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for some magazines
Ad recession? Real Simple's ad pages up 68%
By Jeff Bercovici
The year 2002 will doubtless be remembered unfondly by magazine publishers, but it shouldn’t be—at least not entirely.
Yes, it got off to a terrible start. And yes, for magazine categories including personal finance, technology, in-flight and fashion, even the improvements brought by the second half weren’t enough to prevent double-digit year-on-year losses in ad pages and revenue.
But a number of magazines--some new, some established--had the kind of year that reminds you the economy isn't everything.
Real Simple, Time Inc.'s next-generation women's service magazine, posted the strongest growth of any major title, with pages zooming 67.8 percent to 878.6. Its revenue, at $53.2 million, was up 119 percent over 2001.
Among men's magazines, FHM was the growth leader, climbing 51.2 percent in pages to 839.2. In ad dollars, FHM was up 108.1 percent to 54.5 million.
Other big gainers included Fitness (988.5 pages, up 44.1 percent), Lucky (1,012.7, up 38.1 percent), YM (1,017.4 pages, up 33.1 percent) and Popular Science (630.3 pages, up 47.2 percent).
One of the year’s biggest gainers won’t be around to brag about it in 2003: Rosie, which had 1,015.8 pages, up 63.1 percent.
However badly the year started, by the end of 2002 a recovery was clearly in progress, albeit a painfully gradual one. After a first two quarters in which ad pages for the industry off were nearly 10 percent from the previous year, things picked up enough that the magazine industry finished the year down only 3.05 percent from 2001, according to year-end figures from the Publishers Information Bureau.
Total magazine advertising revenue for the year finished at 18 billion, a 5.2 percent improvement over 2001.
Several categories didn’t even seem aware that there was a recession going on. All seven child-rearing magazines were up in both pages and dollars, with Child and Fit Pregnancy both making page gains of more than 20 percent. Gruner & Jahr’s Parents led the category with 1,448.3 pages total.
General sports magazines also had a strong year. Sports Illustrated had 2,498.6 ad pages in 2002, a 4.7 percent increase over the previous year, while ESPN the Magazine and The Sporting News both saw page gains of greater than 10 percent.
Worst-hit in 2002 were magazines in the technology and in-flight categories. Hemispheres took the biggest plunge among the in-flight titles, with pages falling 38.7 percent to 606.9.
Pages in Red Herring were down an eye-popping 66.1 percent, but it must be remembered that the business/technology magazine published far fewer issues in 2002 after cutting its frequency from bimonthly to monthly in November 2001. Wired and Technology Review also experienced ad page drops of more than 30 percent.
| Automotive | ||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
| AUTO MAG |
851.9 | 733.5 | 16.13 | 62,755,258 | 51,471,917 | 21.92 |
| AUTOWK | 1,154.4 | 1,336.4 | -13.62 | 20,810,604 | 23,320,371 | -10.76 |
| CAR AND DRIVER | 1,096.6 | 1,073.4 | 2.16 | 115,681,196 | 107,672,123 | 7.44 |
| HOT ROD | 649.1 | 848.8 | -23.53 | 28,735,933 | 35,141,346 | -18.23 |
| MOTOR TREND | 919.3 | 855.1 | 7.51 | 110,505,494 | 86,320,253 | 28.02 |
| ROAD & TRACK | 1,190.2 | 1,140.7 | 4.34 | 73,311,858 | 65,011,252 | 12.77 |
| Totals | 5861 | 5988 | -2.11 | 411800343 | 368,937,262 | 11.62 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Entertainment/Celebrity |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
BIO |
352.5 |
399.3 |
-11.71 |
17,350,584 |
16,196,006 |
7.13 |
|
ENT. WKLY |
1,864.0 |
1,830.1 |
1.85 |
217,284,523 |
198,506,834 |
9.46 |
|
MVILNE |
276.0 |
377.5 |
-26.89 |
6,637,262 |
8,639,311 |
-23.17 |
|
PEOPLE |
3,697.9 |
3,612.2 |
2.37 |
713,638,543 |
656,222,102 |
8.75 |
|
PRMRE |
412.8 |
418.2 |
-1.29 |
21,290,193 |
20,676,138 |
2.97 |
|
RLLING STNE |
1,530.4 |
1,547.7 |
-1.12 |
159,223,190 |
156,901,986 |
1.48 |
|
US |
1,069.3 |
973.9 |
9.8 |
66,335,803 |
56,409,267 |
17.6 |
|
VANITY FAIR |
1,968.4 |
1,935.5 |
1.7 |
139,554,903 |
141,067,702 |
-1.07 |
|
Totals |
11171 |
11094 |
0.69 |
1341315001 |
1,254,619,346 |
6.91 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Teen mags |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
COSMOGIRL |
683.4 |
571.6 |
19.56 |
43,232,789 |
29,088,792 |
48.62 |
|
ELLE GIRL |
213.9 |
77.0 |
177.81 |
4,730,269 |
1,685,744 |
180.6 |
|
SEVENTEEN |
1,342.1 |
1,335.8 |
0.47 |
120,826,392 |
112,101,850 |
7.78 |
|
TEEN PEOPLE |
1,004.7 |
1,050.5 |
-4.36 |
76,829,286 |
76,693,647 |
0.18 |
|
YM |
1,017.4 |
764.3 |
33.11 |
100,208,047 |
67,708,024 |
48 |
|
Totals |
4262 |
3799 |
12.2 |
345,826,783 |
287,278,057 |
20.38 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Women's service/beauty |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
ALLURE |
1,194.7 |
1,156.6 |
3.3 |
70,356,570 |
63,454,675 |
10.88 |
|
COSMO |
1,854.4 |
1,964.3 |
-5.6 |
281,640,487 |
273,762,184 |
2.88 |
|
GLAMOUR |
1,541.2 |
1,571.3 |
-1.92 |
159,288,176 |
149,760,845 |
6.36 |
|
JANE |
843.9 |
901.1 |
-6.35 |
35,480,905 |
34,401,589 |
3.14 |
|
MARIE CLAIRE |
1,626.8 |
1,614.0 |
0.79 |
110,900,030 |
99,900,166 |
11.01 |
|
Totals |
7,061 |
7,207 |
-2.0 |
657,666,168 |
621,279,459 |
5.9 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Fashion |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
ELLE |
1,534.3 |
1,872.9 |
-18.08 |
108,507,692 |
122,668,080 |
-11.54 |
|
HARPER'S BAZAAR |
1,436.2 |
1,642.5 |
-12.56 |
99,841,279 |
105,561,010 |
-5.42 |
|
IN STYLE |
3,030.5 |
2,961.6 |
2.33 |
264,470,598 |
238,437,517 |
10.92 |
|
VOGUE |
2,890.0 |
3,156.2 |
-8.44 |
187,789,281 |
201,693,314 |
-6.89 |
|
W |
1,858.5 |
2,126.4 |
-12.6 |
102,536,185 |
128,537,217 |
-20.23 |
|
Totals |
10,749 |
11,760 |
-8.6 |
763,145,035 |
796,897,138 |
-4.2 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Parenting |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
AMERICAN BABY |
685.9 |
587.0 |
16.84 |
88,344,207 |
72,363,617 |
22.08 |
|
BABY TALK |
480.1 |
439.6 |
9.22 |
53,552,735 |
48,242,101 |
11.01 |
|
CHILD |
814.7 |
671.3 |
21.36 |
52,446,728 |
42,831,880 |
22.45 |
|
FAMILY FUN |
719.2 |
629.0 |
14.35 |
68,268,993 |
53,087,711 |
28.6 |
|
FIT PREG |
536.8 |
425.4 |
26.17 |
13,010,157 |
12,041,588 |
8.04 |
|
PARENTING |
1,150.5 |
1,086.9 |
5.84 |
133,532,348 |
112,607,808 |
18.58 |
|
PARENTS |
1,448.3 |
1,360.2 |
6.48 |
151,360,573 |
130,200,603 |
16.25 |
|
Totals |
5835 |
5199 |
12.2 |
560,515,741 |
471,375,308 |
18.91 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Personal finance |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
BRRNS |
1,608.2 |
1,787.0 |
-10 |
47,324,984 |
50,289,966 |
-5.9 |
|
KIPLNGERS |
567.9 |
638.2 |
-11.01 |
41,680,375 |
41,802,299 |
-0.29 |
|
MONEY |
919.2 |
1,067.2 |
-13.87 |
131,234,367 |
145,412,877 |
-9.75 |
|
SMART |
747.6 |
865.2 |
-13.6 |
45,473,633 |
50,413,673 |
-9.8 |
|
WORTH |
516.3 |
586.3 |
-11.94 |
22,993,968 |
31,154,340 |
-26.19 |
|
Totals |
4,359 |
4,944 |
-11.8 |
288,707,327 |
319,073,155 |
-9.5 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Newsweeklies |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
ECON |
2,307.8 |
2,585.3 |
-10.74 |
58,588,886 |
61,276,035 |
-4.39 |
|
NWSWK |
1,979.1 |
1,845.3 |
7.25 |
389,328,521 |
338,674,560 |
14.96 |
|
TIME |
2,350.6 |
2,400.2 |
-2.07 |
568,993,445 |
558,041,242 |
1.96 |
|
U S NEWS |
1,415.0 |
1,365.1 |
3.65 |
192,802,751 |
178,974,792 |
7.73 |
|
Totals |
8,052 |
8,196 |
-1.8 |
1,209,713,603 |
1,136,966,629 |
6.40 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
|
Women's Service |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages |
'01 pages |
% chnge | '02 $s | '01 $s | % chnge |
|
BTTR HOMES |
1,910.7 |
1,804.6 |
5.88 |
554,785,628 |
491,271,015 |
12.93 |
|
FMILY CRCLE |
1,330.2 |
1,292.8 |
2.89 |
253,920,702 |
245,714,689 |
3.34 |
|
GOOD HSKPING |
1,527.8 |
1,560.5 |
-2.1 |
343,254,274 |
318,332,797 |
7.83 |
|
LHJ |
1,215.5 |
1,219.6 |
-0.33 |
200,831,257 |
189,621,064 |
5.91 |
|
MRTHA STWRT |
1,887.1 |
1,790.9 |
5.37 |
234,363,153 |
210,383,083 |
11.4 |
|
OPRH |
1,426.1 |
1,371.2 |
4 |
179,078,602 |
145,256,383 |
23.28 |
|
RDBK |
1,262.8 |
1,275.1 |
-0.96 |
127,944,255 |
116,166,677 |
10.14 |
|
ROSIE |
1,015.8 |
622.9 |
63.07 |
143,305,674 |
79,764,597 |
79.66 |
|
WMN'S DY |
1,502.5 |
1,592.7 |
-5.66 |
267,267,492 |
273,693,606 |
-2.35 |
|
Totals |
13,078 |
12,530 |
4.4 |
2,304,751,037 |
2,070,203,911 |
11.3 |
|
Source:PIB |
||||||
|
Sports |
||||||
| Title | '02 pages | '01 pages | % chnge | '02 $s | '01 $ s | % chnge |
|
ESPN |
1,458.7 |
1,317.9 |
10.69 |
168,869,790 |
123,554,263 |
36.68 |
|
SPRTNG NEWS |
741.4 |
635.2 |
16.73 |
29,689,736 |
21,350,961 |
39.06 |
|
SI |
2,498.6 |
2,385.6 |
4.74 |
644,386,187 |
570,981,290 |
12.86 |
|
Totals |
4,699 |
4,339 |
8.3 |
842,945,713 |
715,886,514 |
17.7 |
|
Source: PIB |
||||||
January 10, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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