Bloomberg Businessweek ad pages up 49 percent in first quarter

Bloomberg Businessweek saw a 49 percent increase in advertising pages in the first three months of the year, according to data released Wednesday by the Publisher’s Information Bureau.

Its ad revenue rose 65 percent to $46.2 million for the quarter, easily the best performance among the business magazines.

Fast Company and Wired magazine also posted double-digit gains in the first quarter. Fast Company reported a 20 percent increase in ad pages and a 24.7 percent increase in ad revenue to $7.9 million. Wired’s ad pages rose 41.3 percent, and its ad revenue rose 55.8 percent to 19.1 million.

Bloomberg Businessweek increased its share of the advertising market among The Economist, Fortune and Forbes, gaining 6.7 points, while the other three magazines posted declines in share.

In April 2010, Bloomberg Businessweek relaunched with a new design and a complete rethinking of the newsweekly format.  The magazine has increased the number of issues it publishes each year from 47 to 50 and increased the number of editorial pages by 20 percent.

“While our competitors have had to retrench, Bloomberg Businessweek has been opening new sales offices, hiring top talent, and adding new products and platforms to offer advertisers engaging ways to reach our audience,” said Hugh Wiley, publisher of Bloomberg Businessweek in a statement. “Our first quarter results are proof positive that advertisers have embraced our redesign and that our continued investment in the brand is paying off.”

The magazine will announce a new iPad app this month.

Among its competitive set, which collectively posted a 6 percent increase in pages, Bloomberg Businessweek far outpaced The Economist, which posted a 4 percent increase, and Forbes and Fortune, which fell 10 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Forbes reported a 4.4 percent decline in ad revenue to $44.8 million, while Fortune’s ad revenue rose slightly in the quarter to $33.7 million. The Economist’s ad revenue rose 7.6 percent to $30.5 million.

See all of the magazine data here.