Q1 saw publishing revenues decline again for the world’s largest newspaper company. But Gannett Company also has television broadcasting and digital media operations, both of which posted gains for the first quarter of 2012.
“In television, all cylinders were firing,” Gannett CEO Gracia Martore told analysts on her quarterly conference call. Broadcasting division revenues increased 7.5% to $176.2 million. That includes the Captivate office building and elevator video service. For TV alone revenues were up 7.9% to $170.9 million, with higher auto spending and Super Bowl advertising on Gannett’s NBC stations cited. Also, political spending was up $3.8 million as the election year kicked off.
Operating cash flow for the broadcasting division gained 12.4% to $79.7 million.
Gannett’s digital segment was also up for the quarter. Revenues gained 6.8% to $168.4 million, with CareeerBuilder leading the charge. Operating cash flow, however, was up only slightly to $24.2 million from $23.5 million. The company also noted that digital revenues across all business segments, including websites associated with its TV stations and newspapers, increased 8.2% in Q1 to $272.8 million.
That was the good news. Now for the print business.
Publishing revenues declined 6% to $874.1 million. Ad revenues dropped to $551.4 million from $601.7 million, with US ad revenues down 8.3% and UK ad revenues down 6%. In the US, retail dropped 7.5%, national 14.5% and classified 5.8%.
Publishing cash flow declined 39.1% to $95.3 million. That’s still a big number, but less than the combined cash flow of $103.9 million for the broadcast and digital divisions.
