The luxury mags continue to thrive. As Folio and minOnline report, March 2012 has proved a very successful ad month for almost all fashion magazines, compared with March 2011. Four of the top five ad-page gainers in March (out of 150 magazines that min tracked) were fashion mags, being:
- Marie Claire with 42.95 more ad pages in 2012 compared with 2011
- W at +40.65
- InStyle, +38.22
- Harper's Bazaar, +37.20.
Beating them all was Vanity Fair, a lifestyle magazine, with its gatefold Hollywood issue, at +44.09 pages.
These gains are in stark contrast to the consumer magazine industry overall, which for Q1 2012 is down 6.32%, with only 34 magazines gaining. March is a slightly stronger month for consumer monthlies, down 2.85% and 66 magazines gaining.
Marie Claire reported its largest march ever, with growth in core categories of fashion/retail/luxury at 25%, and beauty at 31%, plus strong repeat business from Louis Vuitton and Bulgari, among others.
W raised some interest with its dual “Good Girl/Bad Girl” covers of Kate Moss, looking like a bride on one cover, and Batman villainess Poison Ivy on the other.
Harper’s Bazaar's March issue likely benefited from advertiser curiosity over its redesign. The home-delivered cover features a simple design, with actress Gwyneth Paltrow being its only feature. The newsstand design is the more traditional table-of-contents-on-the-cover design.
