Many magazine categories are hurting as the new year begins, with 15 of the 24 categories tracked by Media Life seeing ad pages decline during 2011 (see yesterday's story, "Magazine ad pages dip 3.1 percent in 2011").
But one group of titles that seems to be faring better is luxury.
These magazines cut across a number of different subcategories, including fashion, shelter, outdoor and recreation, and general interest, all categories that saw gains last year.
What they have in common is that they cater to a very affluent consumer.
And advertisers remain eager to reach them.
According to MagazineRadar, a New York-based magazine ad sales information service, luxury apparel brands increased ad pages by 11 percent in third quarter, the most recent data available, and luxury magazines saw gains of 6 percent that quarter.
That compares to a
decline of 5.6 percent for overall magazines during third quarter.
Luxury titles including Departures (up 43.3 percent, second-most for any magazine), Architectural Digest (up 9.1 percent), W (up 5.6 percent) and Power & Motoryacht (24.9 percent) all had strong ad page gains in 2011.
The reason for this trend is simple.
While lower- and middle-class families are still recovering from the recession, folks with money were hurt less during the downturn and they enjoyed a quicker recovery.
Spending at high-end stores and on high-end vehicles began to recover before those on the lower end, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
A Pew study found that while the middle class lost 23 percent of their worth during the recession, the upper class lost 12 percent.
While that's a lot of loss, those losses were on paper in the form of stock declines and diminished property values. They had less effect on day-to-day living than the declines suffered by middle-income and low-income consumers.
While many affluent consumers cut back on spending, they did so as a matter of choice, not necessity, and those cutbacks had only a minor impact on their lifestyles. They continued to spend. Sales of luxury items like jewelry remained high during the recession.
Affluent Americans are now leading the uptick in consumer spending.
Meanwhile, here are some other interesting findings from this week's PIB numbers:
* Only one Sunday magazine, the new food title DASH, saw ad page gains last year. Every other publication declined at least 2.1 percent, and four saw double-digit percentage dips.
* Mature readers were clearly a popular target for advertisers. The two biggest ad-page gainers during fourth quarter were AARP the Magazine (84.7 percent) and Reader's Digest Large Edition (up 117.8 percent), both of which skew older.
* Playboy saw ad pages rise 13.4 percent in 2011, its first year under Hugh Hefner after the founder bought the company back and took it private.
* Parenting magazines saw the biggest decline of the 24 categories tracked by Media Life, down 12.8 percent. All but one title slid, and four were down by double-digit percentages, including the recently sold Family Fun.
* Hispanic magazines saw the biggest gains, up 23.3 percent, led by Siempre Mujer, up 31.5 percent.
