Biz magazines underperformed industry in 2013

Business magazines brought in fewer ad dollars in 2013 compared to the previous year, underperforming in an industry saw a slight increase in advertising revenue.

The 14 business magazines reported ad revenue of $1.33 billion in 2013, down 4.8 percent from 2012, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau analyzed by Talking Biz news. In comparison, the consumer magazine industry reported a 1.1 percent increase in 2013.

In terms of ad pages, the business magazines reported  a 9.0 percent decline to 13288.80 pages in 2013, while the overall magazine industry reported a 9.0 percent decline.

The business magazine comparison includes the 2012 data from Smart Money, a Dow Jones & Co. personal finance magazine that stopped print publication that year. Excluding the Smart Money numbers in the comparison, business magazines still underperformed the industry, with a 3.1 percent drop in ad revenue and a 5.8 percent drop in ad pages in 2013.

The best-performing title among the business magazines was Bloomberg Markets, which reported a 14.7 percent increase in ad revenue to $38.3 million, and an 11.1 percent increase in ad pages to 774.26

Another strong performer was Barron’s, which reported a 9.9 percent increase in ad revenue to $67.4 million and a 6.4 percent increase in ad pages to 1,269.4.

The worst-performing was Black Enterprise, which reported a 38.6 percent decline in ad revenue to $15.8 million in 2013 and a 38.2 percent drop in ad pages to 338.38.

Among the big three business magazines, Fortune performed the best. It posted a 2.4 percent rise in ad revenue to $213.5 million and a 3.8 percent decline in ad pages to 1,408.77.

Forbes remained the top business magazine in terms of ad revenue and ad pages, but it saw declines in both. Its print ad revenue fell 5.3 percent to $260.4 million, while its print ad pages fell 10.4 percent to 1,644.24.

Bloomberg Businessweek reported a 9.5 percent drop in print ad revenue to $200.7 million and a 12.4 percent decline in ad pages to 1,306.26.

See all of the data here.