In hindsight it seems a wise move that The New York Times settled their dispute with dissident shareholders yesterday. New York Times Company reported today that ad revenues fell 6.6% to $148 million in February. Compared with a year earlier, overall revenue from continuing operations dropped 2.6%.

And now the good news: Internet ad sales, however, rose 14.4 percent mostly on display advertising growth. Ad revenue from About Group in February grew 20.9%.

The newspaper publisher cautioned that March results would be hurt by the early timing of the Easter holiday, which, according to Market Watch. ''generally marks a time of lower advertising at the New York Times and Boston Globe.''

At post time NYT shares are down $0.28 or 1.49% at $18.26. Press release after the jump ...

(image via clipart)

The New York Times Company announced today that in February total Company revenues from continuing operations decreased 2.6% compared with the same month a year ago. Advertising revenues decreased 6.6% and circulation revenues increased 2.4%. The About Group again posted strong advertising growth in the month, up 20.9%.

The Company expects its results for March will be adversely affected by the timing of Easter. Easter Sunday, which falls in March this year but was in April last year, is traditionally a time of reduced advertising at both The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

All comparisons are for February 2008 to February 2007 unless otherwise noted:

News Media Group: Advertising revenues for the News Media Group decreased 7.8% mainly because of weaker classified advertising.

The New York Times Media Group - Advertising revenues for The New York Times Media Group decreased 4.1%. National advertising revenues increased as growth in American fashion, International fashion, media and packaged goods advertising offset weakness in the telecommunications, national automotive and transportation categories. The fashion categories benefited from the February 24 issue of T: Women's Fashion, which had a record number of ad pages, and was the largest spring issue of T: Women's Fashion to date. Retail advertising revenues decreased mainly due to softness in department store, fine arts and mass market advertising. Classified advertising revenues decreased because of weakness in help-wanted, real estate and automotive advertising.

New England Media Group - Advertising revenues for the New England Media Group decreased 11.6%. National advertising revenues were lower mainly because of decreases in the financial services, telecommunications, national automotive and banking categories. Retail advertising revenues decreased primarily due to weakness in computer/office supplies, apparel/footwear and food/drug advertising. Classified advertising revenues decreased because of continued softness in help-wanted, real estate and automotive advertising.

Regional Media Group - Advertising revenues for the Regional Media Group decreased 15.8%. Retail advertising revenues were down mainly because of decreases in the home furnishings, banking/financial services and telecommunications categories. Classified advertising revenues decreased due to continued weakness in real estate, help- wanted and automotive advertising.

Internet advertising revenues included in the News Media Group rose 14.4% mainly due to growth in display advertising.

Circulation revenues for the News Media Group increased 2.4%. Revenues increased at The New York Times Media Group, and decreased at the New England and Regional Media Groups.

About Group - Advertising revenues at the About Group (which includes the Web sites of About.com, ConsumerSearch.com, UCompareHealthCare.com and Calorie-Count.com) rose 20.9% due to growth in cost-per-click advertising. In addition, advertising revenues reflect the acquisitions of ConsumerSearch.com in May 2007 and UCompareHealthCare.com in March 2007. Excluding these acquisitions, advertising revenues increased about 16%.

In addition, The New York Times Company had the 11th largest presence on the Web, with 50.0 million unique visitors in the United States in February 2008 according to Nielsen Online, up approximately 28% from 38.9 million unique visitors in February 2007. Also according to Nielsen Online, NYTimes.com had 19.0 million unique visitors in February versus 13.0 million in February 2007, up about 46%, and was the No. 1 newspaper Web site in the United States, a position it has long held.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include national and local conditions, as well as competition, that could influence the levels (rate and volume) of retail, national and classified advertising and circulation generated by our various markets and material increases in newsprint prices. They also include other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's publicly filed documents, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2007. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.