Newspaper Web ad revenues soared, but print ad sales fell almost 3 percent during the third quarter of 2006, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Newspapers collected $638 million in online ad revenues for the three-month period, NAA said, a 23 percent boost. But print ad revenues dropped to $11.1 billion, a 2.6 percent decline. Taken together, newspapers sold nearly $11.8 billion in advertising, the group said, a 1.5 percent drop from year-ago totals.

 

Among the print categories, classified advertising fell 3 percent to $4.1 billion, retail ad spending was down 0.3 percent to $5.3 billion and national advertising was down by 8.3 percent, coming in at $1.7 billion, NAA said.

Within the print classified category, real estate advertising climbed 10.5 percent to $1.35 billion, but recruitment advertising was down 10.1 percent to $1.1 billion. Automotive was down 11.7 percent to $968 million. All other classifieds fell 0.5 percent to $694.5 million.