Good Prospects For Specialist Mags

Mintel is to release a report this week on the special interest magazine sector and the results look good for the future.

The report covers 860 specialist titles covering 50 areas of interest, not including general activities such as television viewing or men/women magazines.

The survey suggests that this sector of the industry seems to have been less badly hit than most in the recession, because readers tend to be more loyal to these titles, compared to those with a more general appeal. Increases in the amount of leisure time enjoyed by the UK population and the more diverse nature of society has encouraged the demand for magazines devoted to special interest. Prices have been increased in this sector with little damage to sales, therefore the fall in advertising revenue has been off set by rises in circulation revenues.

The report also shows that the fastest growing sectors of special interest magazines in 1992 were computers and gardening publications, and these have continued to develop during the first half of 1993. According to the research, readership of special interest publications was biased slightly towards men and the younger age groups. Readership was found to decline with age except for 55-64 year olds who recorded a level the same as that for 35-54 year olds. This, suggests the report, shows some correlation between the amount of “free-time” and readership.

Prospects for special interest magazines look promising as sales appear less dependent on background economic factors than in most consumer markets. The report predicts that circulation will rise in the second half of 1993 and 1994. The report claims that the encouraging sales during the recession indicate that the long term decline in magazine readership may be coming to an end.

For further details contact Mintel 071 606 4533.