Microsoft, BlackBerry Drive Big Increase in Magazine Spending

Overall ad spending on magazines may have been down 5% in the first quarter of this year, but one sector dramatically (and surprisingly) upped its investment in the medium: the technology industry.

Technology companies increased their spending on magazines by 21.6% from Q1 2012, according to data released this week by the Publishers Information Bureau. The technology category includes hardware, software, devices (including mobile phones and other handsets) and telecom providers (i.e. AT&T), said a spokesperson for PIB.

Why has the technology industry — which last year reduced the number of ad pages purchased three out of four quarters — suddenly reversed direction, spending $215.9 million on magazines in the first three months of the year? It hasn't. According to Jon Swallen, chief research officer of Kantar Media (which supplied the original data to PIB), the increase in spending — at least in the hardware/software division — is something of an anomaly, one that can be linked to a single advertiser: Microsoft. Read more...