Media General Reports July 2007 Revenues

Media General Reports July 2007 Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported July 2007 total revenues of $83.8 million, a 3.3 percent decrease from July 2006. By business segment, Publishing Division total revenues decreased 6.8 percent, Broadcast Division total revenues decreased less than 1 percent, and Interactive Media Division total revenues rose 37.4 percent.

"Media General's July results mostly reflected continued weak advertiser spending in our Tampa, Florida, market and lower Political revenues in our Broadcast Division," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "Publishing Division revenues, while disappointing overall and continuing to reflect difficulties in our Florida markets, showed some positive signs in the month. Our Richmond, Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia and Alabama markets all generated year-over-year growth.

"Our Interactive Media Division generated strong growth in the month, despite soft Classified advertising. We benefited from significantly increased revenues in our advergaming business, increased spending by Local and National/Regional advertisers and employment Classified revenues from our Yahoo!HotJobs partnership."

Publishing Division

Newspaper advertising revenues in July declined $3.8 million, or 8.5 percent, driven by continued weakness in Tampa.

Classified advertising revenues decreased $2.9 million, or 14.3 percent, mostly due to Tampa's impact. The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers fell below last year by 31.9 percent, primarily the result of lower real estate and employment Classified advertising. The Richmond market, which includes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and its associated weekly and specialty newspapers, generated a 3.4 percent increase in Classified revenues, due to higher real estate advertising. The Winston-Salem market reported a decline of 13.4 percent, as automotive advertising revenues were down sharply. The Community newspaper markets decreased 3.9 percent.

Retail advertising revenues decreased $310,000, or 1.6 percent, primarily attributable to a 5.5 percent decline in the Tampa market. In the Richmond market, Retail revenues increased 8 percent, as the result of the benefit of this year's Discover Richmond special section, the addition of a new hyper- local weekly newspaper, and strength in the grocery store, entertainment and medical advertising categories. The Winston-Salem market declined 8.6 percent, due to lower spending in most major categories. Retail revenues in the Community newspaper group markets decreased 1.1 percent.

National revenues decreased $430,000, or 11.7 percent, mostly reflecting a 26.5 percent decline in Tampa, the result of lower spending in virtually all major National advertising categories. The Richmond market generated an increase of 14.1 percent, primarily due to higher telecommunications advertising, and the Winston-Salem market was even with last year.

Circulation revenues were up nominally, the result of rate increases at the metro newspaper markets partially offset by Daily and Sunday net-paid circulation declines for the month. All Media General markets have cycled through a change in wholesale rates to carriers as of June 30, 2007.

Broadcast Division

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales decreased $630,000, or 1.9 percent, mostly due to lower Political spending in this off-election year, but also reflecting soft transactional sales, particularly in the automotive category.

Local time sales increased $410,000, or 2.1 percent, primarily due to higher spending in the fast food and services categories, partially offset by lower automotive and furniture advertising. National time sales rose just under 1 percent, as a result of higher spending in the financial and telecommunications categories.

Political revenues of $545,000 compared to $1.7 million last July, and represented early campaign spending from gubernatorial and lieutenant governor races in Louisiana and Mississippi and issue advertising in Florida, Ohio, Georgia and South Carolina.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division revenues increased 37.4 percent, as a result of significantly higher revenues from advergames and increased spending by Local and National/Regional advertisers. Classified revenues decreased 6.2 percent, reflecting the overall softness in newspaper Classified advertising, partially offset by revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs employment initiative.

Local online revenues rose 32.3 percent over last year, reflecting a focus on direct sales and increased staffing. National/Regional advertising increased 40.8 percent, primarily the result of a higher volume from national agencies. Page views and visitor sessions both increased 14 percent, excluding the new NBC station Web sites.

About Media General

Media General is a multimedia 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 150 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company's broadcasting assets include 23 network-affiliated television stations that reach more than 32 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 9.5 percent of those in the United States. The company's interactive media assets include more than 75 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

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $83,757 $86,630 (3.3)%
Publishing 49,307 52,896 (6.8)%
Broadcast 31,498 31,766 (0.8)%
Interactive Media 3,581 2,607 37.4 %
Eliminations (629) (639) 1.6 %

Discontinued Operations(1) - 3,560 ---

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $40,562 $44,328 (8.5)%
Classified 17,262 20,146 (14.3)%
Retail 19,533 19,842 (1.6)%
National 3,238 3,665 (11.7)%
Other 529 675 (21.6)%
Circulation 7,307 7,290 0.2 %
By Property
Richmond 12,779 12,264 4.2 %
Tampa 13,809 17,164 (19.5)%
Winston-Salem 4,465 4,861 (8.1)%
Community Newspapers 18,017 18,424 (2.2)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $10,088 $9,581 5.3 %
Tampa 11,947 15,587 (23.4)%
Winston-Salem 3,479 3,896 (10.7)%
Community Newspapers 14,893 15,112 (1.4)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $32,088 $32,718 (1.9)%
Local 19,718 19,309 2.1 %
National 11,824 11,734 0.8 %
Political 546 1,675 (67.4)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites(2) 58,442,709 51,267,101 14.0 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 24,299,131 20,177,157 20.4 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 10,581,370 11,994,511 (11.8)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 4,674,800 3,716,210 25.8 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $555,299 $534,131 4.0 %
Publishing 325,430 351,910 (7.5)%
Broadcast 212,871 170,697 24.7 %
Interactive Media 21,038 15,323 37.3 %
Eliminations (4,040) (3,799) (6.3)%

Discontinued Operations(1) - 23,779 ---

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $269,037 $294,909 (8.8)%
Classified 114,619 134,953 (15.1)%
Retail 127,842 131,006 (2.4)%
National 23,016 24,615 (6.5)%
Other 3,560 4,335 (17.9)%
Circulation 46,993 48,744 (3.6)%
By Property
Richmond 81,151 82,422 (1.5)%
Tampa 97,984 118,360 (17.2)%
Winston-Salem 29,864 31,654 (5.7)%
Community Newspapers 115,203 118,287 (2.6)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $64,601 $64,750 (0.2)%
Tampa 85,183 107,196 (20.5)%
Winston-Salem 23,492 25,332 (7.3)%
Community Newspapers 94,706 96,516 (1.9)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $220,608 $173,037 27.5 %
Local 137,332 108,460 26.6 %
National 81,019 58,620 38.2 %
Political 2,257 5,957 (62.1)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites(2) 350,655,229 323,081,351 8.5 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 130,955,915 118,530,001 10.5 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 74,127,486 80,364,946 (7.8)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 27,454,476 25,516,818 7.6 %
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Notes: All data are subject to later adjustment.
(1) Revenues from certain broadcast and interactive media operations that
the Company divested in 2006.
(2) Web site page views exclude four NBC sites purchased in 2006 that were
previously hosted by a third party.

MEDIA GENERAL, INC
Daily Newspapers Advertising Linage*

July
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 33,699 32,286 4.4 %
National 10,577 9,295 13.8 %
Classified 78,754 80,199 (1.8)%
Total 123,030 121,780 1.0 %

The Tampa Tribune
Retail 40,801 45,958 (11.2)%
National 8,975 13,683 (34.4)%
Classified 107,554 146,733 (26.7)%
Total 157,330 206,374 (23.8)%

Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 30,715 35,944 (14.5)%
National 7,562 7,564 (0.0)%
Classified 62,382 67,273 (7.3)%
Total 100,659 110,781 (9.1)%

Community Dailies
Retail 359,721 365,340 (1.5)%
National 17,481 19,553 (10.6)%
Classified 496,882 524,526 (5.3)%
Total 874,084 909,419 (3.9)%

Media General Dailies Total
Retail 464,936 479,528 (3.0)%
National 44,595 50,095 (11.0)%
Classified 745,572 818,731 (8.9)%
Total 1,255,103 1,348,354 (6.9)%

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 215,950 224,037 (3.6)%
National 66,012 68,553 (3.7)%
Classified 492,170 520,299 (5.4)%
Total 774,132 812,889 (4.8)%

The Tampa Tribune
Retail 301,638 318,103 (5.2)%
National 67,509 93,872 (28.1)%
Classified 692,008 1,006,232 (31.2)%
Total 1,061,155 1,418,207 (25.2)%

Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 208,699 256,023 (18.5)%
National 54,218 56,743 (4.4)%
Classified 363,427 415,215 (12.5)%
Total 626,344 727,981 (14.0)%

Community Dailies
Retail 2,323,579 2,408,168 (3.5)%
National 132,768 143,375 (7.4)%
Classified 3,063,857 3,245,858 (5.6)%
Total 5,520,204 5,797,401 (4.8)%

Media General Dailies Total
Retail 3,049,866 3,206,331 (4.9)%
National 320,507 362,543 (11.6)%
Classified 4,611,462 5,187,604 (11.1)%
Total 7,981,835 8,756,478 (8.8)%

* Advertising is in column inches - full run only

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: mgoodhead@mediageneral.com

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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