ABC Results Jan-Jun 2007: Dismal Picture For Teen Market With Sugar Taking Top Spot From Bliss
It was a dismal picture for the teenage market, with large declines for most of the featured titles in the sector, according to the ABC January to June 2007 concurrent release.
NatMags’ CosmoGIRL! closed in June (see NatMags To Close CosmoGIRL!) in order for the company to put more focus on Jellyfish (see NatMags Names Digital Magazine), the digital only format in the sector, which has itself now folded (see NatMags Axes Jellyfish After Trial Problems).
The remaining featured titles in the sector mostly felt damaging blows, with the exception of Mizz and Shout, which grew by more than 1,500 and 1,000 copies year on year respectively.
Mizz now reports a total of almost 61,800 whilst Shout‘s ABC now sits at around 84,000.
Bliss, which was bought by Panini at the end of 2006 (see Blissful Acquisition For Panini), recorded the most dramatic downturn in real terms, with its total shrinking by almost 93,000 copies year on year to leave its total ABC at around 120,500.
Meanwhile, Hachette Filipacchi’s Sugar has now taken the lead following Bliss‘ fall, despite its own year on year loss of 6.6%. Sugar is now at the top of the pack with a total ABC of just over 187,000.
A similar actual decline was recorded for Top Of The Pops magazine, which fell by just under 14,000, a 12% year on year drop. The brand, which no longer exists in its original TV format (see TOTP Fails To Prove Itself At The Last Hurdle), now holds a total ABC of almost 103,000 for its print incarnation.
TV Hits also shed issues year on year and period on period. The title was down around 28.5% year on year and almost 17.5% period on period to give it a final figure of almost 40,000 for the first half of 2007.
BBC Magazines’ offering, It’s Hot, recorded a circulation decline of more than 13% year on year, despite an almost 1% rise period on period. It now holds an ABC of around 57,500 copies.
| Teenage Magazines: Jan-Jun 2007 Year On Year Comparisons | |||||
| Title | Publisher | Jan-Jun 06 | Jan-Jun 07 | Actual Change | %Ch |
| Bliss | Panini UK Ltd | 213,466 | 120,506 | -92,960 | -43.5 |
| It’s Hot | BBC Magazines | 66,168 | 57,515 | -8,653 | -13.1 |
| Mizz | Panini UK Ltd | 60,130 | 61,781 | 1,651 | 2.7 |
| Shout | DC Thomson & Co | 82,983 | 84,007 | 1,024 | 1.2 |
| Sugar | Hachette Filipacchi | 200,187 | 187,059 | -13,128 | -6.6 |
| Top Of The Pops | BBC Magazines | 116,858 | 102,997 | -13,861 | -11.9 |
| TV Hits | Essential Publishing Ltd | 54,726 | 39,098 | -15,628 | -28.6 |
The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 16 August 2007. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date, and will thereafter be amended in MediaTel’s Press database.
ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk