19.45 Billion dollars, that is what American Magazine Publishers brought in last year from advertising sales (Magazine Publishers of America here). While that is a small part of the US's 14 trillion dollar GDP, it is significant as consumer spending makes up 72% of US economic activity (numbers here).
The depressing part is that overall ad revenue is down 25% from last year. Traditionally the price of a magazine only covers the cost of actually printing and delivering it to a reader. The material inside is paid for by ad dollars.
Those dollars pay for a bunch of other things as well. The bulk of that 19.45 billion is spent on something other than what goes into the magazine. What? Real estate for one, ever seen the 1.4 million square foot Time Life Building, How about the NYT new digs? 19.45 goes away pretty fast.
No wonder freelancers haven't had a raise in years...
-Stephen Alvarez
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