Magazine fact book brings good news in the face of hard times

Magazine's Canada today released its 2009 magazine fact book, which casts a distinctly positive light on magazine publishing in this country and provides lots of ammunition to push back when the next person tells you that magazines are doomed. While the purpose of the publication is unabashedly to spin a good story, it is hard not to come away from it without feeling that we're in a robust and resilient business.

The fact book data, published annually, is mostly about consumer titles. But with its move last year to welcome business titles into the association, Magazines Canada plans soon to release a similar b2b fact book  by the advertising. (The fact book is available now in English and a French version is due out soon.)

(The table above demonstrates how the strong  connection between magazines and their readers has resulted in magazine advertising revenue growing faster than all other major media combined.)