All the major fashion mags reported ad-page gains for the closely watched issues — where fashion designers typically advertise their spring and summer collections.
Condé Nast flagship Vogue retained its customary No. 1 spot. Vogue had 442.74 ad pages, up 3.7 percent, handily beating Time Inc.’s In Style, which came in No. 2 with 347 ad pages, or a 13 percent gain.
In third place, Elle, with 319 ad pages, was up 2 percent. Harper’s Bazaar, at No. 4, posted a 16 percent gain for a total of 271 ad pages. W rounded out the top five with 204 ad pages, or a gain of 25 percent.
Collectively, the top five fashion mags posted a 10 percent increase in March compared to a year ago. Most fashion mags posted similar strong showings.
Vogue Publisher Susan Plagemann said this year is very comparable to last year — a climate she called good — and is ahead of the title’s average ad page total of the past five years.
In the past, a good March by the fashion magazines generally presaged a good year in the glossy magazine world in general.
But that did not happen a year ago, when a hopeful March helped fuel a slight gain for most magazines in the first half — only to see economic unrest hurt the industry’s ad page tally in the second half.
At In Style, the increase resulted in the largest March ad-page haul in its 18 years of existence.
“March was in like a lion,” said Publisher Connie Anne Phillips, who has racked up double-digit growth for the past three years.
