EXCLUSIVE: Magazine ad sales: Southern Progress loses 16.9 percent

Magazine ad sales for saw declines for all five Southern Progress titles comparing the first halves of 2008 and 2009, according to figures from the Magazine Publishers of America. The Birmingham-based titles — Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Health, Southern Accents and Southern Living — all saw drops in ad revenue from 8 percent (Health) to 32.1 percent (Southern Accents).

First quarter comparisons weren’t nearly as dire for Cooking Light and Southern Living, but Southern Accents’ ad sales performance has weakened in the second quarter. Southern Progress magazines lost 16.9 percent in ad revenues, earning $209 million so far in 2009.

Meanwhile, another Birmingham-based magazine, Hoffman Media’s Cooking With Paula Deen, had a 3.2 percent increase in ad sales comparing the first halves of 2008 and 2009.

U.S. magazines lost 21 percent in ad sales overall during the first half of 2009.

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