Shelter mags feel the fallout

Shelter mags feel the fallout The conventional wisdom is that shelter magazines are recession-proof. When people are getting laid off, they're spending more time at home -- and home might as well look nice! But there's something different about this downturn.

Time Inc. said last week it will close its four-year-old Cottage Living magazine, where weeks earlier it had already eliminated about 30 jobs from there and from Coastal Living. "You'll see further fallout," said Kate Kelly Smith, publisher of House Beautiful. "There's just not enough revenue out there to support all these [shelter] titles. We've already seen it, and we'll continue to see it." Smith saw it firsthand at her parent company, Hearst, which recently folded O at Home, reassigning its editor to another struggling Hearst shelter title, Country Living. There's demolition dust everywhere. In August, Hachette closed Home; in September, Meredith Corp. cut the frequency of Country Home from 10 times a year to eight; last year, Condé Nast folded House & Garden and scaled back Vogue Living. The omnipotent-seeming Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia folded Blueprint.Even before the economy imploded, the raw numbers were bleak: Ad pages in Better Homes and Gardens have fallen by 17 percent this year, according to Media Industry Newsletter. Among others: Country Home, down 22 percent; Dwell, down 11 percent; Country Living, down 10 percent. A few pillars of the industry are still standing tall: Architectural Digest has lost only 2 percent of its ad pages year to date; Elle Decor fell back only 1.85 percent. House Beautiful, likely benefiting from a field without House & Garden, has seen ad pages increase 8 percent year to date.

Condé Nast's Domino has not gotten the same kick from the elimination of its sister publication. Ad pages are down only 2 percent, but speculation is swirling that the title is due for a tumble. "Domino is having a horrible time," said one Condé Nast insider. "If you look in their current issue, it's not even all about shelter. It's very intense with how much fashion editorial there is." A Condé Nast spokeswoman responded with a reassuring message from company chief Chuck Townsend: "Ad revenue is off at Domino like it is across the industry, but the magazine is way ahead of our original plans to circulate it in the marketplace."

JOHN KOBLIN, New York Observer