• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 11, 2011

Unfazed by a tough print advertising environment, 54 new magazines launched in the first quarter of 2011, according to MediaFinder.com, an Oxbridge Communications property that maintains an online database of U.S. and Canadian publications.

That compares favorably with just 24 magazines closing in the same period, suggesting that small publishers and advertisers alike still see value in the medium. It's also way up from 25 new launches in the first quarter of 2010.

New launches were seen in a number of categories, led by regional interest, food and women, according to MediaFinder.com, which pointed to new titles like Plum Miami, Gourmet Italian Kitchen and Harmony Magazine. The first quarter also brought the debut of Tea Party Review, Lucky Kids from Conde Nast, and Disney's Phineas and Ferb.

While newer, smaller publications appear to be flourishing, many of the big titles, which constitute the core of the magazine business, are still struggling. Not counting newspaper-distributed magazines, over the last five years, the number of titles tracked by the Publishers Information Bureau has shrunk from 243 in the first quarter of 2006 to 212 in the first quarter of 2011, a 13% decrease.

Over the same period, PIB said total ad pages in the industry (including titles that closed over this period) fell from 51,383 in the first quarter of 2006 to 35,755 in the first quarter of 2011, for a 30.5% decline.