Advertising Science Magazines Taking Off

By PHILIP H. DOUGHERTY
Published: April 2, 1981

SOCIAL changes frequently help create new magazine categories. The movement of women into the work force has certainly brought with it a string of new titles of service magazines intended to help those women cope, and, of course, make money for the publishers. The running craze has brought with it a proliferation of publications on the subject, and video and high technology have combined to cause a flood of trade and consumer magazines on every aspect of video and cable television.

Similarly, high technology along with a more educated public, enhanced by heightened interest in science brought on by the space program, has resulted in a boom in science publications.

''We recognized that there was a tremendous gap in the marketplace,'' said Beverly Wardell, director of advertising sales of Omni. ''People are really hungry for this kind of information that they previously had to get from occasional articles in newsmagazines.'' Two years ago, Omni, the younger sister of Penthouse, made one of the most succesful debuts in the history of the magazine business. It is one-third fact, one-third fiction and one-third fantasy.

Then came Science 80, from the American Society for the Advancement of Science, and Discover, from Time Inc. Then Hearst Magazines, after two years of testing, completely revamped its 44-year-old digest size Science Digest into a handsome, standard-size slick publication.

And all of these $2-per-copy magazines appear to be doing well, with lots of room for growth. ''Can the marketplace sustain them?'' Reginald K. Brack Jr., publisher of Discover, asked rhetoriclly. ''The interest is very definitely there. We assume that there are about 11 million households that are potential readers, and all of the science magazines only have a total circulation of 1.7 million. That's only 16 percent penetration, so there is a lot of room for growth.''

And they will indeed continue to grow, according to Charles Mandel, the original ad director of Omni, who is now publisher of Science Digest. ''There's such an explosion of real information,'' he said, ''and no great duplication in the material.''

These magazines have a lot going for them as far as advertisers are concerned. The quality of their audiences is really first rate in terms of age, income and education.

Omni's best categories, consumer electronics (stereos, etc.,) and liquor, reflect this. Science 81 and Discover have automotive, both domestic and foreign, as their largest category, while at Science Digest it's a tie between automotive and alcoholic beverages.

While corporate advertising is a factor in all four of the publications, it is the No.1 category at Scientific American, a 136-year-old magazine that is for a much more scientifically oriented reader than the others and therefore caters to more of the so-called thought-leader types that corporate advertisers fancy.

The major thing it has in common with the other magazines is that it is listed with them under the science category in the Standard Rate and Data directory.

''They like to be with us for the quality image,'' said C. John Kirby, ad director of Scientific American, who notes that the flood of new publications ''has had no impact that we are aware of.''

Science 81 began as a bimonthly and went to 10 a year last November. Ultimately it will go to 12 a year. Its management has a philosophy about science coverage that differs from the rest. It runs features, because, as Owen J. Lipstein, general manager, notes, ''Science is a process, not an event.''

Because the magazine is published by a nonprofit institution, it gets a break on postal rates. Its circulation, therefore, has been largely by subscription. Subscription can be a way of keeping the demographics of the readership high since the magazine can be selective about who is solicited.

The magazine, whose circulation rate base went to 600,000 with the April issue, will, however, test single-copy sales this month and will go to a rate base of 675,000 with the July issue.

Although competitors charge that, because of the nonprofit status, the magazine can offer lower ad rates, Mr. Lipstein, who does not agree, said, ''We have lower ad rates because it makes good marketing sense.''

Science 81 will carry about 185 pages of advertising in the five issues during the first six months, averaging 37 pages an issue, up from last year's average of 32 pages.

Thanks partially to the increase in publishing frequency, the magazine showed a strong increase in ad revenues, going from $390,283, according to Publishers Information Bureau standards, in the first six months of 1980 to $1.9 million in the first six of this year. according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Omni, being out of the Penthouse stable, does, of course, have a large single-copy sale. Of its actual average audited circulation of 858,000 in the second half of last year, single copy sales totaled 650,885. Miss Wardell said, ''We'll be over a million in total circulation in 12 to 15 months.''

For the first half of the year, it will be up 4 percent in ad pages, to 308, and up 16.6 percent in revenues, to $4.4 million, by P.I.B. standards.

Since making its bow last October, Time's Discover went from a circulation guarantee of 400,000 to 600,000. In its first six months, it carried 207 pages of advertising, with P.I.B. revenues of $2.3 million.

Science Digest, which had a circulation of less than 150,000 as a digest size, is already up to 450,000, with single-copy sales averaging about 300,000. Mr. Mandel estimates that it will carry 176 pages of advertising in five issues during the first six months. He did not have P.I.B. revenue estimates.