-By Lucia Moses, Mediaweek

NEW YORK For 2008, publisher-reported ad pages in consumer magazines fell 9 percent, with all categories feeling the pain of the broad-based economic slump, according to just-published figures in the Mediaweek Monitor.
 
Advertisers in all major categories have slashed spending this year through the third quarter, with cuts especially pronounced in automotive; drugs and remedies; and food.
 
No magazine category was immune from the downturn, but several posted double-digit declines this year, per the Monitor, which reflects most reporting monthlies’ year-end ad page tallies.
 
The hardest-hit categories were food, which was down 14.6 percent; newsweeklies, off 14 percent; women’s lifestyle/service, down 13.1 percent; general interest, declining 12.5 percent; enthusiast, down 11.2 percent; and regional, down 10.2 percent.
 
Among individual magazines, titles posting especially big losses were SmartMoney, down 29.6 percent; Country Home, off 24.9 percent; and More, declining 30.4 percent. Blender and Gourmet, which had publisher changes this year, were down 29.4 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively.
 
For title-by-title results, visit the Mediaweek Monitor Chart.