Magazine Advertising Declines

Posted on 7/30/2008 by Julia Dudnik Stern | Printable Version | Comments (0)



After a period of sustained economic softness, U.S. print magazines are beginning to show a significant decline in ad revenues. According to figures released by the Publishers Information Bureau and TNS Media Intelligence, the first half of 2008 closed with a 3% revenue decline over the previous year. Ad pages went down by over 7%.

Magazines closed 2007 with a 6% increase in ad revenues and a stable ad-page count. First quarter of 2008 registered a slight revenue decline of 1% and a 6% decline in pages. Most recent figures show the downward trend picking up speed.

As expected, items viewed as nonessential by consumers have incurred the biggest advertising cuts. These include the automotive, technology, drug and cosmetic sectors, which showed respective year-over-year revenue losses of 18%, 15%, 11% and 6%. The PIB notes that drugs and remedies were also subject to intense regulatory scrutiny, which contributed to generally declining ad budgets.

Still, several segments are showing growth. Food-product and retail advertising has gone up by 15% and 11%, respectively. Such growth is fueled by a second-quarter boost in spending from discount department stores, variety stores and shopping centers, which are have to work harder to retain market share. Airlines and hotels are also making an increased investment, boosting the transportation, hotels and resorts category revenues by 5%.



Specialty titles are bleeding nearly as fast as newspapers. Despite its established parent brand, National Geographic Kids posted a 38% loss of ad revenue for the first half of 2008. Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report are down by a respective 30% and 26%, and Sunday magazines are not fairing much better. Even the seemingly unshakeable areas of small business, fashion and celebrity gossip are taking a hit: the ad revenues of Fortune Small Business, Cosmopolitan and Star are down by more than 10% each.

An equally diverse group, including Latina, Esquire and Seventeen, is flat, no gains or losses.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Condé Nast Portfolio is up by a staggering 117%. Women's Health has grown by 104%.  OK Weekly is up by 45%. All have remained in a growth pattern for some time, bucking the trend of general industry decline. Other growing large-circulation titles include The Economist, Working Mother, Men's Vogue and Fast Company, in the 20% to 40% ad-growth bracket, and In Touch Weekly, Harper's Bazaar, National Geographic and Men's Journal, with 10% to 20% growth each.


Copyright © 2008 Julia Dudnik Stern. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Comments

Be the first to comment below.

Post Comment

Please log in or create an account to post comments.

Stay Connected

Sign up to receive email notification when new stories are posted.

Follow Us

Free Stuff

Stock Photo Pricing: The Future
In the last two years I have written a lot about stock photo pricing and its downward slide. If you have time over the holidays you may want to review some of these stories as you plan your strategy ...
Read More
Future Of Stock Photography
If you’re a photographer that counts on the licensing of stock images to provide a portion of your annual income the following are a few stories you should read. In the past decade stock photography ...
Read More
Blockchain Stories
The opening session at this year’s CEPIC Congress in Berlin on May 30, 2018 is entitled “Can Blockchain be applied to the Photo Industry?” For those who would like to know more about the existing blo...
Read More
2017 Stories Worth Reviewing
The following are links to some 2017 and early 2018 stories that might be worth reviewing as we move into the new year.
Read More
Stories Related To Stock Photo Pricing
The following are links to stories that deal with stock photo pricing trends. Probably the biggest problem the industry has faced in recent years has been the steady decline in prices for the use of ...
Read More
Stock Photo Prices: The Future
This story is FREE. Feel free to pass it along to anyone interested in licensing their work as stock photography. On October 23rd at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York there will be a panel discuss...
Read More
Important Stock Photo Industry Issues
Here are links to recent stories that deal with three major issues for the stock photo industry – Revenue Growth Potential, Setting Bottom Line On Pricing and Future Production Sources.
Read More
Recent Stories – Summer 2016
If you’ve been shooting all summer and haven’t had time to keep up with your reading here are links to a few stories you might want to check out as we move into the fall. To begin, be sure to complet...
Read More
Corbis Acquisition by VCG/Getty Images
This story provides links to several stories that relate to the Visual China Group (VCG) acquisition of Corbis and the role Getty Images has been assigned in the transfer of Corbis assets to the Gett...
Read More
Finding The Right Image
Many think search will be solved with better Metadata. While metadata is important, there are limits to how far it can take the customer toward finding the right piece of content. This story provides...
Read More

More from Free Stuff