It has been a bad enough year for consumer magazines, with ad pages flat, but it has been an abysmal one for books geared to the African American audience. Ad pages are down 5% through November. Much
of that comes from big cuts in spending by automakers, which have been far more severe for the black titles, at just over 19%, according to Black Magazine Monitor.
In contrast, major
consumer titles tracked by Publishers Information Bureau have seen a more modest 10.9% fall in auto dollars this year. And to make things worse, the black titles aren't seeing the same boost from drug
advertising that mainstream titles are, where spending through November is up 18%.
Drugs are now the No. 1 category in both ad pages and ad dollars spent year to date for consumer
magazines. But in the black titles, the category ranks only No. 11, and spending has declined 2% so far in 2006.
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