Women’s Weeklies See Difficult Period
The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 16 August 2001. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date, and will thereafter be amended in MediaTel’s Press database. For full notes on how NewsLine’s reports are compiled please see Important Notes: ABC Jan-Jun 2001.
The Women’s Weekly sector saw a year on year drop in overall circulation of 4.6% in a period which saw the merging of veteran IPC title Woman’s Realm into Woman’s Weekly (see IPC’s Woman’s Realm To Disappear In Favour Of Your Life).
The best performer in the sector was another IPC title, Now, which benefited from the current obsession with all things celebrity to the tune of a 21.9% year on year increase in circulation, giving it a Jan-June 2001 figure of 518,322.
Natmag’s first foray into the weekly sector, with its recently purchased former G+J title Best (see NatMags Grabs Gruner and Jahr), has not been very succesful as yet and saw a year on year drop in circulation for the second period running. A 5.2% decrease took it to 432,252.
The worst falls were seen at H Bauer title Bella, which lost 12.4% of its circulation year on year. However, another H Bauer title, Take A Break remains the market leader with a circulation of 1.17m, despite a 1.3% drop year on year.
| Women’s Weekly Magazines Circulations | |||||
| Title | Publishing Company | Jan 00 – Jun 00 | Jan 01 – Jun 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Bella | H Bauer Publishing | 553,869 | 484,986 | -68,883 | -12.4 |
| Best (B) | National Magazine Company | (pub G+J) 455,869 | 432,252 | -23,617 | -5.2 |
| Chat | IPC | 477,301 | 466,422 | -10,879 | -2.3 |
| Lady | Lady | 44,826 | 43,490 | -1,336 | -3.0 |
| My Weekly | DC Thomson & Co | 332,771 | 316,081 | -16,690 | -5.0 |
| Now | IPC | 425,087 | 518,322 | 93,235 | 21.9 |
| People’s Friend | DC Thomson & Co | 407,679 | 401,817 | -5,862 | -1.4 |
| Take A Break | H Bauer Publishing | 1,181,693 | 1,166,591 | -15,102 | -1.3 |
| That’s Life! | H Bauer Publishing | 567,414 | 569,818 | 2,404 | 0.4 |
| Woman | IPC | 690,695 | 660,781 | -29,914 | -4.3 |
| Woman’s Own | IPC | 577,602 | 538,424 | -39,178 | -6.8 |
| Woman’s Realm (M) | IPC | 160,490 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Woman’s Weekly | IPC | 523,353 | 503,722 | -19,631 | -3.8 |
| Total | 6,398,649 | 6,102,706 | -295,943 | -4.6 | |
In terms of market share, H Bauer and IPC still dominate the field. IPC has the edge, laying claim to 44% of the total circulation of the market, but this is spread between 5 titles, while H Bauer’s 36% is only divided between 3, including the seemingly untouchable Take A Break. Natmags purchase of Best has bought it an instant 7% market share, although recent falls in circulation could yet see this reduced.