Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue closed at $19.45 billion in 2009, down 18.1% from 2008 levels, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). 

The industry generated a total of 169,217.76 advertising pages throughout the year, a drop of 25.6% from 2008.

The Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate category registered the highest drop in PIB ad pages during the year, down 41.4% from the 2008 levels, followed by Automotive (down 40.5%) and Retail (down 30.1%).

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Fourth Quarter 2009 Results Less Dismal

Fourth quarter 2009 PIB revenues closed at $5.78 billion, down 12.8% from fourth quarter 2008 levels. The industry generated 48,958.92 advertising pages during the quarter, down 21.6% from the same period in 2008.

Magazines experienced an uptick in food spending and relative improvement in other areas, especially in automotive: Food & Food Products reported 21.9% growth in PIB revenue and 9.8% growth in ad pages during the quarter, driven primarily by ads for cooking  ingredients, mixes, and seasonings.

In addition, the quarter marks the first time Automotive PIB revenue declines have been in the single digits since the fourth quarter of 2007.

About the data:  Collected by TNS Media Intelligence on behalf of Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), the data were published on January 8, 2010.