Vienna, Va. – Advertising expenditures for newspapers and their Web sites totaled $12.2 billion for the second quarter of 2005, a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $11.7 billion, up 1.9 percent versus the same period a year earlier, while ad spending online continued its double-digit growth in the second quarter, increasing by 28.6 percent from the same period a year ago to $500.7 million. "Newspaper ad spending for retail and classified continued on a positive trend, and we expect this trend to gain momentum for the second half of the year," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. "Advertisers also are finding real value in the varied efforts by newspapers to expand their footprints beyond their core print products. One example is online, as newspaper sites continue to rank at the top of the most visited online news sources in the nation. The significant growth in online ad spending is recognition of newspapers’ leadership position on the Web." Among the print categories, classified advertising was up 5.3 percent to $4.1 billion, retail ad spending rose 1.4 percent to 5.5 billion, and national advertising was down by 2.8 percent, coming in at $2.1 billion. Within the classified category, recruitment advertising climbed 13.7 percent to $1.3 billion. Real estate ad spending was up 7.2 percent to $1.0 billion. Automotive dipped 5.3 percent to $1.1 billion. All other classifieds were up 6.5 percent to $676 million. "With a growing labor market, advertisers continue to realize the appeal of print for the classified ad category, and recruitment should continue to do well through the second half of the year," said NAA Vice President of Business Analysis and Research Jim Conaghan. For the first half of the year, total print and online ad spending totaled $23.2 billion, an increase of 3.2 percent. Total print ad spending in newspapers increased 2.2 percent to $22.2 billion. Also among the print categories, classified led the way with a 4.4 percent gain to $7.8 billion. Retailers increased ad spending in newspapers 2.1 percent to $10.4 billion, and national ad spending was down 1.8 percent to $3.9 billion. In classified for the first six months, recruitment ad spending rose 14.6 percent to $2.2 billion, and real estate increased 3.9 percent to $2.1 billion. Automotive classified dropped 4.9 percent to $2.2 billion and all other classified rose 7.0 percent to $1.3 billion.