Business

REPORT: NO PAGE TURNER

Magazines that cover news, business and luxury goods were sent reeling in the first quarter of the year, while food magazines offered a few rays of light for the publishing industry, according to just released figures.

Ad pages for BusinessWeek, which just went through its third round of cuts in three years, tumbled 19.4 percent in the quarter to 429.5 ad pages while rival Forbes dipped 13.2 percent to 504.8 ad pages, according to the latest figures reported to the Publishers Information Bureau.

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Fortune looked like the best of the lot, with only a 1 percent drop in the quarter to 429.4.

The newsweeklies are also taking it hard. Newsweek, which recently unveiled plans to downsize 111 people, saw ad pages drop 13.9 percent to 339.

Ad pages for Time, which also continues to prune staffers, skidded 17.8 percent to 371.

U.S News & World Report dropped even further, with its ad pages tumbling 37.5 percent to 229.46 pages.

Most industry observers tend to discount the ad-revenue figures that were just released because it uses a formula based on a one-time ad-page rate that does not account for the steep discounts that all major advertisers receive from publishers.

That is why the ad-page tally is seen as a more accurate barometer of a magazine’s performance year to year.

Overall, in the quarter, the PIB said that rate card reported advertising for the period was $5.2 billion, a 1.2 percent decline from the $5.3 billion in the year ago quarter.

The ad-page tally showed a steep 6.4 percent decline.

Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of The Magazine Publishers of America said, “food & food products,” were the bright spots.

Every Day with Rachel Ray saw ad pages soar 38.1 percent to 135.6 ad pages.

Everyday Food from the Martha Stewart empire saw ad pages up 11 percent to 120.76. Martha Stewart Living, the company’s flagship tile, was up 2.6 percent in ad pages.