TV networks ramp up magazine advertising

With a slew of May finales and new summer shows to promote, TV networks made a notable increase in their advertising in magazines during second quarter.

Ad pages for TV networks grew 9.7 percent compared to second quarter 2011 in some 192 MPA member publications, according to data culled by MagazineRadar, a New York magazine ad sales information service.

Pages in 30 weekly and bi-weekly magazines increased 10 percent over that same period, compared to an overall decrease of 6.6 percent in ad pages in those magazines through the first half of the year.

Because of the timely nature of these ads, and the unpredictable schedule changes in television, many networks choose to advertise in weeklies because they have a shorter lead time.

Year to date TV network magazine ad pages are up 4 percent, to 1,403 pages, compared to 1,346 pages during the first half of 2011.

Seven of the top 10 advertisers have increased their ad pages in that span.

Entertainment Weekly had the largest number of ad pages with 145. Vanity Fair was the only monthly magazine to finish in the top 10 publications.

MagazineRadar says HBO bought the most ad pages of any network, 140.5, to in large part to advertise the returns of "Game of Thrones" and "True Blood."

Tags: ad pages, advertising, hbo, magazine advertising, magazineradar, magazines, MPA, summer, tv, tv networks, tv networks advertising