• by Frank Saxe , February 19, 2003

In what has become a once a year phenomenon, buyers and planners have a pair of two new reports on the health of consumer magazines. The Audit Bureau of Circulation has released its findings for the six months ending December 31, and the Publishers Information Bureau has released its review of ad spending in January. Taken together, the reports show that consumer books continue to recover from the advertising recession.

An optimistic indication of what kind of year 2003 may be comes from the Publishers Information Bureau, which says total magazine advertising revenue climbed 9.5% in January, compared to the first month of 2002. Spending totaled $883,466,028. Pages were up 4.8%, to 12,482.6.

“Given the uncertainty in the economic and political environments, we are pleased to see that 2003 is starting on a strong note,” says Ellen Oppenheim, executive VP and chief marketing officer for MPA.

That may be more than wishful thinking, since eleven of the twelve major advertising categories experienced an increase in advertising revenue over January 2002. Notable gains were seen in the public transportation category/hotels & resorts category, which increased 29%. Apparel & accessories category grew 28%, toiletries & Cosmetics rose 23%, while automotive spending increased 21% in January. The one category that decreased spending was direct response, where spending slipped 1% with 100 fewer pages being purchased across the PIB-monitored publications.

An increase in resort and hotel proved a windfall for travel titles. National Geographic Traveler ad pages jumped 140%, Travel + Leisure was up 70%, and Conde Nast Traveler increased 56%.

Business titles, which suffered through a tough 2002, are also showing signs of life. Fast Company led the way, with a 78% increase in ad pages, while Money posted a 44% gain. Among the weeklies, Forbes’ pages jumped 17%, followed by BusinessWeek, which grew 11%. Fortune continued to lag, seeing its ad count drop 3% last month. It was not alone in heading south, by any means. Rolling Stone saw its page count drop 39%, while Readers’ Digest’s ad pages fell by one-third.

In a separate report, the Audit Bureau of Circulations has released its second-half 2002 circulation estimates. Among the most interesting results is the battle among the men’s titles. Emap’s FHM was the biggest gainer, with a 26% increase in circulation in the second half of 2002. FHM’s total circulation was 1,061,122, up 216,995 compared to the second half of 2001. FHM continues to outsell the combined newsstand sales of its category competitors, including Esquire, GQ, and Men’s Journal. Even so, GQ is showing signs of life. Its paid circulation rose 5.9% to 803,652.

The ongoing scandal surrounding Martha Stewart may have also taken a toll on sales of Martha Stewart Living; its paid circulation dropped 3.2% to 2.36 million. Newsstand sales fell 21.8%.

ABC also gave Rosie O’Donnell her final circulation curtain call. It illustrates a magazine that had more trouble than just personality clashes between a celebrity editor and her publisher. The now-defunct Gruner + Jahr title Rosie went to the grave with a paid circ of 3,337,582 down 4.7% from 3,503,993 at mid-2002. It was the second decline in a row for Rosie, which posted a 12.5% decline in readers last June. Analysts blame the end of O’Donnell’s daily TV talk show and her public disclosure that she is a lesbian.