Media General Reports July 2007 Revenues

Media General Reports July 2007 Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported July 2007 total revenues of $83.8 million, a 3.3 percent decrease from July 2006. By business segment, Publishing Division total revenues decreased 6.8 percent, Broadcast Division total revenues decreased less than 1 percent, and Interactive Media Division total revenues rose 37.4 percent.

"Media General's July results mostly reflected continued weak advertiser spending in our Tampa, Florida, market and lower Political revenues in our Broadcast Division," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "Publishing Division revenues, while disappointing overall and continuing to reflect difficulties in our Florida markets, showed some positive signs in the month. Our Richmond, Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia and Alabama markets all generated year-over-year growth.

"Our Interactive Media Division generated strong growth in the month, despite soft Classified advertising. We benefited from significantly increased revenues in our advergaming business, increased spending by Local and National/Regional advertisers and employment Classified revenues from our Yahoo!HotJobs partnership."

Publishing Division

Newspaper advertising revenues in July declined $3.8 million, or 8.5 percent, driven by continued weakness in Tampa.

Classified advertising revenues decreased $2.9 million, or 14.3 percent, mostly due to Tampa's impact. The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers fell below last year by 31.9 percent, primarily the result of lower real estate and employment Classified advertising. The Richmond market, which includes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and its associated weekly and specialty newspapers, generated a 3.4 percent increase in Classified revenues, due to higher real estate advertising. The Winston-Salem market reported a decline of 13.4 percent, as automotive advertising revenues were down sharply. The Community newspaper markets decreased 3.9 percent.

Retail advertising revenues decreased $310,000, or 1.6 percent, primarily attributable to a 5.5 percent decline in the Tampa market. In the Richmond market, Retail revenues increased 8 percent, as the result of the benefit of this year's Discover Richmond special section, the addition of a new hyper- local weekly newspaper, and strength in the grocery store, entertainment and medical advertising categories. The Winston-Salem market declined 8.6 percent, due to lower spending in most major categories. Retail revenues in the Community newspaper group markets decreased 1.1 percent.

National revenues decreased $430,000, or 11.7 percent, mostly reflecting a 26.5 percent decline in Tampa, the result of lower spending in virtually all major National advertising categories. The Richmond market generated an increase of 14.1 percent, primarily due to higher telecommunications advertising, and the Winston-Salem market was even with last year.

Circulation revenues were up nominally, the result of rate increases at the metro newspaper markets partially offset by Daily and Sunday net-paid circulation declines for the month. All Media General markets have cycled through a change in wholesale rates to carriers as of June 30, 2007.

Broadcast Division

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales decreased $630,000, or 1.9 percent, mostly due to lower Political spending in this off-election year, but also reflecting soft transactional sales, particularly in the automotive category.

Local time sales increased $410,000, or 2.1 percent, primarily due to higher spending in the fast food and services categories, partially offset by lower automotive and furniture advertising. National time sales rose just under 1 percent, as a result of higher spending in the financial and telecommunications categories.

Political revenues of $545,000 compared to $1.7 million last July, and represented early campaign spending from gubernatorial and lieutenant governor races in Louisiana and Mississippi and issue advertising in Florida, Ohio, Georgia and South Carolina.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division revenues increased 37.4 percent, as a result of significantly higher revenues from advergames and increased spending by Local and National/Regional advertisers. Classified revenues decreased 6.2 percent, reflecting the overall softness in newspaper Classified advertising, partially offset by revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs employment initiative.

Local online revenues rose 32.3 percent over last year, reflecting a focus on direct sales and increased staffing. National/Regional advertising increased 40.8 percent, primarily the result of a higher volume from national agencies. Page views and visitor sessions both increased 14 percent, excluding the new NBC station Web sites.

About Media General

Media General is a multimedia company operating leading newspapers, television stations and online enterprises primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company's publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers, The Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal; 22 daily community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; and more than 150 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company's broadcasting assets include 23 network-affiliated television stations that reach more than 32 percent of the television households in the Southeast and nearly 9.5 percent of those in the United States. The company's interactive media assets include more than 75 online enterprises that are associated with its newspapers and television stations. Media General also owns a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Company, a manufacturer of recycled newsprint.

                            MEDIA GENERAL, INC.                          Revenues and Page Views                                                       Year-to-Date                                            2007         2006      % Change    Revenues (000)                            $83,757      $86,630    (3.3)%          Publishing                          49,307       52,896    (6.8)%          Broadcast                           31,498       31,766    (0.8)%          Interactive Media                    3,581        2,607    37.4 %          Eliminations                          (629)        (639)    1.6 %           Discontinued Operations(1)               -        3,560       ---    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                        $40,562      $44,328    (8.5)%             Classified                       17,262       20,146   (14.3)%             Retail                           19,533       19,842    (1.6)%             National                          3,238        3,665   (11.7)%             Other                               529          675   (21.6)%          Circulation                          7,307        7,290     0.2 %       By Property          Richmond                            12,779       12,264     4.2 %          Tampa                               13,809       17,164   (19.5)%          Winston-Salem                        4,465        4,861    (8.1)%          Community Newspapers                18,017       18,424    (2.2)%    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                           $10,088       $9,581     5.3 %          Tampa                               11,947       15,587   (23.4)%          Winston-Salem                        3,479        3,896   (10.7)%          Community Newspapers                14,893       15,112    (1.4)%    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)        $32,088      $32,718    (1.9)%          Local                               19,718       19,309     2.1 %          National                            11,824       11,734     0.8 %          Political                              546        1,675   (67.4)%    Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites(2)              58,442,709   51,267,101    14.0 %            (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                         24,299,131   20,177,157    20.4 %            (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com        10,581,370   11,994,511   (11.8)%            (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                   4,674,800    3,716,210    25.8 %            (Winston-Salem, N.C.)                                                          Year-to-Date                                              2007         2006     % Change    Revenues (000)                             $555,299     $534,131    4.0 %          Publishing                           325,430      351,910   (7.5)%          Broadcast                            212,871      170,697   24.7 %          Interactive Media                     21,038       15,323   37.3 %          Eliminations                          (4,040)      (3,799)  (6.3)%           Discontinued Operations(1)                 -       23,779      ---    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                         $269,037     $294,909   (8.8)%             Classified                        114,619      134,953  (15.1)%             Retail                            127,842      131,006   (2.4)%             National                           23,016       24,615   (6.5)%             Other                               3,560        4,335  (17.9)%          Circulation                           46,993       48,744   (3.6)%       By Property          Richmond                              81,151       82,422   (1.5)%          Tampa                                 97,984      118,360  (17.2)%          Winston-Salem                         29,864       31,654   (5.7)%          Community Newspapers                 115,203      118,287   (2.6)%    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                             $64,601      $64,750   (0.2)%          Tampa                                 85,183      107,196  (20.5)%          Winston-Salem                         23,492       25,332   (7.3)%          Community Newspapers                  94,706       96,516   (1.9)%    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)         $220,608     $173,037   27.5 %          Local                                137,332      108,460   26.6 %          National                              81,019       58,620   38.2 %          Political                              2,257        5,957  (62.1)%    Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites(2)               350,655,229  323,081,351    8.5 %            (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                          130,955,915  118,530,001   10.5 %            (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com          74,127,486   80,364,946   (7.8)%            (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                    27,454,476   25,516,818    7.6 %            (Winston-Salem, N.C.)    Notes:  All data are subject to later adjustment.   (1) Revenues from certain broadcast and interactive media operations that       the Company divested in 2006.   (2) Web site page views exclude four NBC sites purchased in 2006 that were       previously hosted by a third party.                                    MEDIA GENERAL, INC                      Daily Newspapers Advertising Linage*                                                          July                                            2007         2006      % Change   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                                 33,699       32,286      4.4 %       National                               10,577        9,295     13.8 %       Classified                             78,754       80,199     (1.8)%           Total                             123,030      121,780      1.0 %    The Tampa Tribune       Retail                                 40,801       45,958    (11.2)%       National                                8,975       13,683    (34.4)%       Classified                            107,554      146,733    (26.7)%           Total                             157,330      206,374    (23.8)%    Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                                 30,715       35,944    (14.5)%       National                                7,562        7,564     (0.0)%       Classified                             62,382       67,273     (7.3)%           Total                             100,659      110,781     (9.1)%    Community Dailies       Retail                                359,721      365,340     (1.5)%       National                               17,481       19,553    (10.6)%       Classified                            496,882      524,526     (5.3)%           Total                             874,084      909,419     (3.9)%    Media General Dailies Total       Retail                                464,936      479,528     (3.0)%       National                               44,595       50,095    (11.0)%       Classified                            745,572      818,731     (8.9)%           Total                           1,255,103    1,348,354     (6.9)%                                                       Year-to-Date                                            2007         2006      % Change   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                                215,950      224,037     (3.6)%       National                               66,012       68,553     (3.7)%       Classified                            492,170      520,299     (5.4)%           Total                             774,132      812,889     (4.8)%    The Tampa Tribune       Retail                                301,638      318,103     (5.2)%       National                               67,509       93,872    (28.1)%       Classified                            692,008    1,006,232    (31.2)%           Total                           1,061,155    1,418,207    (25.2)%    Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                                208,699      256,023    (18.5)%       National                               54,218       56,743     (4.4)%       Classified                            363,427      415,215    (12.5)%           Total                             626,344      727,981    (14.0)%    Community Dailies       Retail                              2,323,579    2,408,168     (3.5)%       National                              132,768      143,375     (7.4)%       Classified                          3,063,857    3,245,858     (5.6)%           Total                           5,520,204    5,797,401     (4.8)%    Media General Dailies Total       Retail                              3,049,866    3,206,331     (4.9)%       National                              320,507      362,543    (11.6)%       Classified                          4,611,462    5,187,604    (11.1)%           Total                           7,981,835    8,756,478     (8.8)%    *  Advertising is in column inches - full run only  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: mgoodhead@mediageneral.com

Source: Media General, Inc.

CONTACT: Investors, Lou Anne J. Nabhan, +1-804-649-6103, or Media,
Ray Kozakewicz, +1-804-649-6748, both of Media General, Inc.

Web site: http://www.mediageneral.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment