New York, NY (April 10, 2007) Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2007 increased 6.9% compared to the same three-month period last year, closing at $5,273,215,997, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB).  Ad pages totaled 52,154.49, up 1% from January through March, 2006. 

Total PIB revenue for the month of March 2007 increased 8.8% compared to last year, closing at $2,282,204,898.  Ad pages totaled 22,388.48, up 2% from March 2006. 

First Quarter 2007 vs. 2006From January through March of 2007, half of the major advertising categories posted both PIB revenue and page gains, including Drugs & Remedies; Food & Food Products; Direct Response; Retail; Media & Advertising; and Public Transportation, Hotels & Resorts. Three categories posted double-digit dollar increases: Drugs & Remedies (20.4%); Retail (19.5%); and Food & Food Products (11.7%). Drugs & Remedies pages also grew 13.7% over first quarter of last year. (Twelve categories are the most significant contributors to PIB revenue, comprising more than 85% of total advertising spending.)

Q1 2007 vs. 2006 details:
(Click here for Magazine Totals)

Magazine advertising held steady in the first quarter of 2007, with strong contributions from Drugs & Remedies, Food & Food Products, and Retailcategories that showed the largest growth during the period, said Ellen Oppenheim, Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer, Magazine Publishers of America.

She elaborated, While medicines and proprietary remedies account for most of the spending in Drugs in Q1, its interesting to note that fitness and diet aids, and spas, boasted the biggest boost in spending within that category. Advertising for health-oriented food products, as well as ads for condiments, seasonings, ingredients and beverages aided the page growth in Food. In addition, a range of companies targeting both high-end and mass market shoppers contributed to overall Retail category gains.

Finance and Home experienced the most softness during the first quarter. And Automotive, while down in pages, experienced some positive shifts within the category, with dealerships overall and some manufacturers and suppliers spending more, remarked Ms. Oppenheim.

March 2007 vs. 2006

Six of 12 major advertising categories posted PIB revenue and page increases in March 2007. Double-digit dollar growth was recorded by five categories: Apparel & Accessories (11.9%); Retail (21.1%); Drugs & Remedies (28.7%); Food & Food Products (30.8%); and Public Transportation, Hotels & Resorts (10.2%). On the pages side, double-digit gains were seen in Retail (10.4%); Drugs & Remedies (18.6%); and Food & Food Products (19.7%).

March 2007 vs. 2006 details:
(Click here for Magazine Totals)

Expanded PIB information is available at www.magazine.org/PIB.

Reporting Change

Effective second quarter, PIB will be reported quarterly, it was announced today by Wayne Eadie, President, PIB, and SVP of Research, MPA. The next PIB release will be available in July, showing magazine advertising data for the second quarter and first half of 2007.

A quarterly report conforms to how other media release revenue information, said Mr. Eadie.

This is the right step for magazines since quarterly reporting provides a much more meaningful timeframe for analyzing advertising category trends than a single month could ever provide, said Susan Nathan, SVP, Director of Media Research, Universal McCann.

Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), founded in 1947, is the premier source of consumer magazine advertising spending and related data. TNS Media Intelligence, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information, collects and monitors this data and supplies it to PIB.  PIB is a membership organization, administered by Magazine Publishers of America, consisting of approximately 250 different magazine titles and newspaper-distributed magazines.