Finally, magazines are on the mend

Finally, magazines
are on the mend

Ad pages up in July, the first increase since 2000

By Jeff Bercovici

    The magazine economy isn’t back on its feet just yet, but it looks -- deep breath -- to be headed that way at last.
   Advertising pages and revenue for the magazine industry were both up year over year in July, the first time that has happened since November 2000.
   Pages were just barely up, with the total of 15,125 marking a 0.5 percent increase over July 2001, according to the latest figures from the Publishers Information Bureau.
    But revenue for the month was up 8.6 percent over last year, totaling $1.13 billion, with 11 of the 12 leading advertising categories posting positive dollar growth. The exception was technology, down 14.1 percent from June 2001.
    The year-to-date figures show an industry that still has a considerable way to go before it can claim to be recovered. Ad revenue through July, at $8.83 billion, is down only 0.3 percent from the same period in 2001, but the page total of 120,607 represent an 8.6 percent decrease from last year.
One sector where the recovery hadn't yet taken hold as of July is financial advice magazines, which have had nearly as bad a year as investors themselves.
    Spending in the financial, insurance and real estate category, although up 25.2 percent in July, is still off 11.1 percent year-to-date versus 2001.
    Money, Mutual Funds and SmartMoney are all down more than 25 percent in ad pages through July, while Barron’s and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance haven't made out much better, down 19.1 percent and 17.9 percent in ad pages respectively. Of those, only Kiplinger’s and Mutual Funds posted page gains for the month of July. Kiplinger’s was up 9 percent to 36.6 pages, and Mutual Funds was up 9.4 percent to 30.3 pages.
   A couple of business titles, while still way down for the year, managed substantial gains in the month of July. Inc. was up 42.3 percent in pages, with 59.3, and 42.7 percent in revenue, with $5 million. Forbes' pages were up 20.1 percent to 250.8, and its revenue for July, at $20.7 million, was 18.3 percent higher than last year.

Personal Finance
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
BARRONS	918.77	1,136.21	-19.14	26,921,157	31,845,214	-15.46
KIPLINGERS PERSNL FINANCE	328.33	399.8	-17.88	23,950,408	26,102,337	-8.24
MONEY	433.55	587.14	-26.16	63,774,770	77,862,114	-18.09
MUTUAL FUNDS	238.31	324.88	-26.65	18,285,579	20,890,813	-12.47
SMART MONEY	381.59	513.4	-25.67	23,534,768	29,590,234	-20.46
WORTH	284.85	336.91	-15.45	12,563,467	17,626,331	-28.72
Totals	2,585.40	3,298.34	-21.6%	169,030,149	203,917,043	-17.1%
Source: PIB

Business/Finance
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
BUSINESS 2.0 MAGAZINE	348.01	-	1000	17,292,397	-	99.99
BUSINESS WEEK	1,750.02	2,256.82	-22.46	187,249,687	235,140,141	-20.37
ENTRE- PRENEUR	773.96	826.47	-6.35	26,911,653	28,130,659	-4.33
FAST COMPANY	415.74	583.68	-28.77	24,265,221	29,117,124	-16.66
FORBES	1,604.01	2,243.57	-28.51	132,930,651	182,862,480	-27.31
FORTUNE	1,819.10	2,419.89	-24.83	160,874,726	199,031,301	-19.17
FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS	231.81	310.47	-25.34	20,243,875	23,139,836	-12.52
INC.	424.73	520.02	-18.32	35,967,090	39,478,914	-8.9
RED HERRING	232.67	853.14	-72.73	8,880,602	32,792,712	-72.92
Totals	7600.05	10014.06	-24.1%	614,615,902	769,693,167	-20.1%
Source: PIB

Newsweeklies
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
NEWSWEEK	1,002.54	984.72	1.81	200,614,571	181,899,265	10.29
TIME	1,195.33	1,325.24	-9.8	291,039,912	307,830,998	-5.45
U SNEWS & WORLD REPORT	751.47	789.74	-4.85	103,251,564	103,096,854	0.15
ECONOMIST	1,403.00	1,662.00	-15.58	34,991,376	39,346,228	-11.07
Totals	4,352.34	4,761.70	-8.6%	629,897,423	632,173,345	-0.36%
Source: PIB

Fashion
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
ELLE	717.57	977.68	-26.61	51,121,255	64,128,065	-20.28
HARPER'S BAZAAR	658.5	867.1	-24.06	45,851,898	54,911,031	-16.5
VOGUE	1,310.15	1,475.63	-11.21	88,719,103	97,803,404	-9.29
W	783.71	979.35	-19.98	51,362,155	59,178,311	-13.21
Totals	3,469.93	4,299.76	-19.3%	237,054,411	276,020,811	-14.1%
Source: PIB

Women's Service
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
BTTER HMES & GRDNS	1,069.20	1,008.37	6.03	307,039,702	273,505,234	12.26
FAMILY CIRCLE	715.77	710.23	0.78	139,007,197	141,631,589	-1.85
GOOD HSKING	826	871.83	-5.26	187,241,331	176,986,555	5.79
LADIES' HOME JRNAL	675.46	685.48	-1.46	111,234,309	105,941,943	5
MARTHA STEWART LIVING	996.14	979.25	1.72	123,511,995	114,476,691	7.89
O-THE OPRAH MAG.	730.36	718.68	1.62	93,177,043	64,911,705	43.54
RDBK	626.1	720.01	-13.04	63,828,183	65,785,925	-2.98
ROSIE	551.85	263.31	109.6	77,629,790	33,069,316	134.8
WMAN'S DAY	828.74	893.89	-7.29	149,294,338	150,640,253	-0.89
Totals	7,019.62	6,851.05	2.5%	1,251,963,888	1,126,949,211	11.1%
Source: PIB

Men's
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
DETAILS	343.85	347.38	-1.02	10,981,859	12,050,980	-8.87
ESQUIRE	406.1	490.97	-17.29	29,201,933	31,283,677	-6.65
FHM	415.5	266.49	55.91	27,112,082	12,429,985	118.1
GEAR	245.5	167.33	46.71	10,064,562	5,202,005	93.47
GQ	740.85	821.78	-9.85	45,588,179	50,079,049	-8.97
MAXIM	596.77	616.16	-3.15	87,388,436	78,995,536	10.62
MENS FITNESS	458.93	432.04	6.23	21,215,424	18,404,641	15.27
MENS HEALTH	440.74	422.25	4.38	46,328,430	40,868,731	13.36
MENS JOURNAL	469.3	509.15	-7.83	26,682,281	28,695,939	-7.02
PLAYBOY	343.83	405.27	-15.16	41,641,950	45,504,242	-8.49
STUFF FOR MEN	382.45	315.02	21.4	25,146,303	16,572,480	51.74
Totals	4,843.82	4,793.84	1.0%	371,351,439	340,087,265	9.2%
Source: PIB

Entertainment/Celebrity
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
BIO GRAPHY	175.59	246.8	-28.86	8,796,345	9,958,664	-11.67
ENTER- TAINMENT WEEKLY	982	967.7	1.48	114,428,109	105,405,777	8.56
MVIEL	150.5	200.67	-25	3,657,135	4,542,244	-19.49
PEOPLE WEEKLY	1,978.23	2,036.59	-2.87	382,563,449	366,978,459	4.25
PREMIERE	204.21	236.03	-13.48	10,454,213	11,936,740	-12.42
ROLLING STONE	750.75	749.87	0.12	78,574,713	75,933,987	3.48
US WEEKLY	570	537.05	6.14	35,328,120	31,217,649	13.17
VANITY FAIR	856.98	901.61	-4.95	62,535,060	67,579,629	-7.46
Totals	5668.26	5876.32	-3.54%	696337144	673,553,149	3.38%
Source: PIB

Teen
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
COSMO GIRL	265.35	259.08	2.42	17,111,372	13,249,993	29.14
ELLE GIRL	91.52	-	1000	1,989,568	-	99.99
SVNTEEN	669.76	697.89	-4.03	61,863,304	58,197,961	6.3
TEEN PEOPLE	441.74	505.24	-12.57	33,952,504	36,655,761	-7.37
YM	470.88	351.69	33.89	47,222,767	30,870,886	52.97
Totals	1939.25	1813.90	6.9%	162,139,515	138,974,601	16.67%
Source: PIB

Women's Service/Beauty
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
ALLURE	616.25	609.96	1.03	36,207,087	34,033,033	6.39
COSMO	983.77	1,104.55	-10.93	149,190,099	153,791,048	-2.99
GLAMOUR	764.65	843.12	-9.31	79,335,503	80,640,554	-1.62
JANE	381.24	401.29	-5	15,121,626	15,229,826	-0.71
MARIE CLAIRE	786.93	802.09	-1.89	53,800,068	49,433,270	8.83
Totals	3,532.84	3,761.01	-6.1%	333,654,383	333,127,731	0.2%
Source: PIB

Sports
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
ESPN MAG	518.15	500.90	3.44	60,943,150	47,314,032	28.81
SPORTING NEWS	293.50	283.59	3.50	11,198,179	8,779,433	27.55
SPORTS ILLSTRTED	976.03	922.04	5.86	254,913,843	221,957,864	14.85
Totals	1,787.68	1,706.53	4.8%	327,055,172	278,051,329	17.6%
Source: PIB

Music
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
ROLLING STONE	521.45	509.23	2.40	54,967,598	51,759,010	6.20
SOURCE	432.33	566.59	-23.70	11,331,901	12,907,031	-12.20
SPIN	303.72	365.16	-16.83	13,625,351	15,191,105	-10.31
VIBE	420.46	430.21	-2.27	27,966,425	25,095,986	11.44
Totals	1677.96	1871.19	-10.3%	107,891,275	104,953,132	2.8%
Source: PIB

Travel
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
ARTHUR FRMMERS BDGT TRVL	272.98	252.60	8.07	6,401,005	4,671,200	37.03
CONDE NAST TRAVELER	498.29	661.91	-24.72	26,808,385	35,810,700	-25.14
TRAVEL HOLIDAY	421.73	394.50	6.90	19,378,971	17,754,636	9.15
TRAVEL+ LEISURE	497.11	691.72	-28.13	32,846,294	45,596,688	-27.96
Totals	1,690.11	2,000.73	-15.53%	85,434,655	103,833,224	-17.72%
Source: PIB

Airline
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
AMERICAN WAY	438.53	685.01	-35.98	10,006,572	14,728,946	-32.06
HEISPHRS	225.07	452.95	-50.31	9,994,960	18,719,070	-46.61
SKY MAGAZINE	251.95	399.31	-36.90	11,077,620	16,217,000	-31.69
SW AIRLINES SPIRIT	371.10	415.60	-10.71	7,533,169	7,511,913	0.28
US AIRWAYS ATTACHE	205.66	332.45	-38.14	6,551,662	10,087,064	-35.05
Totals	1492.31	2285.32	-34.70%	45163983.00	$67,263,993	-32.86%
Source: PIB

Automotive
	2002 pages	2001 pages	% change	2002 dollars	2001 dollars	% change
AUTMBILE MAG	.286.44	291.46	-1.72	21,108,324	20,478,174	3.08
AUTOWK	462.72	579.03	-20.09	8,214,303	9,803,143	-16.21
CAR AND DRIVER	389.81	408.64	-4.61	41,460,549	40,613,976	2.08
HOT ROD	250.93	390.73	-35.78	11,369,928	13,518,063	-15.89
MOTOR TREND	324.87	322.60	0.70	37,969,499	31,395,562	20.94
ROAD & TRACK	421.76	434.38	-2.90	25,359,038	24,565,151	3.23
Totals	2136.53	2426.84	-11.96%	145481641.00	$140,374,069	3.64%
Source: PIB

-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us