Ad units in magazines’ iPad editions climbed 16 percent in 2013

Ad units in magazines’ iPad editions climbed 16 percent in 2013, according to a report out on December 23 by MPA-The Association of Magazine Media-  and Kantar Media.

The report, which looked at 69 magazines with monitored print and iPad editions, is a hopeful sign for traditional publishers stymied by secular headwinds affecting print media. The number of ad pages in the same titles’ print editions was roughly flat this year at 0.1 percent, the report says.

Total print ad pages and iPad ad units combined increased 6 percent year-over-year.

Still, iPads are not quite the panacea they were once thought or hoped to be. Digital replica editions, such as those found on iPads, comprise just a small fraction of magazines’ overall circulation – 3.3 percent – according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

And growth in iPad ad units may have slowed in the fourth quarter of 2013. Ad units climbed 24 percent in the first quarter, 25 percent through the first half, and 22 percent through the third quarter, according to earlier reports from the MPA and Kantar.

The samples aren’t completely consistent, however: earlier in the year, MPA and Kantar were tracking only 58 titles’ iPad and print editions.