Consumer magazines finished 2006 flat in ad pages, slipping in the final months with cutbacks from the Big Three automakers.

But things could have been much worse, had it not been for America's pharmaceutical industry. In the later half of 2006, drugmakers kicked up their ad spending dramatically, rising to become the No. 1 ad category, and those increases more than made up for the spending declines of the automakers.

In terms of dollars, drugmakers increased spending by 19.2 percent, by $387,504,883, to $2,407,753,578, offsetting an 11 percent decline by the automakers, who spent $2,045,464,788 last year, or $253,926,866 less than in 2005. Automotive finished the year as the No. 3 ad category.

The No. 2 category, toiletries and cosmetics, was up 5 percent in spending, In all, nine of the top 12 ad categories were up for the year, with three down.

In terms of pages, consumer magazines finished ahead by a scant 0.1 percent for the year, to 252,121.74, including the weekend magazines. Total spending was up a reported 4.1 percent, based on rate cards rates before discounting.

What's hurting consumer titles, beyond the slowdown in automotive advertising,  is the increasing bite of the internet, which is drawing away readers and with them advertisers, and the pace off that drain-off appears to have picked up in 2006.

Still forecasters are anticipating a stronger 2007, with spending expected to rise by 5 percent or better.

Among the 23 magazine categories tracked by Media Life, 12 showed increases in pages in 2006, with 11 showing declines.

The fastest-growing category was epicurean, the food magazines, which were up 12.8 percent in pages, well ahead of any others, and the credit goes to Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray, both with relatively new titles, Everyday Food and Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Stewart's title was up 40.1 percent in pages, to 609.28, while Ray, whose title launched early in 2006, ended the year with 450.92 pages.

The most hurting category for the year was men's magazines, which were down 7 percent in pages, with two titles folding, Conde Nast's Cargo, the shopping title, and, just recently, FHM, the lad magazine. But without them, men's magazines would have finished about even in pages for the year.