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The fashion-magazine category has a new “it” title.
According to Media Industry Newsletter data published yesterday, Time Inc.’s InStyle has won the ad-page war year-to-date, beating Condé Nast’s Vogue in the closely watched race that often serves as a bellwether for the broader magazine industry.
MIN stats show that InStyle so far this year has pulled in 1,103.21 ad pages, a 10 percent jump from a year ago, even after Time Inc. last year scrapped its weddings spin-off, which had 65 ad pages in 2009.
By comparison, Vogue recorded a nearly 8 percent rise in ad pages year-to-date to 987.05.
Rounding out the top five was Elle, which recorded a 5 percent increase to 939; Harper’s Bazaar, with a 17 percent increase to 755.15; and W, down 14 percent to 423.
Fashion magazines, which often attract luxury advertisers, are considered an important barometer of the health of the magazine publishing industry, as they are often the first to pull out of a slump.
Though InStyle and its Editor, Ariel Foxman, are on top, sources close to Condé Nast pointed out yesterday that the Time Inc. title and Anna Wintour’s Vogue cater to very different advertisers, with InStyle featuring more mass-market advertisers and fewer European brands.
Nevertheless, there is a common thread between the two titles: InStyle Publisher Connie Anne Phillips used to be an associate publisher at Vogue.
Overall, MIN data show that the longest ad slump in magazine publishing history appears to be coming to a close after nine consecutive quarters of declines.
After falling 5.7 percent in the first quarter, ad pages for glossy monthly magazines are up 4.9 percent in the second quarter, fueled by a 7.9 percent surge in ad pages in the June issues.
And that could be just the beginning, according to Robin Steinberg, senior vice president of print media at ad buyer MediaVest.
“Moving forward, a majority of publishers are securing double digit increases vs. a year ago, making up for the significant revenue and page [shortfalls] in 2009,” she said. “Magazines overall did not lose their audience, just their advertising.”
However, Steve Cohn, editor of MIN, is somewhat more cautious on the recovery prospects.
“My guess is conditions are going to get better in July, August and hopefully September, but how much better is anyone’s guess.”
Year to date, total magazine ad pages for all glossies are still running slightly behind the disastrous 2009, but just barely. For the year, overall ad-page count is down 0.16 percent.
In the weekly category, Time was up just under 1 percent to 487 through the May 17 issue, while Newsweek, which was recently put on the block by the Washington Post Co., was down about 12 percent to 326 ad pages. keith.kelly@nypost.com