Posted on 01/14/2009 4:53:27 AM PST by abb
As expected, 2008 wrapped up on a spectacularly sour note for consumer magazines, as the recession pummeled ad pages across the board. According to figures released by the Publishers Information Bureau Tuesday, total ad pages fell a remarkable 17.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007; that's equal to about 13,000 ad pages. For 2008 overall, magazines suffered an 11.7% decline compared to 2007 (and that's on top of a 1% decline in 2007 compared to 2006).
First, the scarce good news, which mostly graced newer titles. Ad pages at Rodale's Bestlife, the relatively new men's lifestyle title, were up 7.3%, to 231. Ad pages at Wondertime, Disney's fairly new parenting title, soared 35.4% to 198, while competitor Cookie from Conde Nast grew a more modest 3.5% to 285. A relative newcomer in the newsweekly category, The Week, was strong with 9.1% growth to 221. Among more established titles, Hachette's Elle rose 4.3% to 806; Mansueto's Fast Company defied gravity with a 13.5% increase, to 229; and American Media Inc.'s Men's Fitness stayed healthy with a 4% increase to 273, while Muscle & Fitness, another AMI title, pumped up 5.1% to 495.
If you're looking for bad news, you can take your pick--as virtually every major category saw substantial, if not outright disastrous, declines. Indeed, the other 235 consumer titles tracked by PIB did not fare so well, as double-digit declines in ad pages were the norm. In order of magnitude, some of the biggest losses came at Life & Style Weekly (47.8%), Blender (42.7%), SmartMoney (37.9%), More (37.4%), The New Yorker (35.1%), Rolling Stone (33.3%), Conde Nast Portfolio (33.1%), Real Simple (32.9%), ESPN Magazine (28.6%), Gourmet (28%), Conde Nast Traveler (26.9%), People (25.5%), First for Women (25.3%), Maxim (25.3%), Bicycling (25.2%), O the Oprah Magazine (24.9%), Everyday Food (24.7%), GQ (24.5%), Newsweek (24.3%), Bon Appetit (23.9%), In Touch Weekly (23.7%), American Photo (23.7%), Entertainment Weekly (23.6%), Ladies' Home Journal (23.3%), National Geographic (21.3%), Cooking Light (23.2%), Better Homes & Gardens (21.2%), and Prevention (20.8%).
That's not to say that other titles escaped unscathed, as revealed by a quick look at some of the bigger titles not mentioned above. In alphabetic order this time, more typical losses were seen at BusinessWeek (down 19.6%), Country Living (18.5%), Details (14.2%), Domino (15.1%), Dwell (18.6%), Esquire (14.6%), Fitness (19.9%), Food & Wine (14.2%), Fortune (18%), Glamour (17.6%), Good Housekeeping (14.1%), Harper's Bazaar (13.1%), Lucky (17%), Marie Claire (17.7%), New York Magazine (15.6%), Runner's World (17.8%), Sports Illustrated (15.4%), and Time (18.4%).
ping
"TIME, oh, TIME
Where did you go
TIME, oh, good, good TIME
Where did you go"
http://www.magazine.org/advertising/revenue/by_ad_category/pib-4q-2008.aspx
2008 Magazine Advertising Shows Effects of Soft Economy
http://www.magazine.org/advertising/revenue/BY_MAG_TITLE_YTD/pib-4q-2008.aspx
January - December 2008 vs 2007
http://www.magazine.org/advertising/revenue/BY_MAG_TITLE_QTR/pib-4q-2008.aspx
October - December 2008 vs 2007
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/395910_Joel14.html
Seattle needs competing media
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i8bd9b0da7b2e5cc5dd0f0824af55d420
PIB Numbers Tell Tale of Woe
Rate-card reported ad revenue declined more precipitously as the year went on
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3ib74aaf21b073f8c76ed2d85d498d1cf0
eMarketer: Newspapers Face Harsh Reality
The few magazines I truly enjoyed just became so left wing and biased I could not subject myself or my family to their ranting. I speak of Nat’l Geo and Smithnsonian. And I told them so at renewal.
Premier Guitar I still get and love.
I have held my nose the past several years and sent my check in to Nat. Geo. This may be the year I pull the plug.
In the last month two magazines I love and have subscribed to for years-Cottage Living and Country Home-have closed down.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/090113/10457635.html?.v=1
Fit to Print: Survival in the Newspaper Industry, Part I
You’re overdue to cancel at National Geographic. I threw in the towel a couple of years ago.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189862045179953.html
Blockbuster Offers Videos Via Internet
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123190457607380359.html
Actors Guild’s Strike Vote Remains Unresolved
It’s hard to choose between an Eleanor Clift screed and a print ad for a GM ****box I will never consider buying.
I wonder how the ad revenue is going for Gun & Ammo magazine and Shotgun News?
I killed it several years ago when my daughter became old enough to start being influenced and the globull warming became the entire reason for the magazine.
I swear Nat Geo could not go one issue without some anti-western comment in some article, never mind the letters or the editors blog. Bunch of commies there.
I have a collection in my library that goes back to the mid ‘40s. Not a day goes by that I don’t peruse the older issues of the 50s and 60s.
I mourn those two. I really, really miss them, but they've been taken over and perverted. They lost subscriptions and several gift subs too.
"Premier Guitar I still get and love."
American Handgunner, America's First Freedom.
Here as well. My grandmother had every issue for years. I have some from the early 1900s with Admiral Perry’s expedition to the North Pole with hand colored prints of photos. Fascinating.
And the rest was "How some rich kids had an exotic vacation."
Sports Illustrated and ESPN have become so “progressive” that I can’t even read the free copy at my gym........
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/01/micropayments-a.html
Micropayments: A rainbow for journalism...or a Hail Mary?
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