Mags Continue Sag, See No Boost From Quadrennial Year Spending

During a so-called "quadrennial" year when incremental spending related to the 2004 Olympics and presidential campaigns are expected to boost ad spending in the electronic media, the magazine industry - both consumer and the business press - continues to languish. Just days after the Magazine Publishers of America reported its 11th straight month of consumer magazine ad page erosion, the B-to-B side of the magazine industry reports that demand for ad pages in the business press also is eroding. In March, B-to-B ad pages fell 5.5 percent, bringing the year-to-date erosion in ad page volume to -4.6 percent, according to estimates released late Monday by American Business Media (ABM).

All told, the U.S. business press has lost about 300,000 ad pages since the B-to-B ad recession began in 2001 and shows no immediate sign of abating, according to a MediaDailyNews analysis of estimates from the ABM's Business Information Network database.

The ABM also reported a 2.6 percent decline in B-to-B ad revenues for March., putting the year-to-date revenue base into the red at -0.8 percent.

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"We believe that the numbers will be stronger in the second quarter," stated Gordon Hughes, president and CEO of ABM, cautioning that "most of the growth for 2004 will take place in the second half of the year."

Only one of the major ad categories tracked by the ABM -- services, direct response & classified - recorded an ad page increase (+3.2%) in March. All other categories were down, some significantly, including: retail (-18.0%); manufacturing (-12.1%); software (-10.8%); and automotive (-9.4%).

B-to-B Ad Pages, Revenue


Ad Pages Ad Dollars
January -4.6% +2.4%
February -0.9% +0.2%
March -5.5% -2.6%

Year-to-Date -4.6% -0.8%

Source: American Business Media from the Business Information Network database. As of January 2004 estimates are derived from IMS/The Auditor.
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