• by July 27, 2001

A recent article in the New York Daily News by Nancy Dillon reported that June ad pages in magazines dropped 18.6% over the same month last year and 3.8% over June 1999, according to new figures by the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Business and technology magazines, which last year reaped a treasure trove from heavy dot-com spending, were hardest hit.

Nina Link, PIB's CEO, said "back in February, people were hopeful that the second quarter would be stronger than the first. That hasn't happened. Now the real question is whether we'll see an upturn later this year or not until the start of 2002."

The Industry Standard, Red Herring, Wired and Business 2.0, had ad page drops from 41% to 80%. "Advertisers are holding back decisions until the last possible moment, waiting to see if they have to conserve dollars to make their numbers," said Jim Berrien, president of the Forbes Magazine Group. And buoyed by double-digit strength in the "toiletries and cosmetics" and "drugs and remedies" advertising categories, self-improvement magazines posted impressive year-over-year June gains.

Media investment bank Veronis Suhler forecasts consumer magazines will generate 2% less revenue this year compared to last — $12.4 billion instead of last year's $12.7 billion. A rebound of 5% is then expected for 2002.

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