Magazines Continue to Be Ripped by the Economy

I've been writing for months about the economic impact of the downturn on the fashion magazine industry. As of the end of September, magazine ad pages were down 10 percent industry-wide. And with consumer spending pulling back dramatically, it should be no surprise that fashion magazines and those which rely on luxury car and clothing ads, have seen a particularly dramatic drop.

Take Time Inc.'s (owned by Time Warner (TWX)) "In Style" magazine; its 2008 ad pages were down nearly 15 percent from last year. Conde Nast's "Vanity Fair" magazine also showed a 15 percent page drop, which is partly due to the magazine canceling its marketing supplement "Movies Rock," which is hurting publications across Conde Nast's portfolio. And let's not forget, Conde Nast reduced Men's Vogue to publishing just two times a year, down from ten.

Another sector being hit hard: teen magazines. In October Hearst Magazines shut down its Cosmogirl title. "Teen Vogue's" ad sales are down 10 percent, "Seventeen" magazine's down 8 percent.

There are certain blue chip names I was sure would be resistant to the slowdown, but not even Oprah is safe. "O, the Oprah Magazine" saw a nearly 14 percent drop in ad pages. And "Esquire" is celebrating its 75th anniversary and had a fancy electronic ink cover last month. That didn't help the magazine much: its ad pages are down 14 percent, more than any other men's magazine other than now basically defunct Men's Vogue.

Magazines, especially newsstand sales, are certainly proving to be exactly the kind of extraneous impulse purchase Americans are willing to cut out.

Comments

[notsosmart:]

surprise?

2008 Nov 16 10:22 AM

[AlexS:]

"Extraneous" is the operative word here.

2008 Nov 18 03:18 PM