NRS Commentary – Apr-Sep’94

National Newspapers

Among the national daily newspapers, only the Times, Financial Times, Sun and Today recorded year-on-year increases in their Average Issue Readership estimates for April to September 1994. The only Sunday paper to record an increase was the Sunday Telegraph.

The effect of News International’s pricing policy is apparent in this round of figures, with the Times and the Sun achieving rises of 13.9% and 6.6% respectively. The Sun’s AIR, which broke the 10 million mark with January to June’s figures remained above 10 million at 10,278,000. The Today’s AIR increased by 0.7% to 1,798,000; the Financial Times’ AIR was up by 0.1% to 718,000.

The Independent yet again fared worst, with an AIR of below the million mark, at 936,000, a decrease of 20.1% year on year. The Guardian’s AIR also fell significantly, by 19.1% to 1,248,000. The Mirror, Star and Evening Standard all recorded decreases of more than 10% year on year.

Among the Sunday papers, the greatest fall was from the Independent on Sunday, down by 15.4% to 1,091,000. The Observer’s AIR fell by 9.7% to 1,549,000. The News of the World, which dropped 2.7% year on year still has by far the biggest readership of any national newspaper, at 12,132,000. The Sunday Times which lost 4.4% year on year, is the widest read quality sunday title. The Sunday Telegraph, however, the only Sunday paper to improve on last year’s AIR figure, broke the 2million mark with an increase of 8% in its AIR.

General Weekly Magazines

Among the general interest weekly magazines, the top seven (five of which are TV listings titles) have Average Issue Readership estimates of over 1 million. Of these however, only TV & Satellite Week and Whats on TV recorded increases year on year.

Of the general weeklies over all, Whats on TV recorded the highest increase. Autosport also fared well, up 23.9% year on year to 280,000. At the other end of the scale, Amateur Gardening dropped 26.5% year on year to 341,000. Other titles which did not fare so well include Angler’s Mail, down 19.3%, Melody Maker, down 16.2% and Garden News, down 14.6%.

Readers’ Digest remains the dominant title in this sector. However this period saw the Average Issue Readership slip below the 6 million mark to 5,981,000, a decrease of 6.8% on the same period last year. The next highest read general monthly by over a million readers is Sky, with an AIR of 3,421,000. This represents another large increase for Sky, up 67% on last year’s figure.

As a sector, male interest titles fared very well again. The highest increase of any general monthly came from Esquire, up 75.7% to 462,000.

The BBC Magazines did not fare too well, with the exception of Gardeners World which rose 4.4% year on year to 1,870,000 and Good Food which rose 5% to 1,374,000, the other titles recorded losses. The biggest casualty was Music Magazine, which dropped 30.6% year on year to 238,000. Holidays lost 18.8% year on year to 342,000. BBC Top Gear recorded its first NRS figure this time, at 1,892,000.

The entertainment titles as a sector performed well: Flicks, Select and Empire all recorded increases year on year.

Those titles which fared worst were New DIY, down 42.1% year on year to 223,000, Focus, down 29.2% year on year to 240,000 and Health and Fitness, down 21.5%.

Women’s Weeklies

Among the women’s weeklies sector, Bella, Take A Break and Woman’s Own remain the top three titles, with readership well above three million. Bauer’s title Take A Break, the top read title also recorded the highest increase year on year, up 4.7% to 3,797,000. Just Seventeen, Chat and Woman’s Own were the only other titles to increase their readership figures year on year.

IPC with its six titles still dominates the market, with 45% market share. Me recorded the highest decrease year on year, down 13.7% to 988,000. Other substantial losses came from IPC’s Womans Weekly, down 12.2% and Lady, down 15.9% to 191,000.

Women’s Monthlies

There are 11 women’s monthlies with AIRs of over 1 million; Good Housekeeping has the highest readership, 2,168,000. Gruner + Jahr’s Prima is not far behind with an AIR of 2,104,000; this is despite both titles decreasing year on year, by 6% and 8.8% respectively.

Period Living recorded the highest increase year on year, up by 28.9% to 183,000. National Magazine’s Company also recorded a substantial increase, up 27.5% to 681,000. Other titles to record high increases were House Beautiful, up 10.7% and New Woman, up 14.1%

Those monthlies who fared worst were OK!, down 46.7% to 204,000, Home and Country, down 35.4%, Living, down 27.9%, Needlecraft, down 22.5% and the Clothes Show Magazine, which dropped by 20.4%.