The revenue balance between copysales/subs and ad sales is difficult enough to calculate from inside a publication but you certainly show the way things are going.
However I'd question whether it is all bad, and some specialist magazines are at least as healthy as they were. Although readers do like ads, they don't like too many of them, so a slight change in the balance of editorial to ads can work wonders for popularity. Unfortunately, many magazine publishers have taken the easy route to success and find that copy sales and subscriptions are not enough to keep them going when ad sales fall.
Several years ago, as a free download for buyers of my book "How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter" I created an ad rates calculator which let any publisher or potential publisher show what the effects on revenue are if there are substantial discounts for series bookings, or a greater proportion of larger ads which produce less revenue than an equivalent space filled with smaller ads. If ad sales people were sent out to sell more smaller ads, some publishers might find their balance sheet improving dramatically.
Readers might be happier too, since smaller ads, as a generalization, tend to more informational rather than just boosting a brand. And happier readers will be more likely to renew their subscription.
Magazines may have to change their ways to survive, but specialist ones will survive, and in print. I for one would certainly like to see fewer meaningless ads from major companies, and more smaller ones from those who can really do something for me.
On A Graphic History of Magazine Income Over the Last Decade
The revenue balance between copysales/subs and ad sales is difficult enough to calculate from inside a publication but you certainly show the way things are going.
However I'd question whether it is all bad, and some specialist magazines are at least as healthy as they were. Although readers do like ads, they don't like too many of them, so a slight change in the balance of editorial to ads can work wonders for popularity. Unfortunately, many magazine publishers have taken the easy route to success and find that copy sales and subscriptions are not enough to keep them going when ad sales fall.
Several years ago, as a free download for buyers of my book "How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter" I created an ad rates calculator which let any publisher or potential publisher show what the effects on revenue are if there are substantial discounts for series bookings, or a greater proportion of larger ads which produce less revenue than an equivalent space filled with smaller ads. If ad sales people were sent out to sell more smaller ads, some publishers might find their balance sheet improving dramatically.
Readers might be happier too, since smaller ads, as a generalization, tend to more informational rather than just boosting a brand. And happier readers will be more likely to renew their subscription.
Magazines may have to change their ways to survive, but specialist ones will survive, and in print. I for one would certainly like to see fewer meaningless ads from major companies, and more smaller ones from those who can really do something for me.