Hispanic Magazine Ad Dollars at $51.4 Million, Up 25% so Far

Ad spending is rebounding in 2011 among leading Hispanic magazines, according to HispanicMagazineMonitor estimates released May 23 by Media Economics Group. Overall, in January-April 2011, the segment has generated $51.4 million in ad dollars, an increase of 24.8% over the same period last year.

While performance is inconsistent across the segment, many key Hispanic titles and categories have shown strong growth in ad pages and spending so far this year.

Leading the segment is People en Español posting a 58.6% growth in estimated ad dollars based on its 52.4% growth in ad pages. Meredith titles also posted strong gains: Ad dollars were up by 46.7% at Siempre Mujer, ranking the title third in overall ad dollars). Meredith’s Ser Padres is up 17.3%, and Ser Padres Espera (16%) also posted strong gains. The ninth ranked title Cosmo en Español from Televisa posted gains in both ad pages, with a 12.9% increase, and estimated ad dollars, up 13.5%.

Cuts in publication frequency contributed to declines in ad pages for two of Televisa’s titles: TV y Novelas lost 14.9% of its ad pages while Vanidades lost nearly a quarter, down 22.4%. Both titles have reduced frequency from 18 issues per year in 2010 to 12 issues this year. Higher rate base and rate card rates, however, resulted in positive gains in ad revenue estimates for those two titles: TV y Novelas with an increase of 19.3%, Vanidades, up 18.0%.

Latina, which ranked second overall among Hispanic magazines with $6.9 million total dollars, posted flat ad dollar growth, up just 0.4%, and a slight decline, -3.1%,  in ad pages. Hispanic Business – hit hard by the decline in auto spending – continues to struggle with a 25% decline in ad spending and 27.4% decline in ad pages so far this year.

Procter & Gamble Tops among Advertisers

Among 2011’s leading advertisers in Hispanic magazines, Procter & Gamble is top of the list with $12.0 million in ad spending through April. This is the largest year-over-year increase, growing 32.2% from last year with an increase of $2.9 million.

New campaigns for Mars, Inc. candy brands yielded a 125% increase in ad spending for the company this year.

Wyeth campaigns for Prevnar 13, a pediatric vaccine, Advil PM, and Children’s Advil led to nearly $1.4 million in new spending in Hispanic magazines in the January to April period compared to no spending during the same period last year. Most of Wyeth’s spending through April has been allocated primarily to People en Español (46.2%), followed closely by Ser Padres (32.2%), and Siempre Mujer (18.7%).

Auto spending remains weak; overall the category posted a 4% increase. But the lead spender GM logged a 6% decline in ad spending. Despite its decline, GM still remains the top auto advertiser, accounting for 76% of auto advertising for the year.