• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 9, 2012

While they have not fared as poorly as their print cousins in the newspaper business, consumer magazines have taken it on the chin over the last few years.

Last year, total ad pages as measured by the Publishers Information Bureau were off one-third from their peak of five years ago, having declined 33.4% from 253,494 in 2006 to 168,742 in 2011.

This is partly the result of the closure of some titles, as the total number of magazines tracked by PIB fell from 252 to 221 over the same period. But even magazines that survived endured steep losses.

Among the roughly 200 titles tracked continuously by PIB from 2006-2011, total ad pages fell 27.4% from 219,436 in 2006 to 159,352 in 2011.

Some of the biggest declines were seen in enthusiast publications. 

From 2006-2011, ad pages fell 32.4% at Automobile magazine, from 860 to 581, while Car and Driver experienced the same percentage decline from 1,142 to 772, and Motor Trend tumbled 41.2% from 1,235 to 726.

Pages plunged 63% at Boating, from 1,147 to 425, while Motorboating sank from 721 to 336, Power & Motoryacht from 2,549 to 1,082, and Flying fell from 681 to 480.

In food titles, Bon Appetit’s ad pages fell from 960 to 598, while Everyday Food tumbled from 609 to 327. Shopping mag Lucky fell from 1,850 in 2006 to 1,120 in 2011, for a 39.5% drop.

Among high-end travel titles, Conde Nast Traveler fell by almost half, from 1,672 to 973, while Travel + Leisure slipped 36.2% from 1,797 to 1,146. In men’s lifestyle mags, Details declined 44% from 1,242 to 698, and GQ fell 30.5% from 1,764 to 1,226. Maxim tumbled from 931 ad pages to 504, for a 46% drop.

Business magazines also took their lumps, with Forbes down 49.3% from 3,396 in 2006 to 1,772 in 2011, while Money declined 43.6% from 961 to 542, and Smart Money plunged 42.5% from 711 to 338.

Some of the hardest-hit magazines target niche ethnic audiences. In the African-American marketplace, Jet tumbled from 1,171 ad pages in 2006 to just 394 in 2011, a 66.4% decline while Ebony plunged 53.2% from 1,221 to 571 over the same period. Black Enterprise experienced a more modest 42.6% decline, from 1,058 to 607 from 2006-2011.