Celeb Titles Up, Some Biz Mags Tank in Early 2007

The latest PIB report can be filed under the good news/bad news category. Magazine ad pages rose 1.8% in February, compared to the same month in 2006, according to the latest monthly figures from the Publishers Information Bureau--and reported rate card revenue rose 5.7%. However, the slight increase for the industry overall didn't stop the pain for certain categories; big titles are still seeing drops on a year-over-year basis.

Although two months isn't enough time to draw firm conclusions, some of the drops are substantial enough to cause genuine worry.

In year-to-date numbers, most titles in the business category received discouraging news; only four posted positive results. The first group included Forbes, with a 16.8% decline for January-February ad pages compared to the same period last year; Fortune, with an 18.5% decline, Fortune Small Business, down 10.6%; Inc., down 6.9%; Money, down 38.6%; and Business 2.0, down 33.5%.

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On the bright side: Barrons had a small 4.4% uptick; Fast Company jumped 17.6%; Kiplingers Personal Finance jumped 17.9%; and Smart Money rose 4.5%.

Results from newsweeklies are also decidedly mixed--with the category leaders turning in the worst performances. Time was basically flat, with a small 2.3% drop in ad pages, while Newsweek tumbled 16.6%. But there was some good news for U.S. News & World Report, which saw ad pages rise 13.4% for the year-to-date. The single strongest performance in percentage terms came from newcomer The Week--although it prides itself on its slimmed-down look, ad pages rose 16.9%.

In the hardest-hit category is parenting magazines: Child tumbled 33.7%, American Baby was down 15.9%, Parenting was down 16.6%, and Parents fell 23.3%.

Things couldn't be more different at the celebrity weeklies, which are continuing their meteoric growth. Bauer's cash cow In Touch Weekly saw ad pages jump 69.6%, as sister pub Life & Style Weekly rose 66.9%. Competitor Star grew 24.4%, and Us Weekly grew 15.6%. People, still the category leader, saw ad pages rise 6.7%.

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