• Folio, Thursday, July 16, 2009 9:34 PM

The Atlantic says its July-August "Big Ideas" issue has pulled in the most ad revenue of any issue in the magazine's history. Publisher Jay Lauf says revenue is up 36% over the same issue last year. This year's issue carries 63.4 ad pages.

The magazine's "Ideas" franchise is anchored in the Aspen Ideas Festival, the annual magazine issue about ideas, and various online extensions on the theme of ideas. "It clearly resonates with advertisers who have something meaningful to say," says Lauf. "It's an indication that there's a cultural shift toward substance that can benefit magazines that write substantively about the subjects shaping our lives and futures. Strong ideas can still find a market."

At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, attendance was about 2,500 people and revenue was flat compared to last year. Online, the Atlantic's Ideas Special Report helped boost ad sales in June by 8% and about 50% so far in July, compared to last year. Since the Big Ideas report was posted, overall site traffic has jumped to 21.4 million page views and 3.2 million unique visitors.

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