From MiN

Ad Pages Get Crushed, Down 25.6% in 2009
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Steve Smith

Bottom line? It really was as bad as it felt, but things may be bottoming. According to Publisher Information Bureau year-end counts, ad pages for the magazine industry were off 25.6% compared to 2008. That reflected a revenue drop of 18.1% as measured by rate cards. There were some signs of relief in the last quarter of the year when the ad page drop eased to a still-painful 21.6%.

It wasn’t all gloomy. As we have been reporting all year, not only were there titles that weathered the storm well, especially in the service content sector, but the food and food products ad segment actually spent 21.9% more in Q4 than in the same period in 2008 and on 9.8% more pages. Food was the only one of a dozen categories to show positive growth throughout the year. Nevertheless, in the fourth quarter of the year, some other segments showed a slowdown in the rate of decline. Household cleaners, pet foods and supplies, drugs, toiletries and fitness products all registered shallower drops from previous quarters this year, PIB reports. Of course, the comps are favorable for Q4 because by the end of 2008 many marketers had already started cutting budgets radically.

Among the magazines that did increase their ad pages substantially in 2009, People Style Watch was up 24.4%, OK Weekly +20.7%, Saveur +12.6%, Family Circle +11.5% and Scholastic Parent and Child +9.6%.

 

The Association of Free Community Papers reported today that 70% of its members reported decreased revenues in the second quarter of 2009:

More than 70% of reporting publications indicated that revenues are down more than 1% in the latest AFCP quarterly revenue poll. This compares to 67% in the first quarter, 72% in the fourth quarter 2008 and 58% to 68% in previous quarters.

Hardest hit were the west coast (85%) and Mid-Atlantic (85%) regions with the Northeast reporting improved results. The Southeast continued to show about 70% of reporting publications were down.

The Midwest appears to be weakening as 73% indicated revenue declines. Previously, the Midwest had been much stronger than the rest of the country. The Rocky Mountain States still appear stronger than the rest of the country, but only 11 papers reported in this region.

Community Newspapers seem to be faring slightly better than shoppers during the past two quarters while rural markets appear to be slightly better than suburban ones. Only a few Urban publications reported results which make trends in this area difficult to discern.