Advertising pages and ad dollar figures show changes in the big three news magazines over the past 15 years. Since the late 1990s, there has been a trend playing out among them, a consistent and well-defined first, second and third place finish among them. Time is on top, followed by Newsweek, with U.S. News & World Report bringing up the rear. As recently as 1994, the three magazines were bunched up closely in ad pages, with U.S. News actually leading, but in the last 10 years more separation has occurred.10 [1] U.S. News's slip downward seems to have gained momentum as Time and Newsweek, while riding the ups and down of the economy in general, have done relatively well. If the trends continue it could be that at some point in the near future the big three could become the big two.
Time, which has had the most success with ad pages in recent years, is also part of the giant of the magazine industry, Time Warner. And within this industry, the "synergy" created by the number of magazines owned by this media giant has been beneficial. Being able to sell advertisers pages in all its high-profile, high-circulation books at one time (and at a discount) has led to an unquestionable advantage for the megamedia company. And Time Warner has had a good run recently for all its magazines in terms of ad pages and revenues. From 1990 (its first year listed with the Publishers Information Bureau) to 2002, Entertainment Weekly's ad pages climbed from 906 to 1,864. InStyle, which was launched as a special issue in 1994 before gaining a regular publication schedule, saw its ad pages climb from 196 to 3,030 in 2002.11 [2] And People, too, had large growth over the period. Perhaps, then, while the AOL Time Warner merger may not have provided the publisher with added advantage over its competitors, the strength of the publishing arm of the company may have helped buoy its bottom line.
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1988 - 2002
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Publisher’s Information Bureau annual reports
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Elite News Magazines
Also noteworthy is the success of smaller-circulation news magazines, particularly The Economist and The New Yorker. In terms of ad pages, these two magazines have done very well over the past decade, and as of 2002 sit ahead of all but Time. The New Yorker is part of the Advance Publications group, which includes all Condé Nast titles; The Economist is part of the smaller London-based Economist Group.
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1988 - 2002
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Publisher’s Information Bureau annual reports
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When ad dollars are figured in, however, the big three still hold a sizable lead, with U.S. News's declining position becomes clearer.
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1988 - 2002
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Publisher’s Information Bureau annual reports
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Economic Conclusions
The long-term financial outlook for magazines in general seems strong. There has been growth in ad pages and ad dollars across the board. But within the news genre, things are more stagnant. The number of magazines is flat and, while ad revenues grew between 1988 and 2002, ad pages declined.12 [5] What does this mean? The news genre is at least in need of reinvention and may, indeed, be saturated. There is also a note of caution for the magazine industry in general. The rising cost of circulation through the mail makes that branch of the revenue stream very weak and could threaten the long-term health of the industry.