Media General Reports November 2007 Revenues

Media General Reports November 2007 Revenues

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Heavily impacted by an $11.8 million reduction in Political revenues from last year, Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG) today reported November 2007 total revenues of $80.3 million, a decrease of $11.5 million, or 12.5 percent, from November 2006. By business segment, Publishing Division revenues decreased 8.9 percent, as a result of continued weakness in Classified advertising; Broadcast Division revenues decreased 18.9 percent, due to the lower Political advertising in this off- election year; and Interactive Media Division revenues rose 34.8 percent.

"The near $12 million decrease in Political revenues at our television stations, partially offset by double-digit increases in Local and National time sales, was the primary cause of our November revenues decline," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer. "With the addition of four new NBC stations in 2006, we generated $13.2 million in Political advertising last November compared with $1.4 million this year, which was generated by spending from Presidential campaigns in South Carolina and Florida, state and local government races in a majority of our markets, and issue spending in a number of states.

"Our Publishing and Interactive Media Division results reflected lower Classified advertising in most markets, particularly in Tampa. Florida's deep recession continues to challenge our Tampa operations and accounted for the majority of the decline in Publishing revenues," Mr. Morton said.

"Increased Interactive Media Division revenues were due to higher advertising spending in the Local and National/Regional categories as well as strong revenue growth in our advergaming business and these results helped offset the weak Classified advertising. Page views and visitor sessions in November each increased more than 6 percent from last year," Mr. Morton said.

Publishing Division

Newspaper advertising revenues in November decreased $4.5 million, or 10.8 percent; most of the decline was attributable to the Tampa market where Classified revenues dropped more than 45 percent.

Due mostly to that drop in Tampa, Classified advertising revenues decreased $3.7 million, or 24.1 percent. Classified revenues in the Richmond market declined 8.5 percent, and all three major categories were lower. The Winston-Salem market saw an 8.3 percent reduction, reflecting lower automotive and real estate revenues, partially offset by higher employment spending due in part to higher rates. The Community newspaper markets decreased 10.9 percent.

For the company's three metro markets, real estate revenues were down 36.1 percent, employment revenues decreased 25.9 percent, and automotive revenues declined 32.5 percent.

Retail advertising revenues declined by $550,000, or 2.4 percent, although Thanksgiving-holiday preprint revenues were higher this year than last year, because some advertisers shifted their spending from ROP to preprints. The Tampa Tribune and its associated newspapers reported a 3.6 percent decrease, primarily due to lower spending in the home improvement and home furnishings categories. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and its associated weekly newspapers experienced a nominal decrease, reflecting a decline in medical advertising offset in part by revenues from a new weekly newspaper. In Winston-Salem, Retail revenues were down 3.5 percent, as lower spending in the political and home improvement categories was partially offset by higher medical advertising. The Community newspaper group saw a 2.5 percent decrease.

National revenues decreased $240,000, or 7.1 percent. The Richmond market generated a 7.6 percent increase, primarily the result of higher spending in the telecommunications category and increased preprint revenues, but that was more than offset by the Tampa market, which declined 21.2 percent, due to lower advertising in most major advertising categories. National revenues in Winston-Salem decreased 3.5 percent, reflecting lower spending by telecommunications advertisers.

Circulation revenues were down $90,000, or 1.5 percent, as Daily and Sunday net-paid circulation declines for the month were partially offset by rate increases at the metro newspapers. Four Media General newspapers generated increases in net-paid Daily Circulation, and three did so for Sunday.

Broadcast Division

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales decreased $8 million, or 18.3 percent, mostly due to the impact of lower Political spending in this off- election year.

Local time sales increased $2.3 million, or 11.7 percent, primarily from higher spending in the automotive, grocery store and the services categories, partially offset by lower furniture store and telecommunications advertising.

National time sales rose $1.6 million, or 14.3 percent, as a result of increased advertising in the automotive, telecommunications and financial categories.

Interactive Media Division

Interactive Media Division revenues increased 34.8 percent, due to significantly higher revenues from the advergaming business, solid growth in National/Regional and Local advertising and revenues from the Yahoo!HotJobs employment Classified partnership. Revenues from Yahoo!HotJobs also helped mitigate overall softness in Classified revenues, which declined 13.1 percent.

Local online revenues grew 42.5 percent over November 2006, reflecting continued focus on direct sales. National/Regional advertising increased 40.6 percent, resulting from higher spending by national agencies. Advergaming revenues more than tripled from last year.

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                                                        November                                            2007         2006      % Change    Revenues (000)                            $80,269      $91,724   (12.5)%          Publishing                          44,561       48,915    (8.9)%          Broadcast                           33,338       41,113   (18.9)%          Interactive Media                    3,019        2,240    34.8 %          Eliminations                          (649)        (544)  (19.3)%           Discontinued Operations (1)              -            -         -    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                        $37,147      $41,627   (10.8)%             Classified                       11,564       15,226   (24.1)%             Retail                           21,999       22,547    (2.4)%             National                          3,092        3,328    (7.1)%             Other                               492          526    (6.5)%          Circulation                          6,037        6,131    (1.5)%       By Property          Richmond                            10,971       11,409    (3.8)%          Tampa                               12,702       15,804   (19.6)%          Winston-Salem                        4,587        4,777    (4.0)%          Community Newspapers                16,004       16,752    (4.5)%    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                            $8,780       $9,187    (4.4)%          Tampa                               10,975       14,325   (23.4)%          Winston-Salem                        3,760        3,967    (5.2)%          Community Newspapers                13,391       13,981    (4.2)%    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)        $35,520      $43,501   (18.3)%          Local                               21,699       19,418    11.7 %          National                            12,465       10,908    14.3 %          Political                            1,356       13,175   (89.7)%    Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites (2)             43,548,646   40,938,923     6.4 %           (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                         15,549,992   13,733,854    13.2 %           (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com         7,960,641   10,195,035   (21.9)%           (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                   3,211,221    3,385,682    (5.2)%           (Winston-Salem, N.C.)                                                       Year-to-Date                                            2007         2006      % Change    Revenues (000)                           $879,215     $890,378    (1.3)%          Publishing                         504,732      546,625    (7.7)%          Broadcast                          347,402      324,724     7.0 %          Interactive Media                   33,703       25,079    34.4 %          Eliminations                        (6,622)      (6,050)   (9.5)%           Discontinued Operations (1)              -       32,078         -    Selected Publishing Revenues (000)       By Category          Advertising                       $417,669     $459,585    (9.1)%             Classified                      170,274      204,505   (16.7)%             Retail                          206,129      210,213    (1.9)%             National                         35,467       37,940    (6.5)%             Other                             5,799        6,927   (16.3)%          Circulation                         72,247       74,335    (2.8)%       By Property          Richmond                           126,457      129,054    (2.0)%          Tampa                              147,586      180,072   (18.0)%          Winston-Salem                       47,522       49,999    (5.0)%          Community Newspapers               180,875      185,393    (2.4)%    Advertising Revenues (000)          Richmond                          $100,683     $102,076    (1.4)%          Tampa                              127,865      163,370   (21.7)%          Winston-Salem                       37,770       40,196    (6.0)%          Community Newspapers               149,314      151,978    (1.8)%    Broadcast Time Sales (gross) (000)       $361,656     $337,576     7.1 %          Local                              221,261      185,402    19.3 %          National                           131,571      102,482    28.4 %          Political                            8,824       49,692   (82.2)%    Selected Online Total Page Views          Total Web Sites 2              549,432,521  507,862,961     8.2 %           (Excluding Game Sites)          TBO.com                        207,733,039  189,049,009     9.9 %           (Tampa, Fla.)          inRich/TimesDispatch.com       109,410,747  122,754,440   (10.9)%           (Richmond, Va.)          JournalNow.com                  41,757,963   40,140,113     4.0 %           (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*                                                        November                                            2007         2006      % Change   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                                 32,670       32,980     (0.9)%       National                               10,004        8,847     13.1 %       Classified                             60,275       59,762      0.9 %           Total                             102,949      101,589      1.3 %   The Tampa Tribune       Retail                                 47,227       53,572    (11.8)%       National                                7,631       10,234    (25.4)%       Classified                             67,374      110,336    (38.9)%           Total                             122,232      174,142    (29.8)%   Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                                 31,639       39,126    (19.1)%       National                                7,294        7,387     (1.3)%       Classified                             43,648       48,298     (9.6)%           Total                              82,581       94,811    (12.9)%   Community Dailies       Retail                                339,735      370,104     (8.2)%       National                               19,982       22,963    (13.0)%       Classified                            346,157      369,676     (6.4)%           Total                             705,874      762,743     (7.5)%   Media General Dailies Total       Retail                                451,271      495,782     (9.0)%       National                               44,911       49,431     (9.1)%       Classified                            517,454      588,072    (12.0)%           Total                           1,013,636    1,133,285    (10.6)%                                                       Year-to Date                                            2007         2006      % Change   Richmond Times-Dispatch       Retail                                344,067      353,131     (2.6)%       National                              104,789      104,208      0.6 %       Classified                            771,030      790,562     (2.5)%           Total                           1,219,886    1,247,901     (2.2)%   The Tampa Tribune       Retail                                461,819      501,700     (7.9)%       National                               98,335      137,506    (28.5)%       Classified                          1,014,130    1,488,325    (31.9)%           Total                           1,574,284    2,127,531    (26.0)%   Winston-Salem Journal       Retail                                331,582      400,376    (17.2)%       National                               84,297       88,067     (4.3)%       Classified                            555,300      638,049    (13.0)%           Total                             971,179    1,126,492    (13.8)%   Community Dailies       Retail                              3,663,435    3,791,364     (3.4)%       National                              207,946      231,247    (10.1)%       Classified                          4,644,735    4,972,030     (6.6)%           Total                           8,516,116    8,994,641     (5.3)%   Media General Dailies Total       Retail                              4,800,903    5,046,571     (4.9)%       National                              495,367      561,028    (11.7)%       Classified                          6,985,195    7,888,966    (11.5)%           Total                          12,281,465   13,496,565     (9.0)%     *  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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