Readership up for many business pubs

Lucia Moses of MediaWeek reports that readership increased in the past year for a number of business publications.

Moses writes, “At a time when it would seem that consumers would be seeking help to navigate the recession, business titles have seen an uptick in readership this past year, Mediamark Research & Intelligenceâ€™s fall magazine audience report shows.

“Six business titles â€” Forbes, Fortune, Inc., Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist â€” had year-over-year increases in total audience, the twice-annual report shows.

“The Journal saw its audience grow 11.6 percent, to 3.4 million; Forbesâ€™ grew 11.5 percent to more than 6 million; Fortuneâ€™s rose by 9 percent, to 4.1 million; and The Economistâ€™s audience grew 6 percent, to 2.8 million.

“Yet those gains are hardly reflected in magazinesâ€™ advertising results. Take Forbes, which just went through another round of layoffs amid a 35 percent decline in ad pages year to date. Fortune is cutting its frequency in 2010 as its ad pages plummeted more than 32 percent so far this year.”