International Entertainment News: Media General Reports November 2007 Revenues

Media General Reports November 2007 Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Heavily impacted by an $11.8 million reduction in Political revenues from last year, Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported November 2007 total revenues of $80.3 million, a decrease of $11.5 million, or 12.5 percent, from November 2006. By business segment, Publishing Division revenues decreased 8.9 percent, as a result of continued weakness in Classified advertising; Broadcast Division revenues decreased 18.9 percent, due to the lower Political advertising in this off- election year; and Interactive Media Division revenues rose 34.8 percent.

"The near $12 million decrease in Political revenues at our television stations, partially offset by double-digit increases in Local and National time sales, was the primary cause of our November revenues decline," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "With the addition of four new NBC stations in 2006, we generated $13.2 million in Political advertising last November compared with $1.4 million this year, which was generated by spending from Presidential campaigns in South Carolina and Florida, state and local government races in a majority of our markets, and issue spending in a number of states.

"Our Publishing and Interactive Media Division results reflected lower Classified advertising in most markets, particularly in Tampa. Florida's deep recession continues to challenge our Tampa operations and accounted for the majority of the decline in Publishing revenues," Mr. Morton said.

"Increased Interactive Media Division revenues were due to higher advertising spending in the Local and National/Regional categories as well as strong revenue growth in our advergaming business and these results helped offset the weak Classified advertising. Page views and visitor sessions in November each increased more than 6 percent from last year," Mr. Morton said.

Publishing Division

Newspaper advertising revenues in November decreased $4.5 million, or 10.8 percent; most of the decline was attributable to the Tampa market where Classified revenues dropped more than 45 percent.

Due mostly to that drop in Tampa, Classified advertising revenues decreased $3.7 million, or 24.1 percent. Classified revenues in the Richmond market declined 8.5 percent, and all three major categories were lower. The Winston-Salem market saw an 8.3 percent reduction, reflecting lower automotive and real estate revenues, partially offset by higher employment spending due in part to higher rates. The Community newspaper markets decreased 10.9 percent.

For the company's three metro markets, real estate revenues were down 36.1 percent, employment revenues decreased 25.9 percent, and automotive revenues declined 32.5 percent.

Retail advertising revenues declined by $550,000, or 2.4 percent, although Thanksgiving-holiday preprint revenues were higher this year than last year, because some advertisers shifted their spending from ROP to preprints. The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers reported a 3.6 percent decrease, primarily due to lower spending in the home improvement and home furnishings categories. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and its associated weekly newspapers experienced a nominal decrease, reflecting a decline in medical advertising offset in part by revenues from a new weekly newspaper. In Winston-Salem, Retail revenues were down 3.5 percent, as lower spending in the political and home improvement categories was partially offset by higher medical advertising. The Community newspaper group saw a 2.5 percent decrease.

National revenues decreased $240,000, or 7.1 percent. The Richmond market generated a 7.6 percent increase, primarily the result of higher spending in the telecommunications category and increased preprint revenues, but that was more than offset by the Tampa market, which declined 21.2 percent, due to lower advertising in most major advertising categories. National revenues in Winston-Salem decreased 3.5 percent, reflecting lower spending by telecommunications advertisers.

Circulation revenues were down $90,000, or 1.5 percent, as Daily and Sunday net-paid circulation declines for the month were partially offset by rate increases at the metro newspapers. Four Media General newspapers generated increases in net-paid Daily Circulation, and three did so for Sunday.

Broadcast Division

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales decreased $8 million, or 18.3 percent, mostly due to the impact of lower Political spending in this off- election year.

Local time sales increased $2.3 million, or 11.7 percent, primarily from higher spending in the automotive, grocery store and the services categories, partially offset by lower furniture store and telecommunications advertising.

National time sales rose $1.6 million, or 14.3 percent, as a result of increased advertising in the automotive, telecommunications and financial categories.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division revenues increased 34.8 percent, due to significantly higher revenues from the advergaming business, solid growth in National/Regional and Local advertising and revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs employment Classified partnership. Revenues from Yahoo!HotJobs also helped mitigate overall softness in Classified revenues, which declined 13.1 percent.

Local online revenues grew 42.5 percent over November 2006, reflecting continued focus on direct sales. National/Regional advertising increased 40.6 percent, resulting from higher spending by national agencies. Advergaming revenues more than tripled from last year.

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

November
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $80,269 $91,724 (12.5)%
Publishing 44,561 48,915 (8.9)%
Broadcast 33,338 41,113 (18.9)%
Interactive Media 3,019 2,240 34.8 %
Eliminations (649) (544) (19.3)%

Discontinued Operations (1) - - -

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $37,147 $41,627 (10.8)%
Classified 11,564 15,226 (24.1)%
Retail 21,999 22,547 (2.4)%
National 3,092 3,328 (7.1)%
Other 492 526 (6.5)%
Circulation 6,037 6,131 (1.5)%
By Property
Richmond 10,971 11,409 (3.8)%
Tampa 12,702 15,804 (19.6)%
Winston-Salem 4,587 4,777 (4.0)%
Community Newspapers 16,004 16,752 (4.5)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $8,780 $9,187 (4.4)%
Tampa 10,975 14,325 (23.4)%
Winston-Salem 3,760 3,967 (5.2)%
Community Newspapers 13,391 13,981 (4.2)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $35,520 $43,501 (18.3)%
Local 21,699 19,418 11.7 %
National 12,465 10,908 14.3 %
Political 1,356 13,175 (89.7)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites (2) 43,548,646 40,938,923 6.4 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 15,549,992 13,733,854 13.2 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 7,960,641 10,195,035 (21.9)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 3,211,221 3,385,682 (5.2)%
(Winston-Salem, N.C.)

Year-to-Date
2007 2006 % Change

Revenues (000) $879,215 $890,378 (1.3)%
Publishing 504,732 546,625 (7.7)%
Broadcast 347,402 324,724 7.0 %
Interactive Media 33,703 25,079 34.4 %
Eliminations (6,622) (6,050) (9.5)%

Discontinued Operations (1) - 32,078 -

Selected Publishing Revenues (000)
By Category
Advertising $417,669 $459,585 (9.1)%
Classified 170,274 204,505 (16.7)%
Retail 206,129 210,213 (1.9)%
National 35,467 37,940 (6.5)%
Other 5,799 6,927 (16.3)%
Circulation 72,247 74,335 (2.8)%
By Property
Richmond 126,457 129,054 (2.0)%
Tampa 147,586 180,072 (18.0)%
Winston-Salem 47,522 49,999 (5.0)%
Community Newspapers 180,875 185,393 (2.4)%

Advertising Revenues (000)
Richmond $100,683 $102,076 (1.4)%
Tampa 127,865 163,370 (21.7)%
Winston-Salem 37,770 40,196 (6.0)%
Community Newspapers 149,314 151,978 (1.8)%

Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000) $361,656 $337,576 7.1 %
Local 221,261 185,402 19.3 %
National 131,571 102,482 28.4 %
Political 8,824 49,692 (82.2)%

Selected Online Total Page Views
Total Web Sites 2 549,432,521 507,862,961 8.2 %
(Excluding Game Sites)
TBO.com 207,733,039 189,049,009 9.9 %
(Tampa, Fla.)
inRich/TimesDispatch.com 109,410,747 122,754,440 (10.9)%
(Richmond, Va.)
JournalNow.com 41,757,963 40,140,113 4.0 %
(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*

November
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 32,670 32,980 (0.9)%
National 10,004 8,847 13.1 %
Classified 60,275 59,762 0.9 %
Total 102,949 101,589 1.3 %
The Tampa Tribune
Retail 47,227 53,572 (11.8)%
National 7,631 10,234 (25.4)%
Classified 67,374 110,336 (38.9)%
Total 122,232 174,142 (29.8)%
Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 31,639 39,126 (19.1)%
National 7,294 7,387 (1.3)%
Classified 43,648 48,298 (9.6)%
Total 82,581 94,811 (12.9)%
Community Dailies
Retail 339,735 370,104 (8.2)%
National 19,982 22,963 (13.0)%
Classified 346,157 369,676 (6.4)%
Total 705,874 762,743 (7.5)%
Media General Dailies Total
Retail 451,271 495,782 (9.0)%
National 44,911 49,431 (9.1)%
Classified 517,454 588,072 (12.0)%
Total 1,013,636 1,133,285 (10.6)%

Year-to Date
2007 2006 % Change
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Retail 344,067 353,131 (2.6)%
National 104,789 104,208 0.6 %
Classified 771,030 790,562 (2.5)%
Total 1,219,886 1,247,901 (2.2)%
The Tampa Tribune
Retail 461,819 501,700 (7.9)%
National 98,335 137,506 (28.5)%
Classified 1,014,130 1,488,325 (31.9)%
Total 1,574,284 2,127,531 (26.0)%
Winston-Salem Journal
Retail 331,582 400,376 (17.2)%
National 84,297 88,067 (4.3)%
Classified 555,300 638,049 (13.0)%
Total 971,179 1,126,492 (13.8)%
Community Dailies
Retail 3,663,435 3,791,364 (3.4)%
National 207,946 231,247 (10.1)%
Classified 4,644,735 4,972,030 (6.6)%
Total 8,516,116 8,994,641 (5.3)%
Media General Dailies Total
Retail 4,800,903 5,046,571 (4.9)%
National 495,367 561,028 (11.7)%
Classified 6,985,195 7,888,966 (11.5)%
Total 12,281,465 13,496,565 (9.0)%