Business magazines: changing with the times; Business Week, Forbes and Fortune saw traditional ad categories slide a decade ago and successfully pursued new markets

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan 1, 1991 by Bert Peller

"We were always covering business to the greatest extent possible," says Garson. "We began to get much more advertising than we had editorial, so we started thinking we could deal with these people as people, not just businessmen. The lifestyle editorial proved very popular with readers.

"We always carried lots of liquor advertising," he adds. We [now] also carry ads for automobiles, men's fragrances and suits. Ten years ago, we wouldn't have carried men's wear.

It is not surprising that Forbes would have a vested interest in starting up new properties such as Egg and Forbes FYI and the Personal Affairs department. These products broaden Forbes's appeal for lifestyle advertisers.

Fortune has a lifestyle editorial department, too. it started such coverage even before Marshall Loeb arrived from Money.

Corporate image ad pages
(first nine months 1990)
Business Week         620
Forbes                575
Fortune               586

Corporate image. This category, which includes brand and corporate identity, is strong for all three magazines. High-technology, information-processing, telecommunications companies need to make their products, services, innovations and productivity known. In 1989, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune accounted for $198 million in corporate advertising, according to Publishers information Bureau. This is 40 percent of the total ($489 million) placed in afl magazines. Business Week carried the most corporate advertising pages among all magazines in the first nine months of this year (620 pages).

  Financial ad pages
    (first nine months 1990)
    Business Week                258
    Forbes                       375
    Fortune                      246

Financial. In this fourth category (banks, insurance, mutual funds), which is composed of business and personal financial advertising, Forbes has a significant lead over the others. For the first nine months of 1990, for example, Forbes carried 375 financial pages, compared to 258 for Business Week and 2 46 for Fortune.

Financial advertising has undergone a dramatic change in the last decade:

* Tombstone advertising-stocks, debentures, financial notices-has been virtually discontinued in these magazines.

* Whereas financial advertising used to be targeted for corporations, particularly large multinational companies with worldwide commitments, it is now being targeted for individuals who have IRAs, are planning for families and retirement, and work with advisory services.

* European banks such as Deutsche Bank, Allianz and Credit Suisse continue to advertise, but major American banking campaigns have been severely curtailed or eliminated.

Magazines today must keep pace with economic shifts and with shifts in editorial and advertising focus. Business Week, Forbes and Fortune, taking steps that other publishers may wish to follow, have successfully kept up with the times. Faced with downward shifts in the time-honored ad categories they covered, they sought growth in new ones. And they continued to be leaders in ad pages in 1989 and in 1990.