ABC Results Jul-Dec 2006:Take A Break Leads Women’s Weekly Market

The latest ABC figures, for July-December 2006, show thatTake A Break remained the top title in the Women’s Weekly sector, with a circulation of more than 1 million copies.

However, the H Bauer publication was down over 11% year on year, a drop in real terms of almost 129,000 copies. It was also down period on period, by 5.1%.

Take A Break‘s nearest rivals in the Women’s Weekly sector are Celebrity titles OK! and Closer, which had differing fortunes during the six month period.

OK! saw its circulation drop by more than 25,000 copies year on year, leaving it with a circulation of just over 624,000, whilst Emap’s Closer enjoyed an increase of almost 36,000, giving it a total circulation of around 614,000 copies.

Emap’s other celebrity focused title, Heat experienced a healthy rise in its circulation, with a year on year increase of over 23,000 taking its total figure to more than 598,000.

IPC’s Now was static period on period, although year on year it saw a downturn of well over 37,000 copies. It ended the period with a circulation of around 540,000.

Northern And Shell’s Star recorded a big year on year increase in circulation, of over 56,000, although it remained relatively static period on period.

H Bauer’s lifestyle magazine In The Know, which launched last September (see In The Know To Launch Next Week), recorded a circulation figure of just over 107,000.

As well as the big loss shown by Take A Break another H Bauer publication to suffer during the reporting period was That’s Life, which was down by more than 85,000 copies year on year, leaving it with a circulation of 464,000.

Chat, published by IPC, was down both period on period and year on year. It fell by almost 11% compared to the same period in 2005, with its circulation dropping to around 537,000. Period on period the title was down 3.1%.

Grazia, Emap’s fashion and celebrity focused mag, was one of the few titles in the sector to record a big increase year on year. It added well over 39,000 copies to its circulation year on year, a percentage increase of more than 23%. However, with the recent launch of IPC’s Look (see NewsLine Feature: Look, Another Women’s Weekly) Grazia may be in for a tough time over the coming period, as both magazines battle for dominance.

In January, News Magazines shelved plans for its own women’s weekly, developed under the name Project Danni, perhaps realising that the marketplace was becoming too crowded (see News Magazines Shelves Project Danni).

The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 15 February 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