The company, which owns the New York Times and the Boston Globe, said that it was seeing this particularly in travel-related categories such as airlines and hotels.
Leonard Forman, senior vice-president and chief financial officer, said: "While advertising revenues for the quarter were in line with our expectations through the first two weeks of March, we have recently seen a weakening as a result of the war.
"While we are not changing our full-year earnings guidance, results for 2003 would be adversely affected by a prolonged conflict in Iraq."
The announcement from the NY Times Company supports other evidence that advertisers are suspending their advertising as the result war against Iraq.
Brand Republic recently reported that plans were being drawn up by most major US advertisers, including consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, as firms try to distance themselves from some of the disturbing images that are coming out of Iraq.
Other advertisers have demanded, and got, get-out clauses allowing them to cancel ads. One such advertiser is American Express. Other advertisers, such as Gucci and Merrill Lynch, have also informed agencies and media companies that ad budgets will be cut or reined in.
Some have gone as far as pulling their advertising indefinitely, including US brewer Adolph Coors, which has pulled ads and has not said when it will be back. A spokesman for the company said the firm was currently re-evaluating its position.
ZenithOptimedia in New York said that some clients had asked "to go off the air for up to seven days" and many are now reconsidering their position as it emerges that the war will not be a short one and could drag on for months.
Analysts in the US had already noticed that certain sectors, including airlines and travel, were showing pre-war caution, which is now being borne out.
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