The Magazine Industry, Where Slightly Down Is the New Up

Here’s what passes for an optimistic comment in the magazine industry these days. From Janet Balis, an exec vp at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia:

We are definitely starting to see some wonderful bright spots. In the November issue of Martha Stewart Living, paging was down less than 5% year over year, in a year when prior issues were substantially more challenged.

In other words, things are so down, it can start to look like up if you stare at it long enough!

That said, according to Ad Age, while there are other magazines who are also happy with less severe declines, others are actually trending upward from last December as advertisers decide to spend some marketing money that was left in the kitty due to conservative spending habits in the first three quarters of the year. Condé Nast title Glamour will be up five percent from last December, and some Time Inc. books, including Real Simple, Southern Living and Cooking Light are also supposed to be up.

Still, this is surprising especially since the magazine industry has continued to see mass layoffs. Condé Nast wheeled the hatchet several times over the last month; Forbes did another round of cuts last week and Time Inc. is expected to let go more than 500 staffers over the next few weeks. In addition, consumer confidence isn’t exactly flying high. So, while this is good news, take it with a grain of salt. If this is signs of a recovery, it looks a pretty fragile one.