• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 27, 2010

Total ad pages for monthly magazines tracked by the Media Industry Newsletter increased 8.2% in the third quarter, thanks, in part, to an 8.1% increase in ad pages in their crucial September issues -- up from 12,446 in 2009 to 13,450 this year.

The healthy increase in ad pages holds out hope that consumer magazines may eventually regain some of the revenue lost over the course of the recession.

The third-quarter results build on a promising second quarter, when ad pages rose 4.9% according to MIN. The second- and third-quarter results are a welcome change from a 5.7% decline in the first quarter of 2010. The first quarter decline, in turn, represented the smallest loss since the second quarter of 2010.

According to the Publisher's Information Bureau, total ad pages fell from about 245,000 in 2006 to 169,000 in 2009, for a decline of 31% over three years. The losses partly reflect the closing of many magazines over this period.

The distribution of ad page increases was top-heavy, meaning growth was led by a cohort of magazines with especially strong growth. Out of the 151 titles tracked by MIN, 34 (22.5%) saw ad pages increase less than 10% in September, while 59 (39%) enjoyed double-digit percentage increases.

However the rising tide appears to be lifting all boats, as the number of magazines experiencing declines was smaller than in previous months -- and the declines were smaller than before.

21 titles (14%) saw ad pages decrease less than 105 in September and the same number suffered double-digit percentage ad page declines.