As part of our focus across all online and offline media channels, Lucy Schmidt, Empower’s director of print media, recently prepared an update on shelter magzines for our home product clients.
Ad pages in the shelter category are up 25 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to a year ago. This is a huge leap considering the magazine industry is down eight percent overall. Although these numbers are nowhere near pre-recession ad page levels, titles are reporting ad page gains in the first quarter on the heels of a steady decline:
- Veranda’s pages rose 63 percent,
- Elle Décor 40 percent,
- Traditional Home 37 percent,
- Architectural Digest 24 percent.
Publishers are also testing the waters with new home design titles like HGTV Magazine and the newsstand-only release of Domino’s Quick Fixes.
Luxury & DIY Lift
This resurrection is being attributed to a resurgence in consumer demand for luxury brands.
We’ve also been hearing from shelter titles that homeowners are being forced to stay put in houses they would have flipped in a better market. They’re investing more in home renovations and décor as a result and design centers and designers are also in demand again. These factors, and even the online power of Pinterest, are helping drive people to magazines.
:: By Lucy Schmidt, Empower MediaMarketing’s Director of Print Media
