Vienna, Va. – Newspaper advertising expenditures for the second quarter of 2003 totaled $11.1 billion, an increase of 1.6 percent over the same period last year, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America. Overall, the results are good news for newspapers heading into the second half of 2003. The national advertising category led the way with a 12.8 percent gain, to $2.1 billion in the second quarter, boosted by gains in telecommunications, factory automotive, and coupon marketing. Retail advertising spending edged up 1.7 percent to $5.3 billion, helped along by increases in food store and building material store ads. Classified slipped 3.9 percent to $3.6 billion. Within the classified category in the second quarter, real estate ad spending had the largest percentage gain, up 9.0 percent to $904 million. Automotive advertising continued to grow, gaining 1.7 percent to $1.2 billion. Recruitment advertising dropped 15.0 percent to $956 million as the U.S. economy continued to lose jobs during the quarter, and all other classifieds slipped 11.2 percent to $594 million. “Advertisers are re-discovering the effectiveness of newspapers as a highly effective national advertising platform, and this strong second quarter growth continues that trend,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. “We’re also encouraged by overall industry advertising revenue growth, including growth in a number of key categories.” For the first half of 2003, retail advertising expenditures gained 2.1 percent to $10.0 billion, national rose 8.4 percent to $3.8 billion and classified dropped 2.2 percent to $7.1 billion. Total ad spending in newspapers for the first six months was $20.9 billion, up 1.7 percent from the same period last year. For the first half of the year, automotive grew 1.8 percent to $2.3 billion, real estate increased 8.8 percent to $1.7 billion, recruitment declined 13.0 percent to $1.9 billion and all other classified dropped 4.6 percent to $1.2 billion. “With economic growth poised to accelerate in the second half of the year, we expect to see larger ad spending increases in the third and four quarters” said NAA Vice President of Business Analysis and Research Jim Conaghan.