The differences couldn’t be starker - on the day regional news publisher Johnston reported more falls in print classifieds, B2B publisher Centaur finds online is nicely making up for declines in the same area. Ad revenue on Centaur’s magazine-branded websites - including Design Week and NMA - grew 17 percent in Q1, credited to “an accelerated rate of growth in online recruitment advertising, which has more than offset the decline in print recruitment advertising”.

Centur acknowledged only that print ad revenues had “declined”. No specifics on figures as this is just an interim statement. And no mention at all of the strategic review Centaur was earlier reported to have begun.

The company said the figures “validated” its online strategy, which sees some sites include annoying autostart video ads. Events revenues swung up with double-digit growth, after a first-half decline. Like Johnston, however, Centaur is acknowledging tough times ahead in the economy: “The mortgage market in particular has continued to deteriorate, although Centaur’s share of this market has increased significantly in the past few months, partly offsetting the effect of market decline.” But is owning more of a declining sector a good or a bad thing?

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