Ad Pages Dip 5 Percent in Q1: First-quarter PIB numbers are out from the MPA and ad pages have continued their decline, dropping about 5 percent when compared to the same period last year. The MPA points out that revenue eked out a half-point gain in the quarter, the first in two years, but given the vagaries of rate card reporting versus what an ad is actually sold for, revenue figures are difficult to estimate at face value. Yet reporting on PIB numbers has become challenging not simply because print ad pages have been pinched, but because they now only tell part of a larger story. Nevertheless, print is still one of the three main legs of the magazine publisher's business model. MPA CEO Mary Berner says PIB reporting is in a period of transition as the association investigates ways to incorporate digital numbers. "We're very focused on trying to expand PIB measurement to include all of the digital advertising as well. We should have that in the next several months," she says.
Fall 4.9 percent in first quarter, smallest decline since 2011
Magazine ad pages aren’t yet on
their way back up. But they’re falling by smaller percentages.
During first quarter of this
year ad pages saw their smallest year-to-year decline since second quarter
2011, falling by 4.9 percent, according to Publishers Information Bureau data
released today.
