U.S. newspaper Web sites see the highest advertising revenues from local ads, about US$3.7 billion, paidContent reported Wednesday.

However, growth rates at local radio and television sites are double the growth rate for newspaper sites, according to a Borrell Associates study.

Newspapers are having difficulty growing online ad revenues due to a poor U.S. economy and problems on the stock market, as well as being “hindered by (their) limited diet of display ads and the usual pool of marketers they tend to rely on for the print side,” paidContent reported in an article posted by the Washington Post. “But the report also shows that newspapers, along with local TV and radio, are still relatively strong versus internet companies not tied to traditional media. That said, the rise of TV and radio will continue to cut into newpapers' local dominance.”

The Borrell study, done with support from BIA Financial, predicts that local newspaper Web sites will see growth rates of about 33.5 percent, from the period beginning in 2002, and ending at the end of 2008. Meanwhile, local radio and TV sites will see growth at rates between 67.2 percent and 69.9 percent in the same period.

Pure-play companies, such as Yahoo! and Google!, are expected to have an average growth rate of 40.5 percent yearly, until the end of 2008, as they have no traditional ad spend. However, because newspapers have a “head-start and cross-selling opportunities, their value will still dominate,” paidContent reported.