• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 16, 2011

Big magazine publishers fared quite a bit better than their print cousins in the newspaper business in 2010, with the top five publishing groups all reporting substantial increases in ad pages compared to the previous year, according to MIN Online, which tracks magazine ad pages and published the group publisher tallies.

According to MIN Online, Hearst Magazines came out on top in terms of growth, with ad pages at its 15 titles growing from 14,790 in 2009 to 16,344 in 2010, for a total gain of 1,554 ad pages or 10.5% during the year.

Conde Nast's 18 titles were next -- increasing from 20,803 to 22,264, for a gain of 1,461 ad pages or 7%. Time Inc. saw the third-largest increase, with its 20 titles seeing ad pages increase from 22,428 to 23,746, for a gain of 1,318 ad pages or 5.8%.

Bonnier was fourth, as total ad pages at its 21 titles increased from 9,907 to 10,381, for an increase of 475 or 4.8%. Hachette Filipacchi took fifth place, as ad pages at its six titles grew from 6,709 to 7,175, for an increase of 466 or 6.9%.

These MIN Online figures indicate that the big magazine publishers all fared better than the magazine industry as a whole, where total ad pages actually slipped 0.1%, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

However, the group publisher's figures from MIN also reflect a sharp decline from just a few years ago.

According to the TNS Group Publisher's Report for 2007, Conde Nast's ad pages came 41,640 that year; meaning that last year the publisher was still 46.5% off its peak of just a few years before. Similarly, Time Inc. reported total ad pages of 31,742 in 2007; 2010 ad pages are down 25.2% from this figure. In 2007, Hearst had about 22,316 ad pages, per TNS, and the 2010 figures represent a 26.2% drop from three years previously.

Hachette and Bonnier have both sold or acquired so many titles in the interim that it is difficult to make a meaningful comparison between 2007 and 2010 figures.