More Bad News – Few Magazines See Growth in 2009; Ad Revenue Drops 18%

by Jess Kapadia | 11:42 am, January 13th, 2010

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As reported in Folio, the Publishers Information Bureau released its year-end magazine advertising report on Tuesday, backing up our suspicions that print is still indeed on the decline. In a surprise twist, boating publications were among the hardest hit with 50-60% losses in ad pages.

With big-name players folding left and right over the past 12 or so months – Conde Nast’s Gourmet, Cookie, Portfolio, Men’s Vogue, Domino and two bridal mags, PC Magazine, RADAR, Vibe, Blender and especially Playgirl, to name a few – plenty of mags have taken the hint, bulking up their web presence and lessening their reliance on ad page sales. Some have even gone as far as (wait for it…) charging viewers to access print content online.

While the publications industry is still suffering, some did post gains in the last year. Time Inc.’s People Style Watch is up 25%, as well as Bonnier’s wide-reaching foodie mag Saveur (up 12.6%) and Meredith’s Family Circle (up 11.5%). Though these successes don’t indicate the decline has bottomed out, Magazine Publishers of America’s Ellen Oppenheim said that ad sales showed improvement during this year’s last quarter compared to 2008.

The good news: Full-time unpaid internships are definitely still available.