• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 13, 2009

As expected, 2008 wrapped up on a spectacularly sour note for consumer magazines, as the recession pummeled ad pages across the board. According to figures released by the Publishers Information Bureau Tuesday, total ad pages fell a remarkable 17.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007; that's equal to about 13,000 ad pages. For 2008 overall, magazines suffered an 11.7% decline compared to 2007 (and that's on top of a 1% decline in 2007 compared to 2006).

First, the scarce good news, which mostly graced newer titles. Ad pages at Rodale's Bestlife, the relatively new men's lifestyle title, were up 7.3%, to 231. Ad pages at Wondertime, Disney's fairly new parenting title, soared 35.4% to 198, while competitor Cookie from Conde Nast grew a more modest 3.5% to 285. A relative newcomer in the newsweekly category, The Week, was strong with 9.1% growth to 221. Among more established titles, Hachette's Elle rose 4.3% to 806; Mansueto's Fast Company defied gravity with a 13.5% increase, to 229; and American Media Inc.'s Men's Fitness stayed healthy with a 4% increase to 273, while Muscle & Fitness, another AMI title, pumped up 5.1% to 495.

If you're looking for bad news, you can take your pick--as virtually every major category saw substantial, if not outright disastrous, declines. Indeed, the other 235 consumer titles tracked by PIB did not fare so well, as double-digit declines in ad pages were the norm. In order of magnitude, some of the biggest losses came at Life & Style Weekly (47.8%), Blender (42.7%), SmartMoney (37.9%), More (37.4%), The New Yorker (35.1%), Rolling Stone (33.3%), Conde Nast Portfolio (33.1%), Real Simple (32.9%), ESPN Magazine (28.6%), Gourmet (28%), Conde Nast Traveler (26.9%), People (25.5%), First for Women (25.3%), Maxim (25.3%), Bicycling (25.2%), O the Oprah Magazine (24.9%), Everyday Food (24.7%), GQ (24.5%), Newsweek (24.3%), Bon Appetit (23.9%), In Touch Weekly (23.7%), American Photo (23.7%), Entertainment Weekly (23.6%), Ladies' Home Journal (23.3%), National Geographic (21.3%), Cooking Light (23.2%), Better Homes & Gardens (21.2%), and Prevention (20.8%).

That's not to say that other titles escaped unscathed, as revealed by a quick look at some of the bigger titles not mentioned above. In alphabetic order this time, more typical losses were seen at BusinessWeek (down 19.6%), Country Living (18.5%), Details (14.2%), Domino (15.1%), Dwell (18.6%), Esquire (14.6%), Fitness (19.9%), Food & Wine (14.2%), Fortune (18%), Glamour (17.6%), Good Housekeeping (14.1%), Harper's Bazaar (13.1%), Lucky (17%), Marie Claire (17.7%), New York Magazine (15.6%), Runner's World (17.8%), Sports Illustrated (15.4%), and Time (18.4%).