Some well-defined niche magazines buck the downward ad trend

Specialty magazines with a strong subject focus can buck the trend when it comes to the current downward trend in ad pages. According to a story published by Medill Reports in Chicago (a publication of the graduate journalism school at Northwestern University), niche publications -- particularly trade titles serving a particularly well-defined audience -- are showing a good deal of resilience.

“In the case of trade or technical magazines, you’ll usually find ready advertisers, especially if they are directly linked to the focus of the magazine,” said Jim Gross, an analyst for Chicago-based Barrington Research. “That’s what’s called an endemic advantage.”

The story referred to reports this week from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) that magazine ad pages were down 11.7% in 2008, or about the same as in the recession of 2001.

The PIB report shows that many specialized magazines, those focused towards a particular audience, are still gaining advertising. Organic Gardening (27.1 percent increase in ad revenues from 2007), Scholastic Parent and Child (46.2 percent increase) and Technology Review (25.2 percent increase) were among the top gainers in terms of revenue in 2008.