A Whopping 94 percent of Magazines Hit by Ad Losses

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Q-1 was a bloodbath for the magazine industry. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, the 246 titles it tracks collectively lost almost $1.2 billion in advertising revenue compared to the first quarter of 2008, for a 20.6 percent decline. In round numbers, what was a $5.7+ billion industry a year earlier shrunk to $4.5+ this year.

The magazine industry is on an even more serious page diet, having shed 13,500 ad pages (down to 38,208 from 51,700 in Q-1 ‘08). That’s a decline of 26.1 percent.

Only 15 of the 246 magazines in the study posted gains in advertising revenue, but for the most part these were smaller, niche operations. Looking over the list, some of the dollar losses make your eyes pop out. Here’s a ten percent sampling of how magazines you probably know fared:

Publication Q-1 gain/loss (%)

Architectural Digest -44.9
Blender -50.4
Business Week -37.2
Conde Nast Portfolio -48.8
Country Home -63.3
Departures -40.2
Entertainment Weekly -34.5
Fortune -24.1
Gourmet -36.7
Inc. -62.1
Martha Stewart Living -32.9
Maxim -30.8
National Geographic -27.1
New York -36.8
New York Times Magazine -38.8
New Yorker -31.9
Spin -35.7
Sporting News -43.0
Technology Review -55.4
Town & Country -39.3
TV Guide -29.0
US News & World Report -81.8
Vanity Fair -26.3
W -37.0
Wired -50.4

Has the industry hit bottom yet? Not likely. Review the entire PIB list here.

Tags: Advertisement, Industry, Magazine Industry, David Weir

In addition to serving as a BNET Media analyst/blogger, David Weir is a veteran journalist and the author of several books. Weir is a co-founder and vice-president of the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as an editorial board member of The Nation.

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