• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 11, 2011

The tentative recovery in print magazine advertising sputtered in the second quarter of 2011, judging by figures from the Publishers Information Bureau, which show total ad pages were basically flat at 43,671 -- a 0.3% increase over 43,543 in the same period in 2010.

This follows a 2.5% increase in the first quarter; altogether, in the first half of 2011 total ad pages are up 1.3% to 79,426.

Coming amidst troubling signs of a broader economic slowdown, the PIB data is especially sobering, since the second quarter is often viewed as an indicator for the industry heading into the critical third quarter.

Like the U.S. economy in general, magazine advertising was supposed to pick up steam or at least maintain the first-quarter pace in the second quarter -- but instead delivered a surprisingly weak performance.

2011 has seen a continuation of a previous trend, which saw both losses and gains concentrated in a relatively small number of titles. In the first half of the year, 73 titles of the 212 tracked by the PIB saw ad pages increase or decrease more than 10%, with the rest experiencing smaller changes.

Specifically, 33 titles saw ad pages decline 10% or more in the first half of 2011, while 40 grew 10% or more. Sixty-nine titles saw ad pages grow less than 10%, and 59 experienced ad page declines of less than 10%.

The large number of titles showing little or no growth -- or experiencing only modest declines -- paints a portrait of an industry in stagnation, which may reflect increasing caution among advertisers worried about broader economic conditions.

Over the last few years, consumer magazines have felt the impact of the prolonged decline in the real-estate market, with a number of big shelter titles closing as key categories dried up. This trend continued in the first half of 2011, with total ad pages in the home furnishings and supplies category declining 11.4% to 4,095, per PIB. That's down 46% from 7,570 in the first half of 2006.