The Publishers Information Bureau of The Magazine Publishers of America tracks magazine revenue and advertising pages each month. The study covers all major magazines and weekly newspaper inserts.
PIB, as it is called in the industry, takes gross pages and multiplies them by published rates for advertising pages by magazine. So, discounting is not reflected in the numbers. Assuming that the market makes all major magazine discount at about the same rate, the numbers are good from a directional standpoint.
In the period from January to July 2006 compared to the same period in 2005, the larger magazines at Time, Inc. did not do terribly well, and indication that revenue and operating profits at the group may not be strong for the second half of the year. With the costs of postage, ink, and transportation rising, mostly due to higher oil prices, margins will be squeezed unless revenue is rising smartly.
In the seven month period, Sports Illustrated ad revenue was up .9% to $346 million. Ad pages for SI were flat.
Although Time, Inc. does not publish revenue for each magazine in any of Time Warner's public filings, it is safe to assume that the three big weeklies are a very significant portion of the total revenue from the magazine group.
At the tier below these three magazine are a few more that probably make significant revenue and income contributions. Entertainment Weekly's ad revenue dropped 5% to $123 million for the seven months. Fortune's revenue was up 2% to $164 million. In Style revenue was up 8% to $214 million. And, revenue at Money Magazine was down 7% to $87 million.
Overall, there is no reason to believe that revenue at Time, Inc will be better than flat with last year. And, if ad revenue drops further at some of the magazines in the second half, the unit may have a rough time.
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