VIENNA, Va., Nov. 19 -- Newspaper advertising expenditures for the third quarter of 2002 totaled $10.7 billion, a 1 percent increase over the same period last year, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America. Retail advertising spending rose 2.7 percent to $5.1 billion, and national ad spending increased 5.2 percent to $1.7 billion while classified dipped 2.9 percent to $3.9 billion. Within the classified category in the third quarter, automotive ad spending led the way with an increase of 5 percent to $1.2 billion. Real estate gained 1.6 percent to $944 million, recruitment advertising dropped 19.4 percent to $1.1 billion and all other classifieds were up 10.3 percent to $687 million. "These numbers are encouraging, and they are in line with what we were expecting as the economy begins to show signs of turning around," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. "The newspaper industry has held its ground through the advertising slump and should be well positioned to ride the upward trend." For the first nine months of 2002, retail advertising expenditures edged up 0.6 percent to $14.9 billion, national slipped 0.1 percent to $5.3 billion and classified dropped 6.9 percent to $11.1 billion. Total ad spending in newspapers for the first nine months was $31.3 billion, down 2.3 percent from the same period last year. Through the first nine months in the classified category, automotive grew 5.3 percent to $3.5 billion, real estate increased 3.4 percent to $2.5 billion, recruitment declined 27.2 percent to $3.2 billion and all other classified gained 3.5 percent to $1.9 billion. "We've turned the corner, ending six quarters of negative comparisons," said NAA Vice President of Business Analysis and Research Jim Conaghan. "Our industry's advertising performance will improve as the economy gradually gains momentum." NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $55 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Most NAA members are daily newspapers, accounting for 87 percent of the U.S. daily circulation. Headquartered in Tysons Corner (Vienna, Va.), the Association focuses on six key strategic priorities that affect the newspaper industry collectively: marketing, public policy, diversity, industry development, newspaper operations and readership. Information about NAA and the industry may also be found at the Association's World Wide Web site on the Internet (http://www.naa.org).