Magazine advertising up 16% in tablet editions: Study

The numbers are adding up for 2013. An exclusive analysis conducted by MPA-The Association of Magazine Media, using Kantar Media’s PIB Advance data for magazine ad pages and their tablet edition ad unit data base, shows a 6% increase in the magazine media advertising “footprint” of print pages and tablet units.  Furthermore, reports from major publishers and recent research confirm this positive trend.

For the full year 2013, tablet advertising units increased 16% with print pages essentially flat at 0.1%.  The total footprint of print pages and tablet edition units’ healthy 6% increase reflects a marked uptick following several years of transition. This data*, which analyzed the 69 magazine media titles that measure both print ad page and iPad unit advertising, affirms that 2013 was not only an inflection year for magazine media, it was a successful year, with consumers responding to the industry’s powerful content, when, where and how they chose.

This positive advertising trend was also supported by SMI Dataminer which reports agency spending on print magazines was up 9% through November 2013 – more than television (3%), newspapers (3%), radio (2%) and out-of-home (2%).

Commenting on the ever-growing magazine media footprint, Mary G. Berner, President and CEO, MPA-The Association of Magazine Media said, “I put lumps of coal in the stockings of all the nay-sayers who lost their faith in magazine media.  These numbers prove, once again, that this business is about powerful, relevant and enduring brands.   Despite erroneous, lemming-like coverage of declines, magazine media, has not, in fact, ever had an audience problem, and it is gratifying to see that advertisers are increasingly realizing that.”

Additionally, the latest Fall MRI 2013 release shows print audiences up 1% and magazine media (print plus tablet) up 2% versus the Fall MRI 2012 study, with more than double that growth (5%) among 18-24-year-olds. Tablet edition audiences increased an impressive 49% during the same time period. Circulation data also shows dramatic tablet edition increases, with the AAM reporting 85% growth for digital magazine editions in the first half of 2013 versus the first half of last year.