Ad expenditures for newspaper websites increased 22.3 percent, to $750 million, in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2006, according to preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America, writes MarketingCharts.

The increase is the 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for online newspaper advertising since NAA started reporting online ad spending in 2004, the NAA said.

Advertising on newspaper sites made up 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending in the first quarter, compared with 5.5 percent for the same period a year earlier.

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Overall, advertising expenditures at newspapers and their websites totaled $10.6 billion for the first quarter of 2007, a 4.8 percent decrease from the year-earlier period.

MarketingCharts offers more data in its write-up.