Declining ad revenues have topped a list of challenges facing magazine publishers in 2009, according to a poll carried out by online magazine subscriptions site isubscribe.co.uk.

　　The online survey of more than 600 industry contacts revealed that 63% thought declining ad revenues were the biggest challenge facing magazine publishers this year.

　　Other challenges highlighted by the survey were "distribution/circulation issues" and "building a digital presence" C both of which racked up 14% of the total vote C and "securing quality staff", which proved the most important factor for the remaining 9% of those surveyed.

　　Rachel Beresford, managing director of isubscribe.co.uk, said: "It really is the ad market which is making people worry at the moment. Circulation and distribution issues are definitely on the radar, but much less so than advertising.

　　"The retail market is very volatile, but subscriptions by their very nature are much more stable, so those publishers with a solid subscriptions base are feeling more comfortable about their copy sales trends.

　　"Interestingly, building a digital presence is just as important as traditional circulation issues. We think that the internet is still perplexing many publishers [and] the big question about monetising the web is still there."

　　In addition 75% of respondents said that they expected 2009 to be a worse year for the industry than 2008, although, somewhat surprisingly, 25% said that this year would be better.

　　"There is a sense of real change coming and the majority of publishers are expecting the worst, but it is not universally negative and there is a significant minority who feel well positioned and fleet of foot to take advantage of the volatility," said Beresford.

　　She added that the more confident publishers tended to operate in more specialist niches, rather than in the mainstream lifestyle sectors.