Canadian media buyers are warning that the magazine industry must act now if it’s to stem what appears to be a dramatic decline in readership. But some publishers are taking issue with the latest PMB Print Measurement Bureau survey.

Only 13 of the 42 English publications and 12 of the 28 French magazines studied managed to hold or increase their audience. Audience levels for Canadian Business and Western Living were down about 20%; Report on Business and French-language publications Revue Commerce and Madame au Foyer were down 18%.

The drop is being blamed on everything from time-starved readers, to the popularity of the Internet, to increased book sales and the inability of Canadian magazines to find adequate newsstand space, says Leslie Ingham, manager of media research at Optimedia in Toronto.

While Ingham says the poor numbers could simply be a ‘natural correction’, she says the relative positioning of the magazines in relation to each other remains fairly consistent with other PMB surveys.

‘Do I think the lowering numbers signals the death of magazines? No.’ But Ingham says the results ‘portend a warning to the magazine industy,’ which may have anticipated the poor results, given the number of recent high-profile redesigns.

Brian Stendel, national account manager and director of research at Toronto Life, which suffered a readership decline of about 10%, according to the study, has been a member of PMB’s research committee for more than 10 years. He is one of a number of people working with PMB to determine how much of the shift is real, and how much is related to problems executing a study of such a magnitude in a market as large and diverse as Toronto.

‘I don’t believe there’s been any major change in magazine audiences over the last few years,’ he says. ‘[At Toronto Life] we’re seeing that time spent reading publications is constant, seeing circulation and subscription levels change by a few percentage points.’

Stendel wants to undertake an analysis of the PMB methodology to determine whether it is still sound and providing an accurate snapshot of the industry.