• by Ross Fadner , October 13, 2005

In one of the greatest examples of a reversal of fortunes in the magazine industry, Martha Stewart Living has suddenly emerged as the hot title within a languishing magazine advertising marketplace. In other words: Living has come alive again.

The title--which, like its namesake domestic diva, became a virtual untouchable among advertisers while Ms. Stewart was serving time in Federal prison after being convicted of perjury in an insider stock trading case--has emerged as a must-buy while most other big magazine titles begin to see their ad pages erode. According to estimates released this week by the Publishers Information Bureau, Living's ad pages jumped 43.6 percent in September versus September 2004. Ad pages for all PIB-measured magazines fell 1.3 percent in September, the second consecutive month of page erosion for the industry at large.

Demand for Living's ad pages, in fact, has been trending steadily upward since May, while the PIB has been trending downward (see table below).

As a result, Living is now outpacing the industry on a year-to-date basis. Through the first nine months of 2005, Living's pages are up 11.5 percent, while the PIB total is up just 1.0 percent.

Although Ms. Stewart was released from federal prison in early March, demand from magazine advertisers didn't begin to rebuild until May--proving a publishing industry adage that there are lag effects in demand shifts among monthly magazines.

2005 Ad Page Growth Monthly, Year-To-Date

            Martha Stewart Living   The PIB  
January                    -36.0%     -0.4%  
February                   -15.0%     +4.2%  
March
-10.2%     +1.2%  
April                       -8.2%     -0.7%  
May                         +3.7%     +3.9%  
June                       +27.3%     +2.3%  
July
+121.0%     +3.1%  
August                     +20.6%     -2.3%  
September                  +43.6%     -1.3%  
Year-To-Date               +11.5%     +1.0%  

Source: Publishers Information Bureau.