Put a Wrap On It: As Magazine Ads Dwindle, One High-Priced Approach Thrives

While U.S. magazine advertising revenue has been circling the drain with double-digit declines the past couple of years, a little corner of the business has been doing just fine.

It’s a niche - or, rather, a tactic - that probably doesn’t even show up on most magazine-industry estimates or projections. And it involves mostly the kind of big-name, big-circulation consumer titles that have suffered the most precipitous advertising declines.

The tactic is sponsored cover wraps - typically a four-page piece placed atop the regular front and back covers of select copies. Here’s a great example of one.