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Sez B-to-B Online:

New York—Total magazine rate card-reported advertising revenue rose 4.2% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2005, while ad pages were essentially flat. Ad revenue in March rose 5%, but pages were flat. The first-quarter figures were not much of a departure from February figures. For the first quarter, just five of the 12 major advertising categories posted gains, including drugs & remedies (up 16%), financial, insurance & real estate (up 9%) and technology (up 8%). On the downside, food & food products fell 10% and home furnishings & supplies fell 6%. Results were mixed for the general business publications. In the first quarter, ad revenue for BusinessWeek was down 3.2% while pages rose nearly 3%; Fortune was down approximately 14% in both ad pages and ad revenue; and Forbes was up 4.4% in revenue and down just a fraction in ad pages.