Biz magazines outperform industry in second quarter

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

The 14 business magazines published in the United States outperformed the overall magazine industry in the second quarter in terms of advertising revenue and ad pages.

The financial and business magazines reported ad revenue of $328.1 million in the second three months of the year, up 11.3 percent from the same quarter in 2009. In comparison, the overall industry was up 5.7 percent.

In terms of ad pages, the business titles reported an 8.3 percent to 3359.42 pages, while the overall industry was up 0.3 percent, according to data published Monday from the Publishers Information Bureau and analyzed by Talking Biz News.

The comparison data excludes Fortune SmallBusiness and Conde Nast Portfolio, both of which were published in the second quarter of 2009.

The best performer among the business titles was Time Inc. personal finance glossy Money, which reported a 37.5 percent rise in ad revenue to $34.2 million and a 32.3 percent jump in ad pages to 164.77.

Another strong performer was Wired. The Conde Nast tech-related magazine reported ad revenue of $19.6 million, up 37.7 percent, and ad pages of 200.13, up 26.2 percent, for the quarter.

Dow Jones & Co. title Barron’s also performed well, reporting a 32.9 percent increase in ad revenue to $15.5 million and a 26.5 percent increase in ad pages to 335.52.

Among the large business titles, Bloomberg Businessweek performed the best, with an 11.2 percent increase in ad revenue for the quarter, to $48.8 million, and a 10 percent increase in ad pages to 365.01.

Forbes was the only business title with a decline in ad revenue — down 1.7 percent to $61.9 million — for the quarter. Forbes, Fortune and the Economist reported declines in ad pages.