Most Canadian mag ad growth will be digital; 10% of print by 2012, predicts PwC

The consumer magazine publishing industry's overall advertising share in Canada will grow at an annual compounded rate of 4.9% through 2012, according to a forecast published by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. A good deal of that will come from magazine-related digital advertising.

The annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook says that Canadian magazine market share, including advertising and circulation, will grow by about 2.7% annually overall, from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $1.4 billion. Print advertising will expand by 3.3% to $782 million from $665 million in 2007. Digital advertising on magazine websites and mobile sites will increase to $78 million in 2012. (The percentages above show the annual compound rate of growth.)

U.S., total consumer magazine revenues--including advertising and circulation--will grow at an annual compounded rate of 3.8% from 2007-2012, increasing from $24.1 billion to $29 billion.

That's good news for a traditional medium negotiating a sometimes rocky transition to Internet publishing, said a story in MediaDaily News.

No surprise--a key part of the growth for consumer mags will come from digital ad revenues, including magazine Web sites, projected to grow from $342 million in 2007 to $2.4 billion in 2012--a roughly 600% increase. Print advertising is also expected to grow, increasing 16% from $13.7 billion in 2007 to about $16 billion in 2012.

Tracey Jennings, leader of the PwC Canada entertainment and media practice, told Media in Canada that the biggest movements and highest growth in ad spends in all media for both newspapers and magazines will come from digital advertising, with limited growth in traditional media.

"[Growth] will come from those who leverage their existing consumers and advertisers and take them into the world of new media, enabling consumers to access content on any platform.

"Yet we cannot lose sight of the growing 50-plus demographic, who will continue to consume the media in the format they have become accustomed to," says Jennings. "This older generation will balance out the new Net generation - meaning traditional media will continue to be significant. The question now is how advertisers are going to leverage all these different media, combined or stand-alone, to engage the individual customers and their unique media consumption styles."