• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 12, 2004

Halfway through their 2004 advertising sales cycle, consumer magazine publishers have stopped using red-colored ink - in their PIB statements, anyway. Thanks to a methodological change in the way it calculates advertising revenues reported by its members, the Publishers Information Bureau Friday said consumer magazine ad sales soared 8.4 percent in June, compared with June 2003.

The methodological change was a relatively minor factor, though likely a positive one, said Wayne Eadie, senior vice president-research of the Magazine Publishers of America, who oversaw the PIB changes. Eadie said the shift was made to make revenue reporting consistent among PIB members, and that all of the PIB's 2004 and 2003 revenue data have been adjusted to reflect the change.

Even without the methodological change, magazine revenues have been showing strong momentum throughout 2004 and, on a more telling note, magazine ad pages have also begun to show a positive net gain. Consumer magazine ad page volume, which was essentially flat through the first give months of 2004, moved solidly on the plus side in June, recording a year-to-date gain of 0.5 percent on a June ad page rise of 3.1 percent.

The turning point was May, which experienced a 4.8 percent rise in ad page volume, the first gain in ten consecutive months of PIB reports.

Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the MPA cited "a combination of growing consumer and advertiser confidence" as reasons for the uptick, singling out the financial, Insurance and real estate ad category, which posted its fourth consecutive month of growth in June. Apparel and accessories and retail also experienced a surge in June, "with significant contributions by advertising for summer fashion and accessories, and department stores and shopping centers," she said.