• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 9, 2010

Don't call it a comeback quite yet. Despite hints of a turnaround in the broader economy and advertising revenue, total magazine ad pages fell 9.4% from 38,395 in the first quarter of 2009 to 34,795 in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Official rate card revenue fell 3.4% from $4.21 billion to $4.05 billion over the same period.

However, losses weren't evenly distributed: 82 (35%) of the 233 magazines tracked by the PIB experienced increases, while 126 (54%) experienced decreases which more than offset the growth. The percentage decrease also reflected the closure of numerous titles in 2009 -- suggesting the actual decline for the group of remaining titles wasn't quite as bad as the overall 9.4% drop makes it appear.

On the bright side, big first-quarter gains were seen at People Style Watch (+134.4%), Scientific American (+33.4%), Entertainment Weekly (+26.7%), Real Simple (+24.8%), OK Weekly (+23.5%), Saveur (+22.6%), Fitness (+19.8%), Marie Claire (+19.4%), Every Day with Rachael Ray (+17.9%), In Style (+17.8%), Popular Mechanics (+17.4%), Lucky (+16.9%), Inc. (+15.4%), New York (+15.3%) and People (+14.8%).

Of the total 233 tracked by PIB in 2009-2010, almost two dozen have ceased publication by the first part of 2010, including Best Life, Blender, Conde Nast Portfolio, Cookie, Country Home, Domino, Elegant Bride, Gourmet, Hallmark Magazine, Metropolitan Home, Modern Bride, Southern Accents, Travel + Leisure Golf, Vibe and Wondertime.

Among the surviving titles, some of the biggest first-quarter losses came at National Geographic Kids (-57.6%), Veranda (-45.3%), Spin (-37.7%), Coastal Living (-36.1%), Sports Illustrated Kids (-35.3%), Jet (-33.1%), Men's Journal (-32.3%), Country Living (-30.9%), Ebony (-30.6%), Muscle & Fitness (-28.2%), Reader's Digest (-27.9%), TV Guide (-27.6%), Ladies' Home Journal (-24.6%),W (-22.6%), National Geographic (-21.5%) and Newsweek (-20.4%).