3Q Ad Revenue and Pages Decline ... Again
Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue through the first three quarters of 2008 declined 5 percent from the previous year, according to a report this week from Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). The number of ad pages fell even more -- by 9.5 percent -- during this same period.
The numbers for the 3rd quarter itself were event worse. Advertising revenue fell 8.8 percent versus 2007's third quarter, while ad pages declined 12.9 percent.
"We're seeing the unfortunate result of the ongoing softness in the economy," said Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Magazine Publishers of America. "Consumers have cut spending and advertisers have followed suit. It's affected every ad category and every ad-supported sector of the media industry."
The only advertising categories to record gains in revenue for the first three quarters of 2008 against the same period last year were retail (4.5 percent), food and food products (3.4 percent), and public transportation, hotels and resorts (3.1 percent). All nine of the other categories tracked by PIB posted declines in ad revenue during this time.
