• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 29, 2008

The newspaper-distributed magazine category is entering a golden age of women's healthy lifestyle content. September saw two new launches targeting women over 30 with health-related news and advice, followed by USA Weekend's annual Women's Health Report, which will appear Sept. 28.

USA Weekend boasted that this year's special issue--leading with a story about champion swimmer Dara Torres--will reach 50 million readers with innovative ad placements, including a cover wrap sponsored by Sprint to promote its new Instinct device. Also advertising in the 32-page report are Hasbro, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Campbell's Unilever, Brita and Poise.

The latest issue of USA Weekend comes a few weeks after the Publishing Group of America launched Spry, with a circulation of 9 million, and Conde Nast's Parade launched HealthyStyle, with a circulation of over 8 million.

All three health-related inserts hope to cash in on the bonanza of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, as well as over-the-counter remedies that helped drive growth in consumer magazine ad pages. That is, until recently. There's also plenty of room for consumer packaged-goods, cosmetics and beauty, and food advertising.

From 2006-2007, ad pages for drugs and remedies in consumer magazines generally grew 3.1%, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, making it the No. 1 category in terms of total ad pages. Toiletries and cosmetics--the No. 2 category--grew by 2.9% over the same period, while food ad pages jumped 9.8%, making it the fourth-largest category by ad pages.

But it's unclear whether this growth will continue through 2008-2009. Economic woes are driving advertisers to slash budgets, and there are renewed rumblings in Congress about regulating DTC advertising after the presidential election.

In the first half of 2008, ad pages for drugs and remedies tumbled 13.2%, while toiletries and cosmetics were off 11.1%, according to PIB. Only beauty and cosmetics were up, with a 6.9% increase.