Magazine Ad Pages Fall 12.9 Percent During Third Quarter (Folio)

MPA: ‘Ongoing softness in the economy’ to blame.

Jason Fell

FolioMag.com

10/14/2008
Consumer magazine advertising pages were down 12.9 percent during the third quarter, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures released today. Estimated ad revenue was down, too, slipping 8.8 percent.
Year-to-date ad pages were down 9.5 percent, the report says. Estimated ad revenue fell 5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Magazine advertising has been “negatively impacted by the ongoing weakness in the economy,” said Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the Magazine Publishers of America.
Percentage-wise, National Geographic Kids has taken the biggest hit year-to-date with ad pages falling 42.7 percent to 93.22. Among the largest ad page decliners are Diabetes Focus (-30.8 percent), Nickelodeon (-30.2 percent) and Hachette’s Home (-28.3 percent).
Meredith’s Ser Padres saw the largest ad page increase (up 54.8 percent to 117.29 pages). Other top gainers included Meredith’s Renovation Home (up 43.4 percent), Scholastic Parent and Child (47.3 percent) and Mansueto Ventures’ Fast Company (31.1 percent).
Condé Nast’s Portfolio, which launched last year, has seen ad pages jump 38.5 percent through the third quarter. Other business magazines weren’t so fortunate. Ad pages dropped 14.6 percent at BusinessWeek and were down at Forbes (-16.6 percent), Kiplinger’s Personal Finance (-13.6 percent) and SmartMoney (-25.7 percent).
The newsweekly category continued to suffer with ad page declines at Newsweek (-16.8 percent), The Week (-4.6 percent), Time (-19.2 percent) and U.S. New & World Report (-28.2 percent).
All of the 12 advertising categories tracked by PIB saw declines through the third period. The biggest decliner, unsurprisingly, was automotive, with pages falling 23.6 percent and revenue down 19.9 percent.
For PIB’s full year-to-date report, click here [1].
For PIB’s third quarter report, click here [2].
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How the competition to the NYT earn their keep (Folio)

Interesting to note that, when speaking about presumably US media buyers, Time publisher thinks that agencies cling to circulation and not audience. "Agencies cling to circulation because it gives them a proven negotiating tactic,” he says.

If only the advertising director of the IHT could say the same about the world he lives in.

FOLIO: Show '08: How Time Earns its Audience
Online will be 30-35 percent of total revenue but print remains 'big engine.'

By Matt Kinsman 09/23/2008

RELATED POST: Time Publisher Wants to Capture Readers from Cradle to the Grave

CHICAGO—Time magazine has more than 3 million readers in print and currently does 82 million page views online, and president and worldwide publisher Ed McCarrick thinks the brand can “easily do 200 million page views” online in the near future. “We must be constantly innovative to earn audience back each day,” said McCarrick, who delivered the opening keynote at the FOLIO: Show here today.

Online advertising revenue currently accounts for about 10 percent of overall revenue at Time and is projected to grow by 57 percent in 2008 and another 35 percent to 40 percent in 2009, according McCarrick.

While McCarrick thinks online will eventually account for 30 percent to 35 percent of overall revenue, “offline revenue is still the big engine.” Still, one medium is leveraged with another. “We’re putting together a multifaceted approach and it’s no longer clean in terms of one media being separate from another.”

Beyond the Red Border

Taking the Time audience “beyond the red border”—referring to the magazine’s famous cover margin—is key for the publisher, according to McCarrick. The magazine “broke down barriers between news breakers and the audience” by opening up its popular 10 Questions feature, in which Time staffers ask noted individuals 10 questions, to the readership, who can ask questions online and read the responses in a variety of media, from print to online to video on YouTube and audio files on iTunes. Rather than attempt to scratch out print revenue while depending on online and events for all new growth, Time made big changes in the way it delivers its print magazine. The shift in delivery from Monday to Friday wasn’t about cutting costs but adapting to how the audience consumes media, McCarrick said. “From Monday to Friday, moment-to-moment, the Web site does the heavy lifting,” he said. “On the weekend, then relax and they’re open to spending time with long-form analysis. We didn’t do this because to cut costs, we actually incurred considerable costs for printing and delivery. This brings the magazine closer to the consumer.” In March 2009, Time will introduce new print package called “Health & Wellness,” targeting 1 million women. “We hope this will take off as a standalone supplement that we can possibly offer quarterly,” says McCarrick.

Agencies Resist Audience Guarantee

McCarrick said that by lowering its ratebase Time has been able to improve profits. “We’re not chasing marginal subscriptions,” he added.However, McCarrick expressed disappointment that ad agencies and media buyers haven’t embraced Time’s audience guarantee, which was intended to move the magazine in line with how other media around world (including international editions) are evaluated—on audience, rather than circulation. “Until we shift from circulation to audience, we won’t be evaluated on an even level with other media,” said McCarrick. “But agencies haven’t taken us up on this. Agencies cling to circulation because it gives them a proven negotiating tactic.”

http://www.foliomag.com/2008/beyond-red-border-how-time-earns-its-audience

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