• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 23, 2006

Demand for business media softened in the final month of 2005, but business publications still managed to post a modest gain. Ad pages increase 1.7 percent in December vs. December 2004, according to estimates released this week be American Business Media.

That's a somewhat weaker story than the consumer magazine marketplace, which posted a 3.4 percent gain in December, though business titles had a higher rate of growth during full-year 2005. B-to-B ad pages climbed 3.9 percent during 2005, while consumer magazine ad pages grew only 0.5 percent during the same period. Consumer magazine pages, however, plummeted again in January, declining 1.9 percent from January 2005, and indicating that demand for print media remains erratic at best.

According to the ABM, the strongest categories in ad page growth were the "agriculture" and "banking, financial, and insurance" categories.

Agriculture ad pages increased by almost 30 percent, followed closely by banking, financial, and insurance with a 27.6 percent increase.

Other strong performers included "architecture, design, and lighting," which posted a 23.39 percent increase over 2004, and "automotive," with 17.36 percent.