Which Fashion Magazines had the Best Ad Sales?

It has been a down year for consumer magazine advertising with ad pages in 2012 down 5.3% to 114,277 total pages versus 120,701 in 2011.*

But women’s fashion magazines have bucked the trend. Ad pages in the top 7 women’s fashion have risen 6.5% year-over-year. In 2012, these women’s fashion magazines ran 14,126.5 ad pages, compared with 13,265 pages in 2011.

Brands have been eager to advertise in these magazines. Each of the top 7 women’s fashion magazines increased ad pages in 2012, with Harper’s Bazaar and InStyle seeing the largest ad page gains. The September issue of Marie Clairebroke the brand’s record for most ad pages in any single month issue.

Vogue held onto its position as the magazine to beat with 2,751 total ad pages, but InStyle closed the gap this year with its 2,724 total ad pages up 8% over 2011.

There are many reasons that 2012 was a strong year for these magazines, but much of the success can be attributed to the increased advertising from key advertising categories – Apparel/Accessories and Toiletries/Cosmetics.

Apparel and Accessories, the largest advertising category in women’s fashion magazines with 5,873 pages, increased ad pages by 5.3% this year. Tommy Hilfiger was the largest advertiser in this category, placing 114 pages among these 7 titles. Toiletries and Cosmetics ad pages increased by 16.5%, led by 129 pages from Revlon, Inc.

J.C. Penney was the top overall advertiser in women’s fashion magazines, placing 160 pages across 4 magazines.

*Measured among 158 MPA member magazines. MPA – The Association of Magazine Media is the industry association for multi-platform magazine companies.