We've put three quarters behind us in 2009, and the most recent one was merely another miserable step downward for the beleaguered newspaper industry. Total ad revenue plummeted in the third quarter to $6.4 billion for the print jockeys, a decline of 28%. This info from the Newspaper Association of America drives home the notion that conditions will only worsen for the newspaper industry. So, if you're hoping those shares of New York Times Company (NYT), Gannett (GCI) and Washington Post Company (WPO), holding your breath will leave you little more than dizzy.

Of the total advertising revenue generated in the third quarter of 2009, $5.8 million came from print, the lowest quarterly amount this year. The $623 million in online advertising sold by America's newspapers was also 2009's worst. Both are down substantially from the same quarter in 2008, when the newspapers posted print ad revenue of $8.2 million and online ad revenue of $750 million, according to NAA data. At this time last year, we lamented year-over-year declines approaching 20%. Now, we have the same feelings as ad revenue drops approach 30%.

In good news for those concerned about our evolving into creatures with enormous thumbs and no legs, a study by private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson found that the average American's time spent viewing/listening to media last year actually dropped in 2006, down 0.5% to only 3,530 hours, or a mere 9.67 hours per day.

The study attributes the decrease to the efficiency of on-demand media such as the internet, where we can find specific content without needing to wade through irrelevant information. Examples of this might be watching a YouTube clip of The Daily Show vs. sitting through the whole half-hour, or reading this blog vs. poring over the Wall Street Journal.

VSS believes that this trend reversal is temporary, but projects growth in time spent at a modest 0.5% per year over the next five years.

The decrease is not reflected in spending in the media industry, however. According to the report, communications spending was up a huge 6.8% in 2006, and averaged 5.9% over the past five years. VSS projects a 6.7% growth rate through 2011.

In marketing dollars, the strongest growth segments were in alternative advertising (no surprise there), which grew 36.6% last year vs. a paltry 2.4% in traditional venues. Other marketing avenues such as direct mail also suffered, up only 5% for the year and 4% over the five-year period.

In positive news for companies such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), VSS expects internet advertising by dollar volume to pass print media in 2011, projecting it will reach almost $62 billion.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been testing its print advertising network since November. This product is very interesting for both Google and newspaper publishers. For Google, this is yet another chance for the company to increase its dominance over the marketing world -- now even the print-marketing world. More importantly, for publishers this is a chance to gain new advertisers who aren't usually proponents of what print marketing has to offer.

Two facts are indicating that Google's product is being well received:

• Newspaper publishers are "cautiously optimistic" according to the AP and willing to increase the number of newspapers they are enrolling in the program
• Google is planning on expanding this program

While this program is still very early in its development, I think it has extraordinary potential. It gives newspapers the chance to dial into non-conventional and internet-focused advertisers and hopefully increase advertising revenues. As I recently covered, newspapers are trying many different things in order to increase revenues. If this product is successful, it will help Google further entrench its lead in marketing, although I do believe Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) has a chance to catch up.

Dow Jones (NYSE:DJ) has heard the clarion call of the Internet and responded with a sweeping redesign of the Wall Street Journal, about three years too late. Despite all of the talk in the Reader's Guide in today's paper about "excellence" and meeting the expectations of today's busy reader, the reasons for the changes have more to do with the shift of advertising to the internet and a desire to cut down on newsprint costs. Neither trend is new and Dow Jones probably should have reduced the size of the paper several years ago. The company shrunk the international edition of the Journal in 2005. Dow Jones estimates that it will save $18 million from the changes to the Journal.

The design itself will take some getting used to. The Journal is 20 percent narrower which will make it easier for commuters to handle. Dow Jones says it will be running "the same or more news articles than we do today." I like the look overall. The paper seems easier to read and the graphics are improved. It wouldn't surprise me if the New York Times (NYSE:NYT) made similar changes.

But for the long-suffering Dow Jones investors, the question remains whether this is going to make a difference in terms of advertising and circulation revenue. The jury will be out on that question for a while. Newspapers, as has been said ad nauseum, need to change in order to survive. Though internet revenue is growing by leaps and bounds, it remains a small slice of the pie for publishers. Dow Jones is trying to make the Journal more relevant and appealing to a broader set of advertisers. Still, about the only thing that seems to move the company's stock is rumors of a possible sale.