THE US newspapers' revenue fell at its slowest pace in six years, as publishers turned to new businesses and raised more money from online subscriptions.

The industry's total revenue in 2012 fell 2 percent to US$38.6 billion from US$39.5 billion in 2011, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Online subscriptions helped circulation revenue rise by 5 percent to US$10.4 billion. It was the first gain since 2003.

The figures are projections based on a survey of 17 firms that represent about half of the industry's revenue. Publishers provided details of their revenue on condition of anonymity.

For the first time, the NAA data incorporated new sources of revenue that virtually didn't exist for the industry a decade ago, including e-commerce, event hosting and providing advertising agency-like services to local companies. These categories accounted for US$3 billion in revenue in 2012. The NAA also began counting for the first time ad revenue from niche publications and such things as flyers sent to non-subscribers. Those segments generated US$2.9 billion.

If the new categories were excluded, revenue would have fallen 3 percent in 2012, to US$32.7 billion, still the most modest decline since 2006. In 2011, revenue excluding the new categories fell 5 percent to US$33.9 billion. Revenue peaked at US$60.2 billion in 2005.

"This does not look like an industry that's just rolling over," said Caroline Little, president of NAA.