ABC Results Jan-Jun 2004: Closer Boosts Celebrity Weeklies

The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 12 August 2004. 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 NewsLine.

The latest consumer ABC results for the six months to June 2004 suggest that the public’s fascination with the rich and famous shows no signs of slowing, with Emap’s celebrity-focused Closer seeing circulation soar by a massive 43.5% year on year to 480,187.

The title, which launched just two years ago with the backing of a multimillion pound advertising campaign, has gone from strength to strength recently, with its mix of celebrity and real life stories continuing to hit the spot with its core audience.

However, competition in the celebrity magazine market looks set to intensify over the coming months, with the launch of a new celebrity-focused launch from The National Magazine Company expected to put further pressure on existing titles to perform (see Natmags To Take On Closer With New Celebrity Weekly).

Northern & Shell’s New! did well in the six months to June with its gossip packed pages boosting circulation by 19.1% year on year to 403,864. The company’s recently launched celebrity and fashion title, Star, also performed well with an initial circulation of 183,674.

Elsewhere, IPC’s market-leading celebrity and gossip title, Now, maintained its top spot despite a slight 1.8% year on year dip in circulation to 580,007. The title has employed several tactics to boost sales recently, including a partnership with supermarket giant ASDA to promote the video and DVD release of the final series of American sitcom, Friends (see Now And Asda Team Up To Promote Friends DVD Launch).

Things were more positive for IPC stablemate, Chat, which saw a healthy 5.4% year on year increase in circulation to just under 607,000, proving that its mix of celebrity and real life stories is a winner with its target audience of mums aged 20-40. However, the publisher’s long running Woman and Woman’s Own magazines turned in a less impressive performance, with circulation dropping by 6.1% and 7.9% respectively.

Meanwhile, H Bauer’s more traditional women’s weekly, Bella, recorded a healthy 4.3% increase in circulation to just under 415,000, a success that will give some comfort to the publisher, which saw a 1.4% decline at Take A Break, which remains one of the UK’s biggest selling weekly consumer magazines.

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