Flat Q2 ad page sales figures reported for U.S. magazines

Data from the U.S. shows that first half advertising page sales for magazines are up 1.3% from 2010, although Q2 sales were basically flat at 0.3% increase over the same quarter a year earlier. Q1 sales had been up 2.5%. The data is from the Publishers Information Bureau and was reported by MediaDaily News. 2011 has seen a continuation of a previous trend, which saw both losses and gains

No sex ads in The Grid, says publisher of soon-to-be rebranded Eye Weekly

When Toronto's Eye Weekly is reborn a week today (May 12) as The Grid, it will no longer have the so-called "escort" ads that have been a staple in the back pages since it was launched. According to an interview with Canadian Business's sales and marketing blog, Eye/Grid editor-in-chief and publisher Laas Turnbull, the ads don't fit with the magazine's reinvention as a weekly city magazine. While

Q1 magazine ad pages in U.S. increase 2.5%

Ad pages in U.S. magazines increased by about 2.5% in Q1 of 2011, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. According to figures released by the Publisher's Information Bureau, reported by Folio:, in the first quarter there were sold 35,755 pages. The increase hasn't yet clawed back to where the magazines were two years ago -- in Q1 2010 there was a 9.4% decrease. The biggest jump in ad

Bensimon Byrne agency cleans up at Magazines Canada's Best on Page ad awards

Magazines Canada has announced the winners of its 2011 Best on Page awards, honouring the very best in magazine advertising from across Canada and around the world. The awards were presented Thursday night at the Allstream Centre in Toronto.
Cleaning up was the Toronto advertising agency Bensimon Byrne, which won Best in Show, Best Full Page or DPS and Most Innovative for their ad for Ultimate

Hearst Magazines were the clear ad page comeback champs in 2010

Hearst Magazines is the leader among the big 5 group publishers in the U.S. in terms of ad page gain in 2010, compared with 2009. The data was compiled by the industry publication min online from publisher's own information.  Hearst showed a 10% gain year-over-year, followed closely by Conde Nast with 7%. All the major groups suffered significant, recession-driven sales declines in 2009.

Best on Page showcases best magazine ad creative in the world, March 31

In less than two weeks there'll be unveiled over 150 award-winning examples of magazine ad creative from around the world at Best on Page. It's Thursday, March 31 from 5 - 8 p.m. at the Allstream Centre, Exhibition Place, 105 Princes' Blvd. 
At the same time, the winners of the Best on Page Awards for the best magazine ad creative in Canada will be announced.  
It's a free event, but you have to

Modest overall U.S. Q1 magazine ad page growth led by zooming shelter titles

Up 80.6% in ad pages
An encouraging trend in the U.S. is that two of the top five gainers in terms of advertising pages are in the shelter category, hard hit by the recent recession. According to data published by min online, Architectural Digest had an 80.6% increase in March compared with a year ago, buoyed by the recovery of luxury and housing markets. And Elle Decor was up 39.9%. Others in

Rogers b2b publishing boss John Milne chuffed about new revenue stream

John Milne, the senior vice-president of business and professional publishing At Rogers Publishing, says his division has had great success with a new "fourth" revenue stream. He writes in a column in min, the media industry newsletterAt Rogers Publishing Limited in Toronto, the Business & Professional Publishing Group has been nurturing a fourth revenue stream over the past six years: research.

U.S. fashion mags have mixed Q1 ad page results; some big winners and losers

Up 46.5%
First quarter ad sales for leading U.S fashion magazines -- just about to splash out their bellwether March issues -- has not been an unalloyed joy, according to a report in Women's Wear Daily, based on data from Media Industry Newsletter.  People StyleWatch was up a breathtaking 46.5%,Elle up 14.3%, Women's Health 11.7%, InStyle 10.9%  and Vogue up 10.6%. Decliners were Lucky (-14.3%)

Advertising Standards Council advertises that truth in advertising matters

The Advertising Standards Council is launching a new advertising campaign of its own to drive home the message that truth in advertising matters. The multi-media, national public service campaign is called "Truth in Advertising Matters".According to an ASC releaseDeveloped by Cossette in Toronto, the multi‐media attention grabbing advertising campaign takes a tongue‐in‐cheek approach, presenting

Report says U.S.magazines' print growth 1% but digital advertising 8.5%

Consumer print magazine advertising in the U.S. is projected to increase by 1% this year, but the same magazines' digital advertising is estimated to increase 8.5% to nearly $1 billion, according to data compiled by   media economist Jack Myers. Combined growth for magazines publishers is therefore 1.4%. (The report from which the data is drawn is Media Vision 2020: Media, Advertising and

Magazines "must buy" campaign launched by Magazines Canada

Magazines Canada is launching a three-pronged print advertising campaign aimed at advertisers, agencies and consumers, highlighting the engagement and effectiveness of magazines. Member magazines are being asked to carry the full-page ads. “As today’s consumers and business leaders become harder to reach in meaningful ways, magazines more than ever have powerful stories to tell,” said Gary

Canadian Art retains veteran ad rep Nicola Clayton to sell to U.S. advertisers

Canadian Art magazine has hired Nicola Clayton to represent it in U.S. advertising sales. Clayton, who is managing director of the New York-based Luxury Media Sales, has been for some years representing  Maclean's and L’Actualité and other Rogers titles to New York agencies and advertisers. She also represents Zoomer magazine among other Canadian titles.

Condé Nast re-realigns and combines digital and print advertising sales, by product

In what is another indicator of a continuing trend in the magazines business, Condé Nast has announced it is merging (it used the term realigning) its digital and print advertising sales operations into one, multi-platform, multi-brand unit. According to a story in MediaPost,  Condé Nast Digital and the Condé Nast Media Group will now be combined at the individual brand level, under chief

U.S. top 100 media revenues have bounced back, including magazines, says Ad Age

An analysis by Ad Age of the top 100 U.S. media firms shows that reported revenue climbed 6.1% in the first half of 2010, a 9.9% turnaround from last year's fully-year decline, the first since the magazine began measuring  media firms almost 30 years ago. All media have seen gains in the first half, except newspapers. Though it wasn't of the magnitude of cable, video and broadband advertising

Transcontinental Media launches digital ad rep house; partners with Demand Media

Transcontinental Media has announced the launch of a digital rep house, partnering with several North American online publishers to sell advertisers. In a press release it said that it has now entered into a two-year agreement with Demand Media so that the display advertising for Demand Media websites in Canada becomes part of the ad inventory marketed by Transcon. Including Transcon's own,

Ads work better next to edit or, even better, next to the table of contents Starch finds

Starch Advertising Research knows a thing or three about ad positions in magazines, gathered from looking at their own research conducted for publisher clients. They have recently done a study of adjacency, looking at nearly 68,000 ads  in 1,884 magazine issues Starch has measured from January 2009 through June 2010. (Its part of upgrading Starch's database so that clients can look back over time

Flat spray scent comes to Fashion magazine pages

Fashion magazine says that with its October issue it will be the first magazine in Canada to employ a perfume-sampling technology FlatSpray. It allows users to get an average of six test sprays of  the actual fragrance (as opposed to an approximation with a scent strip -- in this case, the launch of Clarins' new scent Womanity by Thierry Mugler  -- bound into the pages of the magazine.

Manitoba hosts Best on Page travelling show of excellence in magazine ads

Best on Page, the annual competition and exhibition of the best magazine advertising, has gone on the road. For the month of September, it is on display at Winnipeg's Millennium Library in its Blankenstein Gallery, open to the public free of charge. The exhibition on loan from Magazines Canada is co-hosted by the library and the Manitoba Magazine Publishers' Association. It showcases award

Meredith magazines in U.S. increase advertising market share and are back in the black

Meredith Corp. is hoovering up a larger share of magazine industry advertising in the U.S., according to a company release which reports that the company's fiscal 2010 puts it back in the black after coming through a dismal recession.  The story says that Meredith's magazine advertising market share increased to 12.3%; it was about 9.5% two years ago. Readership of measured Meredith magazines