• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 11, 2008

Magazines have suffered a sharp reversal in fortune since 2007, when they enjoyed modest growth despite the economic slowdown. According to the Publisher's Information Bureau, total magazine ad pages fell 8.2% in the second quarter of 2008, one of the steepest industry-wide drops in years. Worse, it comes on top of an earlier decline of 6.4% in the first quarter. Altogether, in the first half of 2008, ad pages are down 7.4% compared to the same period last year.

There's no mistaking the effects of the economic slowdown; certain ad categories were hit especially hard. Automotive ads fell an alarming 21.3% in the first half of 2008, reflecting the mounting woes of American car manufacturers. Drugs and remedies, another mainstay, slid 13.2%, in a sign that magazines may be losing one of their main revenue props in recent years, including a large proportion of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.

Automobile titles, niche enthusiast titles and shelter titles are all taking big hits, but they're not the only categories suffering. Newsweeklies are almost all declining, with Time down 21.1%, Newsweek 22.4%, U.S. News and World Report 30.3%, and TheNew Yorker 20.1%; The Week, previously thriving as a relative newcomer, is down 12.2%. The sole bright spot is the Economist, up 3.7% in the first half of 2008. On the monthly front, the similarly cerebral Atlantic Monthly is down 17.8%.

As before, business titles are also struggling, though some are doing worse than others, with Business Week down 14.8%, Entrepreneur 4.3%, Forbes 12.3%, Inc. 2.4%, Kiplinger's Personal Finance 15.3%, Money 2.3%, and SmartMoney 21.9%. But there was a bright spot here, too. Fast Company surged 31.4%, continuing its strong performance from last year. Fortune was basically flat, with a small 1.3% increase.

Music mags also experienced noteworthy drops: Alpha Media's Blender fell 23.5%, Rolling Stone 24.7%, and Vibe 18.3%. The bright spot here was Spin, up 15.3% in the first half.

Hearst and MSN Serve up Delish.com

Hearst Magazine is working with MSN to create an online destination for foodies called Delish.com. Delish.com will feature original content drawn from the editorial expertise of writers and editors at Hearst titles like Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Quick and Simple and Redbook. Advertisers who buy ads on Delish.com will also be able to buy packages covering some or all of the Web sites for these four Hearst titles, as well.

Delish.com's content categories will include recipes, articles, photos and video. MSN will be responsible for ad sales, deepening its partnership with Hearst. Currently, MSN syndicates text and video content for the magazine publisher's online properties. The site should also benefit from traffic from other MSN sites.

A number of magazine publishers have created new Web sites devoted to particular topics that draw on the expertise, and sometimes the content, of their established magazine titles. CondeNast's online network, CondeNet, includes Epicurious.com, Style.com and Men.Style.com. Bonnier launched Parenting.com, a combined portal for Parenting and Babytalk. And Meredith's Better.tv combines resources from the company's magazines as well as its broadcast properties.

Lauren Stanich Moves to Meredith

Meredith Corporation has snagged Lauren Stanich, previously of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, to help boost ad sales and audience for More and ReadyMade. In her new role as senior vice president of the publish group, Stanich will oversee the work of the publishers and editors of the two magazines. .