Top 5 Monthly Magazines, from MIN Online

The June 2010 monthly ad-page boxscores brightened the advertising skies for more than half the magazines that we track in min. Of the 150 monthly titles in our chart, down from 161 titles the previous year, 92 were up in ad pages, an exuberant leap from the 17 that were up in June of 2009. In addition, 77 titles are showing a positive ad-page percent gain year-to-date 2010 vs. 2009, compared to only eight titles that were up during the first half of 2009. As reported on minonline, this is the first quarterly increase since the 2007 fourth quarter's +3.84%.

Elle Decor takes the lead in highest percent gain for ad pages. “The issue itself benefited from the timing of a new editorial franchise — the ELLE DECOR A-List, in which our editors named 25 top designers and five to watch,” says VP/publisher Barbara Friedmann. “This gave our fantastic sales staff a compelling opportunity to bring their endemic home furnishings advertisers earlier in the spring.”

Money took the second spot, with a 79% hike in ad pages from June 2009. Much of this is due to a strong advertising performance from key advertisers in industries ranging from pharma and financial services, and automotive industries and certain other editorial franchises, says publisher Frank Wall, . In addition, June begins the launch of “Money Women” (sponsored by HP), which targets 900,000 subscriber homes with women who have kids in the household.

Popular Mechanics' publisher Bill Congdon tells min that the 61% increase is due to their effort in cornering the men’s market. “The advertising growth in the June issue came from a diverse range of ad categories — new automotive, pharma, home improvement and men’s personal care products [industries],” he said. The key was creating integrated packages that provided advertisers with touch points in print, online, video and grassroots events. One example was the Chevy Camaro section called Top Shop, which appeared in both print and on the Web.


Cooking Light's 54.67% hike in ad pages came alongside the magazine's redesign (September 9), VP/publisher Stephen Bohlinger tells min. “Clearly our art direction and editorial flow is resonating with both readers and advertisers alike. Cooking Light is firing on all cylinders,” Bohlinger says. Their diverse ad base included Covergirl, Garnier (HBA) Discover Card (financial) Embassy Suites (travel), Samsung (home), GMC Terrain (auto), Frangelico (distilled spirits) and Dress barn (retail).

 

Another one from Min Online - Full Story here

Pretty interesting - this is the top 10 Monthly Magazines over the past 5 years, as measured by ad pages.

Top 10 Monthly Magazine Five Year Report (2005-2009) Title ytd 2009   % diff   ytd 2008   Diff.   ytd 2007   Diff.   ytd 2006   Diff.   ytd 2005 Style Watch  624.30  23.50  505.49  36.87  369.31   ---  --- ---  --- Saveur  379.71  12.27  338.21  -3.15  349.21  -1.27  353.71  -9.07  389.00  Family Circle  1,739.53  11.51  1,559.93  -13.73  1,808.14  10.56  1,635.37  8.88  1,501.98  Fitness  736.35  9.14  674.70  -22.62  871.90  11.32  783.21  -3.64  812.81  Flex  2,604.91  3.35  2,520.53  11.07  2,269.35  -3.28  2,346.21  16.14  2,020.16  Ladies' Home Journal  1,269.57  3.07  1,231.80  -20.34  1,546.28  0.13  1,544.34  -0.35  1,549.69  Muscle & Fitness  1,995.81  2.83  1,940.96  4.63  1,855.08  -2.08  1,894.51  14.58  1,653.39  Better Homes & Gardens 1,723.35  2.04  1,688.94  -17.62  2,050.09  4.74  1,957.33  -8.24  2,133.19  Antiques, The Magazine  848.50  1.25  838.00  -9.41  925.00  -4.59  969.50  2.48  946.00  More  917.94  1.24  906.74  -30.32  1,301.28  19.01  1,093.45  12.82  969.19