The Pontiflex Blog

Magazine Ad Pages Fall 7.4%

July 11, 2008

First newspapers. Now magazines.

Industry leading magazine Folio reported today that Magazine Ad Pages fell 7.4% in Q2 2008. Second quarter advertising revenues slipped 4.7% when compared to the same period in 2007.

For magazine publishers looking to offset the drop in print revenues with their online revenues, here are two good suggestions:

1. Measure the right metrics. Percentage increases and decreases are not an accurate way of painting a rosy or the opposite (not so rosy) picture. The excellent blog Publishing 2.0 suggests the Advertising Trend Ratio, a more effective way of gauging online advertising effectiveness – whether or not it can offset the slide in print revenue.

2. Diversify your revenue streams online. While CPM banners were traditionally an excellent way to earn revenue, there has been a fall in their popularity as reported in this Nytimes.com article. The Pubmatic Price index shows publishers struggling to monetize inventory effectively.

Publishers like Hillclimb Media (owned by Demand Media) have increased online revenue by cleverly rotating CPL advertising along with their CPM inventory.  The Pontiflex white paper “5 Simple Steps for Online Publishers to Add Effective Cost-per-Lead (CPL) Advertising” offer publishers solutions to incorporate CPL advertising and monetize untapped inventory easily.

Entry Filed under: Best Practices,Lead Generation,News. .