• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 3, 2008

Automobile sales are plummeting, and it's no surprise that auto magazines are close behind. The collapse of print automobile advertising points to two related trends: First, the migration of auto ad dollars to the Internet, and second, the general economic slowdown, which is accelerating that migration.

Basic industry stats give no reason for optimism.

U.S. light vehicle sales fell 18.3% in June 2008 compared to June 2007, to about 1.9 million. Sales in the first six months of 2008 are down 10.1% compared to the same period last year, to 7.4 million. That comes on top of an earlier decline during 2006-2007, when total light vehicle sales declined 2.5% to 16.1 million. The 2007 slump prompted some major automakers to say they would scale back advertising substantially in 2008.

Those cuts are taking a deep toll on auto-focused magazines. During the January-July period, ad pages declined sharply at most auto titles compared to the same period in 2007, with AutoWeek down 10.6%, Automobile 11.2%, Car and Driver 11.6%, and Motor Trend 16.9%.

Nor has the downturn spared smaller niche titles focused on auto specialties. In this category, Car Craft is down 10.1%, Hot Rod 9.4%, Road & Track 6%, Rod & Custom 9% and Sport Truck 20.7%.

Overall, these data confirm that magazines in general, including general-interest and niche titles, are seeing a decline in auto ad spending. In the first quarter, total auto ad pages slid 21.3%, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Second-quarter figures are not yet available.