• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 8, 2006

After ending 2005 on an upswing, magazine ad pages continued to slide once again during the first month of 2006, according to estimates released late Tuesday by the Publishers Information Bureau. Consumer magazines measured by the PIB sold a total of 13,342.6 ad pages during January, a decline of 1.9 percent from January 2005. That represents the second consecutive year of ad page volume declines for January, and means the consumer publishing industry is still 0.5 percent below its January 2001 high of 14,079.6.

The lackluster start to 2006 follows another tough and protracted negotiating season between consumer magazine publishers and the major print buying shops, which held out for relatively flat calendar year ad rate increases. However, buyers said many of the deals that did bear rate increases likely were tied to bonus ad pages, which doesn't help explain why 2006 has gotten off to a weak ad page volume start.

In fact, 2005 ended on a positive note, with the PIB reporting an ad page volume gain of 3.4 percent vs. December 2004.

Even more irksome for the consumer magazine industry is the fact that the PIB recorded a decline in magazine ad revenues, which dipped 0.3 percent below January 2005. That decline is significant, because the PIB reports rate card date before discounting, suggesting the actual impact on the bottom line of most magazine publishers may be far more severe.

Nonetheless, the Magazine Publishers of America reported some positive news in some key categories, citing double-digit gains in both pages and rate card revenues for the drugs/remedies and financial/insurance/real estate categories. But only three other categories - technology, apparel and travel - showed gains.