Dr Joe's Printing Industry Blog

The Publishers Information Bureau released data about ad pages, and it looked more bullish than it really is. Year-to-date pages are up 1.8%, and revenues are up 9.5%. Pages are pages, so they should be compared to real GDP; they lag significantly, as GDP is up +3.8%. Dollars have not been adjusted for inflation, and they should be compared to current GDP. That looks more favorable, as current GDP, unadjusted for inflation is about 6%, +9.5% looks pretty good. The problem is that dollars are computed on a rate card, or "list price" basis. From the bellyaching of publishing execs and industry analysts, it's doubtful that those +9.5% are actually logged on the books of the reporting PIB companies.

Release: http://www.magazine.org/Advertising_and_PIB/PIB_
Revenue_and_Pages/Revenue___Pages_by_Ad_Category__monthly___YTD_/12702.cfm
Article:
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=45536