* Fairfax says impairment charge will be A$989 mln
* Move is the result of separating successful property classifieds
* Company has made impairments every year since 2009 (Adds analyst quote and media context, updates shares)
By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australian newspaper publisher Fairfax Media FXJ.AX flagged a nearly A$1 billion ($759 million) impairment charge for fiscal 2016 to reflect "market realities", a sign traditional media firms have yet to find a way to survive the flight to online.
The 175-year-old publisher of the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and other high profile Australian mastheads gave the warning nine days before it reports annual results, snatching away analyst hopes of its first rise in full-year net profit since 2008.
Instead, Fairfax will post its biggest yearly net loss since 2012, and will have made an impairment charge every year since 2009, with the writedowns totalling A$5.6 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data, more than double its market capitalisation.
Australia's traditional media companies, like their overseas peers, have been reporting huge writedowns in recent years as advertising revenue shrinks to reflect an exodus of paying readers and viewers to cheaper alternatives online.
In February, media owner Seven Group Holdings Ltd SVW.AX said an impairment charge on its print publications almost wiped out its half-yearly net profit. In fiscal 2015, television broadcaster Seven West Media Ltd SWM.AX booked nearly A$2 billion in impairment charges while rival Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd NEC.AX recorded A$767 million in impairment charges.
The online-only companies which now dominate classifieds are meanwhile thriving. Carsales.Com Ltd CAR.AX has grown net profit every year since listing in 2008, while jobs website Seek Ltd SEK.AX has grown profit in eight of the past 10 years.
Fairfax has been moving its focus online, cutting hundreds of print jobs, forming a content streaming joint venture with Nine to take on Netflix Inc NFLX.O and taking a half-stake in the local unit of Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) VZ.N website, The Huffington Post.
The latest impairment charge follows Fairfax's move to create a separate reporting segment for its largely online real estate classifieds unit, Domain Group, previously a significant contributor of earnings to the overall company, Fairfax said.
"By giving transparency to the Domain assets it allows the market to value it appropriately, that's what they'll be hoping," said Forager Funds Management senior analyst Daniel Mueller.
"The reality is I don't know if the market is ever going to look at it that way unless there is any intention to spin it off."
Chief Executive Officer Greg Hywood said in a statement that Domain "remains an integral and growing part of Fairfax (and) we have no plans for that to change" - a sign the company is not selling the real estate unit.
Fairfax shares were down 1 percent while the broader market was up 0.8 percent in mid-session trading.
($1 = 1.3184 Australian dollars)