What earnings reports have revealed about ads

By The Associated Press

Here are highlights of recent quarterly earnings reports from selected Internet, media and advertising companies and what they say about the state of spending on advertising:

July 15: Google Inc. says that during the second quarter, marketers were willing to pay more for the online ads that generate virtually all of Google's income, and people are clicking on the commercial messages more frequently. Those trends provide another indication that more companies and shoppers are feeling a little better about the economy.

July 16: Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, shows signs it's moving closer to ending a 3 1/2-year slump in print advertising, though it still didn't feel confident enough to predict when the biggest part of its business will begin to grow again. The decline in print ad revenue narrowed in the second quarter to 6 percent.

General Electric Co. says NBC's broadcast operation is benefiting from continued recovery in the local ad market, with percentage growth for sales in the double digits.

July 20: Yahoo Inc. says revenue in the second quarter looked fairly strong until June, when several large advertisers suddenly reduced their spending. Still, sales of display advertising rose 19 percent in the quarter compared with a year ago, even as the company's search advertising revenue fell 8 percent.

Omnicom Group Inc., which owns marketing agencies, reports a 4.2 percent rise in quarterly net income, reflecting an uptick in spending on marketing and advertising. Overall revenue was up 5.9 percent and U.S. revenue increased 7.4 percent.

July 22: The New York Times Co. posts its first quarterly revenue growth since 2007. The company managed to keep ad revenue flat in the second quarter, as a 21 percent jump in digital ad sales offset a 6 percent decline in print.

Microsoft Corp. says advertisements placed alongside search results on its Bing site helped its online ad business increase revenue by 19 percent.

July 28: Comcast Corp. says revenue for local ads shown on its cable channels grew 23 percent during the quarter, led by automotive, though all categories are up in double-digit percentages.

IAC/InterActiveCorp says revenue climbed nearly 19 percent, much of it because of growth in the company's core search business, which includes the search engine Ask.com. Revenue comes primarily from online advertising, and that has been improving after a slump in the online ad market plagued the business throughout most of last year.

July 29: McClatchy' reports ad revenue fell by its lowest rate in more than three years. The 8 percent decrease for the April-June period compared with last year marked the least erosion in McClatchy's ad revenue since a 5 percent decline in the first three months of 2007 from the previous year's quarter.

Interpublic Group of Cos., which owns advertising agencies, reports second-quarter results above analyst estimates -- the latest indication that companies are growing more comfortable spending on advertising as the economy recovers. However, CEO Michael I. Roth acknowledges that there are still "areas of uncertainty" in the worldwide economy.

Among earnings reports coming up:

Tuesday: CBS Corp.

Wednesday: Time Warner Inc., AOL Inc., News Corp.

Thursday: Viacom Inc.

Friday: Washington Post Co.

Aug. 10: The Walt Disney Co.