Mag Wheels: Auto Ads Vroom Back

One of the hardest-hit industries during this current recession: the magazine business. Many magazine brands suffered even more than their old-media cousins, newspapers.
And one of the main reasons was that another battered business, the U.S. auto industry, slashed the national advertising that used to sustain many magazines.

Well, happy days are here again for many magazine publishers — or at least better days than the last two years — because car companies are coming back to the fold, so to speak. Automotive advertising pages and related revenue both shot up by 40% during the third quarter, leading to a 3.6% gain in overall magazine ad pages during the period.

That development illustrates the fact that, seemingly against all odds, the auto business has emerged as one of the few relative bright spots as the U.S. economy struggles to recover. Overall auto sales should be about 10% ahead of a year ago, giving automakers emerging confidence to advertise more.Continue reading...