Combined online and print newspaper ad revenues fell 6.9 percent to $5.9 billion in Q2, marking the 20th consecutive decline for the industry, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America.

The consecutive decreases began in Q306, when combined print and online ad dollars declined a mere 1.5 percent to $11.7 billion. Since that point, newspaper ad dollars have fallen 48.8 percent, and there is no sign of a comeback.

To put that in cash terms, about $7bn a quarter has been taken out of the industry. Classified  is down by closer to 70% over the period.

Online’s inability to help pay the bills becomes all too clear when you see that between H1 2006, and H1 this year, total print revenues fell by $7.4bn. Total online revenues meanwhile grew by $0.4bn. Or, if my maths is correct, for every dollar gained online, $18.5 dollars have been lost in print.

This is hardcore, brutal disruption in action. It’s not the fault of executives not ‘getting it’. It’s not because newspapers didn’t get blogging/ social/open quickly enough or tried to protect their print sales. The human factor might nudge things a few per centage points each way, but the overall trend is more like a force of nature.

Oh, and completely co-incidentally, if US newspapers ad revenues are down by about $7bn a quarter since 2006, guess how much Google’s quarterly revenues have gone up by since then – yes, approximately $7bn. [well, $6.6bn to be precise: $2.4bn Q2 2006, $9.0bn Q2 2011].

via NAA: Newspapers Have Had 20 Quarters Of Consecutive Ad Rev Declines | paidContent.