Publishers Information Bureau has reported first-quarter advertising revenue for magazines. Though total revenue is down 4% compared to the first quarter of 2009, three of 12 ad categories have shown improvement.
Page count fell more sharply than revenue, with a 9% decline since last year. Total rate-card-reported revenue closed at $4,045,091,620.
PIB is a membership organization that represents roughly 85% of consumer magazine advertising volume in the U.S. The first-quarter 2010 figures represent roughly 250 publications.
The automotive advertising category showed an increase in both ad revenue (16%) and pages (1%) for the first time since 2007. PIB said these gains were driven primarily by Detroit activity.
The financial, insurance and real estate category posted the largest improvement; revenue was up 18% and pages increased by 11%. Toiletries and cosmetics generated 12% more revenue and 8% more pages than in the first quarter of 2009.
Advertising subsectors that saw an uptick between January and March include cosmetics, personal hygiene and hair products, credit cards, pharmaceutical companies, fitness and diet programs, footwear, jewelry and other accessories, branded clothing shops, discount department stores, household appliances, and communications companies.
About a third (85) of reporting publications posted an increase in ad pages, compared to only 15 during the same period in 2009. First-quarter revenue gains were reported by 101 titles, compared to last year’s 28. PIB expects the second quarter to be stronger.