Terrible Stats

Newspaper ad sales during the first quarter shrank 28.3%, or $2.6 billion, from where they were during the same quarter a year ago, according to a new slew of statistics from the Newspaper Association of America.

More bruising stats from the report:

* Print ad sales declined 29.7% to $5.9 billion
* Online sales down 13.4% to $696.3 million
* Classifieds down 42.3% to $1.5 billion
* Ad sales collapse 16.6% to $37.8 billion in 2008. The worst decline ever.
* 2009 revenues will likely come in lower than $30 billion, less than they did in 1987
* Employment advertising shrank 67.4% to $205.4 million
* Real Estate down 45.6% to $336.9 million
* Auto down 43.4% to $332.8 million
* National campaigns down 25.9% to $1.1 billion
* Retail down 23.7% to $3.3 billion
* "Other" down 16.5% to $587.7 million
Source