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

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.

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

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%)

Surge in Q4 buoys U.S. magazine ad sales

Magazines in the U.S. saw a surge in ad pages in the 4th quarter of 2010, ending down only about 1% for the year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data, reported by Folio:. Automotive ad pages jumped 16.9 percent, with General Motors Corp. leading, spending $385.4 million in 2010, up 56 percent from 2009. Ad page performance, 12 categories, 2010 versus 2009
Toiletries and

Are magazine apps being met with a yawn by advertisers?

Magazines that have invested heavily in online apps are finding that the payoff is smaller than their investment now and may continue to be for years to come.Those publishers who have taken the plunge and hired staff and put money into upfront and development costs are finding that their investments are being met at worst with a yawn by advertisers and at best lukewarm ad interest, according to a

Reader's Digest Canada amalgamates print and online advertising sales teams

A major restucturing and amalgamation of print and online advertising sales teams is in the works at Reader's Digest Canada.

According to a release from the company, Nancy Bradshaw, previously associate publisher for Reader’s Digest and Sélection, is being promoted to the position of group director, sales and marketing solutions.
"In her new role, Nancy will be responsible for media sales of all

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

ZoomerMedia strikes online sales and marketing alliance with similar U.S. firm

The publisher of Zoomer magazine has entered into a symbiotic marketing agreement with a comparable U.S.company to handle sales of online properties and cross-border business.
According to a story in Marketing, ZoomerMedia has struck a deal with Navigate Boomer Media that may substantially benefit ZoomerMedia's eight online properties, including 50Plus.com; apparently the combined traffic to the

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

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

Fashion titles' September issues bulk up, possibly a good sign for other magazines

Fashion magazines are apparently putting on some weight in all the right places,  possibly heralding a broader recovery in the magazine industry, according to a story in Media in Canada. "If Canada's top fashion magazines really are a barometer of the industry's health, the outlook appears to be promising, yet capricious," the story said.It reports that Fashion magazine's traditionally strong

Aspirants aren't getting the education they need for entry level ad agency jobs

Karen Howe, senior vice president, creative director of Due North Communications in Toronto has written an interesting, tub-thumping rant in Applied Arts about the state of education for people who want to work in advertising,and specifically agencies.I’ve attended portfolio nights for many years. I also review student books constantly. I’m seeing epic erosion in the quality of education that

Columnist sees the U.S. magazine industry smaller, dominated by Big 4 and women-focussed

Audience Development columnist Baird Davis (a senior consultant with Circulation Specialists) has compiled data showing how U.S. consumer magazine benchmarks -- circulation, newsstand sales and advertising sales -- aligned in 2009, and the picture was not pretty. (Of course the results don't necessarily reflect Canadian experience.) He calculated that...Circulation of audited consumer magazines

Recovery and rebound expected in Canadian advertising, says PwC

The entire Canadian entertainment and media market declined by 2.7% in 2009, in the teeth of a recession, but is expected to rebound this year and grow at an annual average compounded rate of 5% through 2014, according to the consulting firm Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC). Its Global Entertainment and Media Outlook has just been published and contains data which indicates that the E & M market will

If ads can't be relied upon to pay for quality journalism, what is the alternative?

There is a view among the big heads in the digital world that publishing won't be saved by advertising. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban represents the prevailing view that aggregators like Google are vampires that suck dry the creative content of magazines and newspapers and other online sites. And says that advertising cannot be relied upon to pay for journalistic content on the web and on mobile

Quebecor's Toronto magazine sales combined into cross-media team

Quebecor Media Inc. is combining its TVA Publications magazine sales team in Toronto with its other media sales operations -- Sun Media newspapers, Canoe.ca and TVA broadcast. According to a story in Mastheadonline, it the company says it is not a cost-cutting measure. The new, combined 90-person sales operation will continue to be located in the Sun's building on King Street in Toronto and will

Large, integrated ad deals paying off for some U.S. magazine publishers

U.S. Magazine publishers are seeing their efforts to sell large, integrated deals paying off, according to a story in MediaWeek. And it is being evidenced in a small ad revenue increase in the 4th quarter.

For instance, Food & Wine holds its Classic event in Aspen and has already signed 8 sponsors, seven months ahead of the event. Publisher Christina Grdovic attributed it to the ability to

US magazines face erosion of lucrative pharma ads

Clouds really do have silver linings, sometimes. What you don't have, you can't lose. 

Canadian publishers have lamented for years that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical magazine advertising has been denied to them while American magazine were spilling over the border, stuffed with them, without let or hindrance. 

But, according to a story in Mediaweek, magazines in the U.S. may come to rue the