.

National revenues declined $540,000, or 11 percent. The Tampa Tribune reported a 20 percent decrease due to declines in the travel, telecommunications and pharmaceutical categories. The Winston-Salem Journal was down 13.2 percent due to reductions in automotive advertising. Running counter to this trend, the Richmond Times-Dispatch was up 17.3 percent, reflecting improvements in preprints as well as branding campaigns by two advertisers.

Due primarily to a change in wholesale rates to independent carriers, for which there was a corresponding expense decrease, Circulation revenues were down 5.3 percent, or $450,000, from last year. While some Media General newspapers experienced circulation volume declines in October, 10 newspapers reported Daily circulation volume growth and seven newspapers did so for Sunday.

In the Audit Bureau of Circulations report for the six months ended September 30, 2005, Media General's newspapers declined 1.2 percent Daily compared with a 2.6 percent decrease for all U.S. newspapers, and decreased 0.9 percent Sunday compared with the industry's 3.1 percent decline.

Due entirely to the virtual absence of Political advertising in this off- election year, gross time sales in the Broadcast Division of $32.9 million were down 24.3 percent. Political revenues in October reached only $525,000 compared with $18.9 million last year. The strong Political volume in the 2004 period caused some displacement in transactional spot sales last year as some advertisers pulled back and others saw their spots preempted. In the current month, Political revenues mostly reflected spending for the gubernatorial race in Virginia.

Local Broadcast time sales grew by $4.9 million, or 29.8 percent, driven by new business development initiatives, particularly in the company's Tampa, Spartanburg and Mobile markets. There were advances in most categories, including automotive, furniture, medical, and telecommunications.

National time sales increased $3 million, or 35.9 percent. This increase was driven primarily by the additional spots available in October 2005, which had been Political in 2004, and higher advertiser spending in the automotive, telecommunications, services and entertainment categories, offsetting a reduction in department store advertising.

Interactive Media Division revenues rose 55.8 percent to a monthly record $2.3 million. This significant growth was fueled by a 55 percent increase in Classified advertising, led by employment products, and a 29.8 percent increase in Local advertising. The division's other new products include a new Spanish-language Web site, CENTROtampa.com, launched in Tampa in September, and advergaming and advertising revenues from Blockdot, Inc., which was acquired in July 2005.

About Media General

Media General is a diversified communications company operating leading newspapers, television stations and online enterprises, primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company's publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers, The Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal; 22 daily community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company's broadcasting assets include 26 network-affiliated television stations that reach more than 30 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 8 percent of those in the United States. The company's interactive media assets include more than 50 online enterprises that are associated with its newspapers and television stations. Media General also owns a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Company, a manufacturer of recycled newsprint.

MEDIA GENERAL INC.
Revenues and Page Views

October
2005 2004 % Change

Revenues (000) $92,568 $100,424 (7.8)%
Publishing 58,596 57,344 2.2 %
Broadcast 32,173 41,944 (23.3)%
Interactive Media 2,298 1,475 55.8 %
Eliminations (499) (339) (47.2)%

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $49,233 $47,692 3.2 %
Classified 21,592 20,174 7.0 %
Retail 22,488 21,929 2.5 %
National 4,367 4,906 (11.0)%
Other 786 683 15.1 %
Circulation 8,048 8,500 (5.3)%
By Property
Richmond 13,875 13,695 1.3 %
Tampa 19,284 18,348 5.1 %
Winston-Salem 5,420 5,441 (0.4)%
Community Newspapers 19,780 19,645 0.7 %

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $10,928 $10,511 4.0 %
Tampa 17,529 16,707 4.9 %
Winston-Salem 4,397 4,460 (1.4)%
Community Newspapers 15,941 15,805 0.9 %

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $32,924 $43,468 (24.3)%
Local 21,207 16,342 29.8 %
National 11,192 8,238 35.9 %
Political 525 18,888 (97.2)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
TBO.com 24,127,164 16,438,000 46.8 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
TimesDispatch.com 10,048,249 7,546,298 33.2 %
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 3,779,369 3,110,219 21.5 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Year-to-Date
2005 2004 % Change

Revenues (000) $765,015 $751,114 1.9 %
Publishing 490,589 471,237 4.1 %
Broadcast 261,423 271,378 (3.7)%
Interactive Media 17,024 11,485 48.2 %
Eliminations (4,021) (2,986) (34.7)%

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $407,744 $385,895 5.7 %
Classified 180,228 165,891 8.6 %
Retail 183,663 178,203 3.1 %
National 37,544 35,827 4.8 %
Other 6,309 5,974 5.6 %
Circulation 72,102 75,228 (4.2)%
By Property
Richmond 117,187 115,253 1.7 %
Tampa 159,408 147,827 7.8 %
Winston-Salem 44,991 44,486 1.1 %
Community Newspapers 167,083 161,811 3.3 %

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $91,025 $87,432 4.1 %
Tampa 143,910 132,722 8.4 %
Winston-Salem 36,281 36,091 0.5 %
Community Newspapers 133,510 127,885 4.4 %

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $260,514 $273,601 (4.8)%
Local 170,340 151,773 12.2 %
National 88,305 85,813 2.9 %
Political 1,869 36,015 (94.8)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
TBO.com 195,128,946 201,013,905 (2.9)%
(Tampa, Fla.)
TimesDispatch.com 89,322,156 67,668,501 32.0 %
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 36,892,336 28,910,527 27.6 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Notes: All data are subject to later adjustment.

MEDIA GENERAL INC.
Daily Newspapers Advertising Linage*

October
2005 2004 % Change
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Retail 37,880 41,398 (8.5)%
National 12,117 12,401 (2.3)%
Classified 84,724 90,835 (6.7)%
Total 134,721 144,634 (6.9)%
TAMPA TRIBUNE
Retail 53,828 51,779 4.0 %
National 15,864 20,957 (24.3)%
Classified 159,574 161,855 (1.4)%
Total 229,266 234,591 (2.3)%
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL
Retail 43,396 45,676 (5.0)%
National 9,810 10,562 (7.1)%
Classified 70,535 70,277 0.4 %
Total 123,741 126,515 (2.2)%
COMMUNITY & ASSOCIATES DAILIES
Retail 406,466 433,672 (6.3)%
National 29,524 41,301 (28.5)%
Classified 492,980 537,182 (8.2)%
Total 928,970 1,012,155 (8.2)%
MEDIA GENERAL DAILIES TOTAL
Retail 541,570 572,525 (5.4)%
National 67,315 85,221 (21.0)%
Classified 807,813 860,149 (6.1)%
Total 1,416,698 1,517,895 (6.7)%

Year-to-Date
2005 2004 % Change
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Retail 316,388 337,694 (6.3)%
National 104,436 107,060 (2.5)%
Classified 784,670 791,399 (0.9)%
Total 1,205,494 1,236,153 (2.5)%
TAMPA TRIBUNE
Retail 456,606 441,457 3.4 %
National 154,088 150,485 2.4 %
Classified 1,404,870 1,401,352 0.3 %
Total 2,015,564 1,993,294 1.1 %
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL
Retail 364,319 382,662 (4.8)%
National 86,971 83,601 4.0 %
Classified 633,228 626,785 1.0 %
Total 1,084,518 1,093,048 (0.8)%
COMMUNITY & ASSOCIATES DAILIES
Retail 3,353,375 3,374,151 (0.6)%
National 291,585 298,886 (2.4)%
Classified 4,578,397 4,737,845 (3.4)%
Total 8,223,357 8,410,882 (2.2)%
MEDIA GENERAL DAILIES TOTAL
Retail 4,490,688 4,535,964 (1.0)%
National 637,080 640,032 (0.5)%
Classified 7,401,165 7,557,381 (2.1)%
Total 12,528,933 12,733,377 (1.6)%

* Advertising is in column inches - full run only

Source: Media General, Inc.

CONTACT: Investors: Lou Anne J. Nabhan, +1-804-649-6103, or Media: Ray
Kozakewicz, +1-804-649-6748, both of Media General, Inc.

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

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