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Magazines' 2011 Ad Pages and Ad Revenues Slumped in the Fourth Quarter
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Steve Cohn

Yesterday (Jan. 10), Publishers Information Bureau released its year-end magazine ad-page and ad-revenue data, and most compelling was the slippage in the fourth quarter.  Cumulative ad pages for the 213 tracked magazines were -8.0% in Oct.-Dec. 2011 versus 2010, while ad revenues over the same period were -4.9%. That turned what were -1.1% and +2.1% respective Jan.-Sept. differentials to -3.1% and +0.1% at year-end.

The culprit was the economy, as the numbers reflected the worsening conditions through the first half. The recent mild improvement (including Christmas-season retail) might be a positive indicator for first-half 2012.

Top 2012 advertising category was toiletries/cosmetics, with $2.960 billion spent during 2011 (+9.5%). Perhaps most closely watched was seventh-ranked automotive, ($1.232 billion; -7.0%), which remains mediocre in the 21st century after being the kingpin.

As expected, People (pictured) remained magazine ad-revenue champion for the 21st consecutive year. But its -5.06% ad-page fourth quarter resulted in $996.8 million year-end total that was just below the $1.014.3 billion milestone in 2010.

Top 5 October Monthlies
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Greer Jonas

The monthlies' October 2011 ad-page performance showed more trick than treat in the September 19 min. Ad-page totals for the 154 tracked magazines had a weak 55-up/99-down ratio versus Oct. 2010.  The cumulative differential resulted in a solemn -8.03% and year-to-date (January - October) was -1.47%.

People en Español took the top slot in our October monthly boxscores with their 15th anniversary issue of 129.42 ad pages and a 73.14% hike from last year's 74.75 pages.

Playboy (+70.47%) made its premiere in our top 5 thanks to publisher (since Nov. 2009) John Lumpkin's 60-cent newsstand cover price of yesteryear promotion that was tied to the Sept. 19 premiere of The Playboy Club. Naturally, the advertisers followed.

And at Smithsonian (+42.40%), group publisher Jennifer Hicks tells min:

"Increases were purely driven by companies realizing the power and breadth of our brand. New business this year and to the October issue came from such automotive companies as Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Toyota Venza; oil-industry corporate messages were from Shell and Chevron; and financial, from Credit Suisse. Other new business came from The Susan G. Komen Foundation (a Museum Day advertiser) and pharmaceutical companies Novartis, GSK, Eli Lilly and Pfizer. There were 11 new advertisers in the issue."

Here are the top 5 for October, sorted by highest percentage gains.
See the full October boxscore chart and analysis.