[This story has been updated.]

The country's leading consumer magazines saw a combined double-digit percentage decline in ad pages during the third quarter of 2008 versus the same period last year. Total run-of-press ad pages for the 81 magazines tracked by Leading National Advertisers Canada (LNA) were down 12.2%. (Toronto Life's real estate S.I.P. was not included in our calcuation, as it was published for the first time in 2008.)

Advertising dollars were also down 7.8%, according to the LNA report. Ad pages are generally considered a better benchmark for success, however, due to the fact that many magazines will go off the rate card in sales.

Major English-language titles took big hits. Among the biggest decliners were Glow (-58.8%), Outdoor Canada (-50.5%), Gardening Life (-45.6%), More (-44.5%)*, Canadian Home & Country (-30.8%), Canadian Living (-29.4%) Good Times (-28.6%), Western Living (-24.8%), Canadian Home Workshop (-23.5%) and Fashion (-23.4%).

The Quebec market is suffering as well, with just six of the 24 French-language titles tracked by LNA showing gains. Eleven Quebec-based publications, meanwhile, saw declines exceeding 20%, including Moi & Cie (39.7%), Decoration Chez-Soi (-33.5%),Les Idees De Ma Maison (-29.4%), Châtelaine (-27.8%) and Decormag -(27.4%). 

A handful of titles did post impressive gains during the period, including Canadian Business (54.5%), Profit (37.2%), Financial Post Magazine (29.5%), Moneysense (25.8%) and Wish (19.3%). These are the exception—just 26 magazines saw an increase in pages versus 2007.

*The calculated third quarter decline at More was not apples-to-apples; an issue that was tracked as part of the third quarter in 2007 was tracked as part of the second quarter this year. According to national sales manager Monica Drexler, ad pages for More were actually up by 20% in the third quarter.