• by October 22, 2002

Young men’s magazines have the reputation of being the hot category. They are hot, but two women’s magazines stole the show for the first half of the year. Rosie – which was in ownership and legal limbo at presstime – is more than 100 percent better in ad pages over last year. Lucky, which has taken a more practical turn on women’s fashion and shopping, topped the 60 percent increase mark. Fitness, Weight Watchers, Fit Pregnancy and Family Fun rounded out a good first half for women’s magazine. FHM and Gear were the only two men’s mags to make the top ten.

Business magazines dominated the downside. Hit by a triple whammy of a tech category slump, a dip in financial services pages and an overall tough ad economy, business magazines found 2002 to be a tough track. The downturn hit Red Herring, which made its mark in the tech investing area, the hardest. But even stalwarts like Business Week, Money, Fortune and Forbes checked in with double digit ad page decreases.