• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 6, 2011

The consumer magazine business continued its modest recovery in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest figures from the Publishers Information Bureau. Total ad pages increased 2.5% from 34,885 in the first three months of 2010 to 35,755 during the same period of 2011. Total rate-card revenue increased 6.1% from $4 billion to $4.3 billion.

This marks the fourth consecutive quarter to see both ad pages and revenue increase since the industry turned a corner in the second quarter of 2010.

Ad pages -- often considered the more reliable measure of the industry's vitality, since publishers often offer discounts from official rate-card revenue -- grew in seven of the 12 major ad categories, including toiletries and cosmetics; drugs and remedies; apparel and accessories; media and advertising; automotive, financial, insurance, and real estate; and technology.

The continuing year-over-year growth is undoubtedly good news for consumer magazines, following a steep downturn from 2007-2009 and continuing into the first quarter of 2010.

However, the medium still has a lot of lost ground to make up before it returns to pre-recession levels. The PIB's first-quarter ad page figure is down about 33% from the first quarter of 2006, when the industry org reported 53,084 ad pages. (This decrease also reflects the closure of a number of titles since then.)

The most recent ad forecast from Magna Global has worldwide magazine ad revenues increasing at a cumulative annual growth rate of just 0.1% from 2011-2016. Similarly, another forecast from ZenithOptimedia has worldwide magazine ad revenues declining 1.1% from 2010-2011, then basically stagnating with a 0.1% increase in 2012.