• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 12, 2005

The shift to an incentive marketing strategy by the major U.S. automotive advertisers has sent the overall media marketplace into a tizzy, but it does not appear to have negatively impacted consumer magazines. While total consumer magazine ad pages rose only 2.3 percent in June, the auto category was up 11.3 percent, according to estimates released Monday by the Publishers Information Bureau. That makes automotives one of the fastest growing of the major magazine advertising categories, though it may be more of a lagging indicator due to the long lead times of consumer magazine ads, than it is a long-term reflection of the category's print advertising health.

Nonetheless, auto marketers - including both domestic and imported advertisers - boosted total ad dollars 18.6 percent to more than $200 million on consumer magazines in June. That compares with only a 3.6 percent rate of growth for automotive magazine ad spending through the first half of 2005.

Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the Magazine Publishers of America said the auto category's June ad growth was especially strong for "accessories and equipment." She said several other important categories, including confectionary and beverages and food and food products helped maintain the magazine industry's upward ad momentum. In fact, June ad pages (+2.3 percent) expanded at a faster rate than the year-to-date pace (+1.8 percent).