American Magazines Revenue Figures 2008 vs 2007
Magazine Publishers of America Report on Magazine Gains and Losses
Jul 29, 2008
Media business watchers have made recent and consistent commentary about the state that newspapers are in with the disparity in size of their digital operations compared to print output.
Businesses, advertisers and readers will follow this debate as it extends to analysis and commentary on magazines. The Magazine Publishers of America Report on the first half of 2008 versus 2007, published on July 10, 2008, makes interesting vacation reading for people watching the media industry.
Magazine Publishers of America Report Jan – June 2008 vs 2007
Comparing January to June 2008 to 2007, overall the major magazines listed titles lost on average 7.4 per cent on PIB revenue. For some titles - including Cookie, Cooking with Paula Deen, OK Weekly, Renovation Style, Technology Review - the news is much better. The following magazines titles made gains between 20 and 50 per cent PIB revenue from January 2008 to June 2008 compared to 2007:
- Bassmaster +22.6%
- Cookie +49.9%
- Cooking with Paula Deen +31.0%
- Fast Company +31.4%
- Nexos +23.8%
- OK Weekly +31.7%
- Renovation Style +43.4%
- Technology Review +28.0%
- Women's Health +32.7%
The following magazine titles gained between nine per cent and 19 per cent PIB revenue from January 2008 to June 2008 compared to 2007:
- Backpacker +9.4%
- Bestlife +16.8%
- Body&Soul +14.8%
- Every Day with Rachel Ray +15.4%
- ExecutiveTravel SkyGuide +16.8%
- Harper's Bazaar +9.4%
- In Touch Weekly +14.4%
- Men's Journal +11.9%
- Men's Vogue +9.1%
- National Geographic +11.0%
- New York Magazine +9.2%
- Parents +12.2%
- Quick & Simple +18.2%
- Remedy +15.4%
- Spin +15.3%
- Southern Accents +17.9%
- Transworld Skateboard +18.7%
- Transworld Surf +13.5%
- Veranda +13.7%
- Working Mother +19.2%
- Yankee +14.5%
High performing American magazines in the first half of 2008, with over 50% gains in PIB revenue in the Magazine Publishers of American Report of 10 July 2008 were Ser Padres +82.6%, Conde Nast Portfolio +69.0% and Scholastic Parent & Child +55.7%.
American Magazine Revenues Forecasting
David Weir identifies nine prominent titles, Business Week, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, New Yorker, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Sporting Times, Time and US News & World Report, who are doing less well from the Magazine Publishers of America Report in his article Magazine Revenues Take a Long-Term Vacation (BNET, 21 July 2008).
David Weir writes in his BNET article “Most of these publishers can sustain operations for a while bleeding this much red ink, but unless there is a turnaround fairly soon, expect some dramatic changes in the months and year ahead.”
Full Report of the Magazine Publishers of America on the first six months of 2008, published on July 10, 2008 is available and as a download file in Excel. The fine grain detail of the figures about the magazines performance in early 2008 compared to 2007 will be essential reading for people watching the media industry.
