• by Erik Sass , August 17, 2007

Disney Publishing is enjoying a surge in advertiser interest at two of its biggest publications, with FamilyFun and Wondertime reporting record ad pages and revenue in their September and September/October issues. At the same time, the Meredith Corp., a leading women's lifestyle publisher, is also seeing big increases in ad pages and revenue at some of its flagship publications.

At Disney's FamilyFun, the September issue will be the biggest in its 16 years of publication, with new advertisers like American Dairy Borden Cheese, Bayer Aleve, Honeywell Blink, Kraft, Avon and Sanyo. These contributed to an overall 28% increase in ad pages and a 55% increase in ad revenue.

Wondertime is also attracting new advertisers, including Procter & Gamble, Charles Schwab Financial, PBS Children's Television, Kraft, Sony Digital and Hasbro. The new crowd is helping the September/October issue break records as well, with a 61% increase in ad pages and a remarkable 220% jump in gross revenue. This coming February, Wondertime will increase its circulation to 500,000 and begin publishing 10 times a year.

However, Disney isn't the only publisher experiencing an advertising boom. Meredith is also reporting record-breaking issues at some of its biggest titles. The September issue of Family Circle, for example, enjoyed a 15% jump in ad pages compared to the same month last year, with new advertisers including Ford, Nestle, Olay, Dove, Pergo and Eureka.

Parents is also breaking records, with a 41% increase in ad pages compared to last year. That's thanks, in part, to new advertisers like Covergirl Cosmetics, Avon, Sears, Ebay, Lee Jeans, Sears and Liberty Mutual. Better Homes and Gardens' September issue is up 17% in ad pages compared to last year, with new advertisers including Andersen Windows, Eddie Bauer, Delta Faucet, Nationwide Insurance, Nestle, J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart. And More is also booming, with a 17% increase in ad pages and new advertisers like Nissan, VW, Tiffany, Singer and Armstrong.

American Airlines is set to debut a new audio channel produced by Paste and Beat Marketing. The branded channel, called "The Paste Beat," will feature studio tracks, live recordings and artist interviews selected from the pages of the music magazine. Some of the content will be original tracks recorded exclusively for Paste. Paste's publisher and president, Tim Regan-Porter, said: "As the world's largest airline, carrying over 4.2 million passengers every month, this initiative will help introduce Paste to a diverse and captive audience." The September edition of the audio program includes music by Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, Nick Drake, Feist, Johnny Cash and Patty Griffin. The exclusive original content includes tracks from the Cold War Kids and Brandi Carlile.

Harvard Business Review Gets New Publisher

Harvard Business School Publishing announced this week that Henry "Hank" Boye has been named the new publisher of the Harvard Business Review. Boye was formerly general manager of the National Journal Group. At HBR, he will be responsible for all the magazine's commercial activities, including worldwide advertising sales, consumer marketing, and business development.

Dan Borchert Joins Time Inc. Business and Finance Network

Dan Borchert has been named worldwide luxury director at Time Inc.'s Business and Finance Network Group, publisher Mike Dukmejian announced this week. Borchert, previously the executive luxury director for Vanity Fair, will focus on Fortune with responsibility for a number of New York-based accounts. Before his stint at Vanity Fair, Borchert helped launch Cargo and Lucky magazines.