Now that you’ve settled into what most likely ended up being the first post-Thanksgiving work day, here’s some bad news for you: Newspapers are still in a lot of trouble. MediaPost reports that in the third quarter, newspaper ad revenue dropped for the 25th straight time.

The figures, courtesy of the Newspaper Association of America, show that from 2006 through 2011, newspaper ad revenues plunged 51 percent, from $49.3 billion to $23.9 billion. This year the losses weren’t catastrophic —  ad revenue declined just five percent, from $5.56 billion in 3Q 2011 to $5.27 billion — but still, it’s disheartening.

We hope this guilt trip was enough to persuade any of you who still don’t pay to read newspapers to finally start forking over some cash.

Okay so maybe this isn’t such great news for print purists.

But according to an analysis of comScore data performed by the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper websites in the fourth quarter of 2011 averaged more than 111 million monthly unique visitors, an increase of more than 6 million compared with the same period a year ago. Growth!

In addition, a comparison of newspaper website usage data year-over-year for the fourth quarter showed that average daily visitors increased by more than 3 million, or nearly 15 percent. Unique visitors increased nearly 6 percent, while total minutes increased 14 percent.

Not only are more people visiting, they’re also staying longer.
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We feel like we should just start scheduling these “newspaper ad spend declines again” posts for the end of every quarter. This time, ad spending declined seven percent in 2Q, says Marketwatch. This marks the 20th straight quarter that it has declined, dating back to 2006.

However, there is a slightly bright note: Online ad spending increased eight percent, up to about $803 million. Also, online advertising represented 14 percent of all ad dollars in 2Q, and that’s a jump — okay, maybe a hop — up from 12 percent last year.

“This trend cleary demonstrates the progress that newspapers have made, and continue to make, in leveraging their digital platforms,” said John Sturm, the Newspaper Association of America’s President.

The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) released its findings for the first three months of 2011, and as usual, things aren’t looking that great. Print revenue dropped 9.5 percent in Q1, down to $4.7 billion, the lowest its been since 1983. Here’s how long ago 1983 was: Every Breath You Take by The Police was a number one hit and Tom Cruise was still considered sane and had just landed his first leading role. Yeah, that long ago.

The NAA did uncover some slightly good news though, as digital revenue for Q1 was up 10.6 percent. We say slightly because even though that helps, digital still makes up only a fraction of newspaper ad dollars.

Who knows how long newspapers are going to be able to keep this up. Sadly, you can probably expect more papers to fold as time goes by.

According to data released today by the Newspaper Association of America, newspapers’ Web sites drew more than one-third all Internet users during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Thanks to custom stats generated for the NAA by Nielsen Online, the industry association learned that newspaper Web sites drew 72 million visitors during the quarter, or 37 percent of total Internet users. Newspaper Web site users also “generated more than 3.2 billion page views during the quarter, spending more than 2.4 billion minutes browsing the sites,” the NAA revealed today.

Said NAA president John F. Sturm:

“These strong and consistent audience figures come as newspaper publishers continue to transition their companies into multiplatform content providers to meet the needs of today’s audience. As the economy begins to stabilize, newspaper companies are in position to leverage their trusted brands to reach a highly engaged audience and deliver maximum value to advertisers.”

Read more: Press release with chart

Previously: Study: Newspapers Are Retaining Readers Despite Price Increases

In an effort to survive their recent economic struggles, newspapers across the country have increased home delivery and single copy prices.

But a recent study by the Newspaper Association of America has revealed that despite increased prices, fewer subscribers are canceling their subscriptions.

According to data from the the NAA’s 2009 Circulation Facts, Figures and Logic study, the percentage of subscribers who have canceled their subscriptions fell to 31.8 percent last year, compared to 54.5 percent several years ago in 2000.

NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm attributed this lack of churn to newspapers’ focus on retaining readers in prime markets in order to give advertisers the most for their money. The study’s data also revealed that readers were drawn in through new business models and multi-platform content, the NAA said.

Well, at least the industry is doing something right. And readers are staying loyal and sticking by their papers even as sub prices rise. It’s heartening news.

Related: Grim Revenue Number For Papers As Publishers Meet Secretly

(Photo via flickr)

Watch CBS Videos Online

FishbowlDC: CQ-Roll Call cut 44 jobs today, before unveiling a big restructuring of the company.

Editor & Publisher: John Sturm, the president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America told a joint economic hearing today that the newspaper industry was not looking for a government bailout.

The Boston Phoenix: The Boston Globe‘s biggest union, the Boston Newspaper Guild, has taken measures to prevent union president Dan Totten from handling union finances. “Information has come to the attention of the Executive Committee that President Daniel Totten has engaged in conduct which appears to be violative of the constitution regarding financial matters involving Local funds,” the union said in a note to members.

New York Times: Some Tribune bondholders have been granted access to documents in order to investigate the 2007 of the company to Sam Zell.

WowoWow: “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews Ted Jr., Sen. Edward Kennedy‘s son, and the editor and publisher who worked with the senator on his memoir. (See video above)

Hot on the heels of news that newspaper executives from across the country met secretly in Chicago yesterday, the Newspaper Association of America released troubling revenue numbers for the first quarter of 2009.

According to the NAA, total revenues for papers in the U.S. dropped 28.3 percent during the first quarter of the year, down to $6.6 billion from $9.2 billion during the same period last year. (For reference, first quarter revenue hovered in the $11 to $10 billion range for the five years prior to 2008.)

This precipitous drop is due to a 29.7 percent decline in print ad revenues (down to $5.9 billion from $8.4 billion in Q1 of 2008) and a 13.4 percent decrease is online advertising revenue (down to $696 million from $804 million last year).

Reportedly, executives at yesterday’s meeting discussed ways to monetize online content, but they have be careful in describing what the confab was about in order to avoid antitrust scrutiny. NAA president John F. Sturm told Nieman Journalism Lab that antitrust counsel was present at the meeting and noted that “the group discussed business topics such as protection of intellectual property rights and approaches to the Congress and Administration to address these and other issues.”

If the revenue numbers from the first quarter of 2009 are any indication, something needs to be done to ensure that newspapers will be around in the future — and fast. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing more papers go the way of the Rocky Mountain News in the near future.

AgencySpy: The Bloodcopy blog controversy that arose this weekend turned out to be a campaign by Gawker Media and ad agency Campfire for HBO‘s “True Blood.”

UnBeige: The latest New Yorker has a cover picture “painted” on an iPhone. (And a profile of NYT investor Carlos Slim)

Folio: Shuttered magazine East West, which targets Asian Americans, is going to be relaunched.

All Things Digital: AOL‘s People Networks president Joanna Shields is leaving the company.

New York Times: The Newspaper Association of America’s monthly pub, Presstime is becoming online only.