Prime death candidates for second half 2009

One look comparing magazine ad pages of the first half of 2009 versus 2008, and the Reaper's got a brand new shopping list.

• AUTOMOBILE: -36.6% (4th place in America's favorite bankrupt category)
• LIFE & STYLE WEEKLY: -44.1% (this one is so ready for the boat ride)
• TEEN VOGUE: -40.8% (will become another "teen angel," joining Teen People, Teen, CosmoGirl)
• W: -44.2% (heading for obsolescence)
• TOWN & COUNTRY: -42.9% (did the NY Times check this magazine when writing that puff piece?)
• DEPARTURES: hitting the magic -50% (Platinum card holders getting rusted)
• KIPLINGER'S PERSONAL FINANCE: -36.7% (Always a Reaper favorite to go)
• SPORTING NEWS: -39.1 (How's that freebie digital subscription going?)
• ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST: -49.5% (Even the rich don't want to see other people's homes anymore)
• VERANDA: -45.1% (another Hearst purchase gone sour)
• GOURMET: -46.1 (Conde Nast does not need two food magazines)
• BOATING (-49%) and POWER & MOTOR YACHT (-57.3%): Two more Reaper favorites to go which can not be sustained when nobody is even going to boat shows!

Comments

[spud]

Boating was purchased by Bonnier last month. It's off life support now and in the same condition as any other marine industry publication - on the endangered list.

[Jermo]

Boats & Ho's. So long.

[Paul Riddell]

I definitely agree with the advertising page count for an idea of which magazines are going under, but it's only one thing to consider. For instance, considering the dubious connections between many regional magazines and their advertisers, is there any way to tell how many ads were paid for in advance, how many were offered on credit (with the usual "we'll pay it when we damn well feel like it" mentality that's killed so many magazines as of late), and how many were given away for free because the business owner and the publisher were frat brothers?

I realize that this information is hard to get, but I'm figuring that the shell game played by many advertising departments is about ready to end. Keep watching lines of credit being plundered, because that'll tell you how many of the ad reps were told by the publisher to drop collecting on an ad bill because he and the advertiser "have an understanding".

[junebee]

Doctor's waiting rooms are respositories for vintage collectable copies of Archetectual Digest!

[Blake's Baby]

Reaper, you need to add Interview to that list.

[Guccione]

Reaper, I just heard from a friend at SPIN that the magazine is shutting down effective tomorrow

[Angel]

Check on Robb Report. I hear things are not good over there.

[pelvis]

Ad sales isn't everything. Some mags, like OK!, are doing all right with advertising but have been bleeding readers. Plus it's hugely expensive to run. Life & Style is sticking around because it's cheap to put out and it's been gaining readership over the last year.

[Intangible Arts]

Teen Vogue isn't a bag o'maggots by now?
Hell, isn't any title that begins with TEEN a bag o'maggots by now?

[Zayd]

Saveur on this list. It's been "below minimum book" for a while now.

[mp]

You could probably add Skiing magazine to that list.

[Sabrina]

Just because a magazine gets shuttered, it doesn't mean it's always the end. Look at Victoria Magazine. It "died" back in 2003, but was purchased by a different publisher and revived in 2007 and as far as I know, it's enjoying success.

[jj cambell]

Re Robb Report, somebody should check on their newsstand figures. I hear they are down close to 50 percent, which is a lot considering 50 percent of their 100,000 circ is newsstand. Sounds like they are an audit statement away from death.