• by Erik Sass , January 15, 2007

2006 was a rough year for four of the top five magazine publishers--as measured by total ad pages. With the exception of Conde Nast, which saw total ad pages at its publications rise 3.5%, all the big names experienced modest or substantial declines.

Time

Industry leader Time Inc. suffered a 4.8% drop in ad pages, with some of its most important properties stagnant or in decline. Eponymous flagship title Time was hanging tough at the end of 2006 with 0.8% growth in ad pages, compared to 2005--finishing up at 2,311. And that's where the good news ends.

People sank 2.9% to 3,741, Sports Illustrated dropped 3.5% to 2031, Fortune was down 6.4% to 2,875, Entertainment Weekly slid 7.6%, and Money tumbled 9.6%. Time's special-interest magazines--including many Time4Media and Parenting titles for sale since September 2006--are faring worse. Golf magazine's ad pages declined 7.3%, Field & Stream dropped 13.3%, and Outdoor Life's were down 14.9%.

Hearst

Hearst Corporation ended the year down slightly with a 0.7% drop in ad pages compared to 2005. Strong performances at a few titles, like Esquire and O, the Oprah Magazine, were outweighed by modest losses by Hearst mainstays, including women's lifestyle and special interest titles. On the bright side, O, the Oprah Magazine enjoyed 10.8% growth in ad pages compared to 2005, finishing at 1,991, and Esquire turned in a respectable 4.1% increase with 1,188 pages. Harper's Bazaar turned in a very strong performance with 9.3% growth to 1,771 pages, and Redbook got a 3.5% boost to 1,526 pages.

But Cosmopolitan took a 4% hit, ending at 1,739; Marie Claire was flat with 1,340 pages; Country Living was down 4.4% to finish at 1,181; Good Housekeeping slipped 2.2% to 1,704; and Seventeen lost 3.7%, ending at 937 pages. Popular Mechanics took a big hit with an 11.9% decline to end at 757 pages--but the most alarming drop came at House Beautiful, where ad pages tumbled 15.6% to finish at 672.

Hachette Filipacchi

In percentage terms, Hachette Filipacchi had the biggest losses in ad pages, with a 7.1% overall decline to finish with 15,812 total pages. With French owner Lagardere in the early stages of a global reorganization, Hachette may seek to divest itself of some of its less profitable special-interest magazines, or it may reorganize editorial and publishing responsibilities.

Part of Hachette's problem may be a structural threat to special-interest magazines from the Internet, which allows users to consume content on their schedule, locate and buy obscure equipment, and socialize with other enthusiasts--all for free.

Hachette's automotive titles are both suffering, with Car and Driver down 7.9% to finish with 1,142 pages, and Road & Track losing 7% to finish with 1,130. More rarefied titles took hits as well, with Boating down 10.9% to finish at 1,147 and Flying losing 3.3% for 756 pages. Gadget and hobbyist titles posted big losses: Popular Photography and Imaging tumbled 20.1% to 1,018 pages, while Sound & Vision slipped a more modest 6.5% to finish at 530 pages.

It wasn't all bad news for Hachette: one of its mass-market titles, Elle, had a good year, as ad pages jumped 14.4% to finish at 2,364. But its homemaking and women's lifestyles titles were off, with Home losing 11.1% to end at 654 pages, Metropolitan Home down 3.1% to end at 954 pages, and Woman's Day slipping 1.5% to 1,762 pages.

Meredith Corporation

Meredith posted a modest decline of 1.4% across its portfolio of women's interest titles, with notable successes at some big names helping to offset losses at smaller titles. Family Circle buoyed the company with a healthy 8.9% increase in ad pages to finish at 1,635. Meanwhile, some other big titles ended the year basically flat: Ladies' Home Journal held steady with a 0.5% dip to 1,542 pages, while Parents slipped slightly with a 1.6% loss to finish at 1,461.

But there were some big losses, too: Better Homes and Gardens lost 8.2% to finish with 1,957 pages, American Baby was down 8.3% to finish with 671 pages, and Child tumbled 15.2% to finish with 914 pages.