Fashion mags get socked

We're talking about double-digit declines in ad pages at places like Vanity Fair (-15.3 percent), In Style (-14.9 percent), W (-12.7 percent), and Cosmopolitan (-10.4 percent). Major ad categories have been pummeled, such as pharmaceutical, auto, technology and beauty, according to 2008 estimates reported today in WWD.

Among magazines that posted more promising results (but whose gains might have come at the expense of margins), Elle and Men’s Journal reported 3 percent increases in ad pages, while Harper’s Bazaar saw relatively flat results (the magazine spun off a special issue in September, Runway Report, which also brought a slight boost to paging). Over at Rodale, newer titles Women’s Health and Best Life continued to show strong gains.