Categories: OLD Media Moves

Business magazines underperform vs. industry in second quarter

Advertising dollars in 15 business-related magazines fell 5.5 percent in the second quarter of the year, while ad pages dropped 10.2 percent, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau analyzed by Talking Biz News.

In comparison, the overall magazine industry saw a 5.2 percent increase in ad dollars and just a 1.9 percent decline in ad pages.

The numbers for the business magazines exclude any data from newly launched Conde Nast Portfolio. However, if Portfolio’s reported 185 ad pages were included in the ad numbers, ad pages for business magazines in the second quarter would still be down 6.9 percent. The numbers also exclude any data from the new American business magazine.

Overall, the 15 business magazines reported $468.1 million in ad revenue for three months, compared to $495.1 million in ad revenue for the second quarter of 2006. The ad pages were 5,082.59 (excluding Portfolio), compared to 5660.57 in the same three months in 2006.

The best performing business magazines in the quarter were The Economist and Barron’s. Economist reported a 31.3 percent increase in ad dollars to $28.4 million and a 13 percent jump in ad pages to 634.23, while Barron’s had a 27.5 percent increase in ad dollars to $15.3 million and a 19 percent increase in ad pages to 394.72.

Also showing a nice quarter was Fast Company, up 14.1 percent in ad dollars to $8.7 million and up 8 percent in ad pages to 121.21, and Wired, up 13.6 percent in ad dollars to $20.1 million and up 3.4 percent in ad pages to 279.85.

At the other end, Business 2.0 reported a 38 percent drop in ad dollars to $9.2 million adn a 41.5 percent decline in ad pages to 134.46, while PC Magazine posted a 24.3 percent drop in ad dollars to $22.3 million and a 28 percent drop in ad pages to 275.83.

Among the “big three,” Forbes was up 11.8 percent in ad dollars, while Fortune was off 13.4 percent and BusinessWeek dropped 15.2 percent. with $104.4 million, Forbes garnered a 22.3 percent share of all business magazine ad dollars in the second quarter compared to 18.9 percent in the second quarter of 2006 on $93.3 million in ad sales.

Time Inc.’sÂ four financial glossies — Business 2.0, Fortune, Fortune Small Biz and Money — all saw declines in the quarter in ad dollars and ad pages. The four magazines had a 29.3 percent share of all business magazine ad dollars in the second quarter on $137.4 million, down from 33.1 percent in the second quarter of 2006 on $163.8 million in ad sales. Maybe that’s why the company just named a new head of its business magazine operation.

All of the data for magazines can be found on this Excel spreadsheet.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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larry says:
July 16, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Eveyrone knows that PIB page revenue numbers are worthless. tony silber of FOlio just posted an article that should put to rest the question about whether PIB $$$ info is worth anything:
http://www.foliomag.com/page.asp?prmID=273&dspMore=1&prmPID=125&showmonth=7#125