Search »

Q4 Shows Some Improvement, for Some Mags; Ad Pages Fall 22% in 2009

Some magazines are seeing welcome ad improvements in the fourth quarter, with ad pages down less than in recent quarters or, in some cases, even on the rise.

Time Inc. has seen fourth-quarter improvements in 14 of its 19 ad categories, with food and beverage spending more in Q4, according to Mediaweek. Domestic auto is also bouncing back.

Overall, ad pages were down 21.7% in 2009 compared to 2008, but not all magazine companies fared that poorly. Meredith had five titles that were up for the year in terms of ad pages, while four titles saw ad pages decline. For the second half of the year, Meredith’s ad pages overall were up 2.9%.

December, in particular, was strong for some titles, as advertisers who were careful with spending all year released year-end budget money. The December issues of Time Inc.‘s Real Simple, Cooking Light, and Southern Living all boast significantly more ad pages this year than last year, for example, while Hearst’s Country Living, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, and O, The Oprah Magazine also reported more ad pages in December.

Some of the boost can be attributed to publishers’ move to offer more integrated, customized ad packages. Rodale saw print revenue attached to multi-platform, customized programs grow to 13% of ad revenue in 2009, from 11% in 2008. Such programs involve ads purchased across multiple titles. Conde Nast and Hearst have also had success selling integrated ad packages across multiple magazines.

Despite some fourth-quarter bright spots, numbers at most publishers were grim. Conde Nast is expected to report that Q4 ad pages were down about 30%.

The lift in the fourth quarter is not expected to be carried over into Q1. But though publishers expect a slow start to 2010, they predict ad spending will be flat with 2009.

In order to hang onto advertisers and attract new ones, one magazine, The Week, is experimenting with a new guarantee. The magazine is promising advertisers that readers will remember ads in the magazine more than ads in other competitive magazines; if it is not in the top one-third of magazines where the ad has run, The Week will run the ad for free until it gets to that benchmark.