ABC Consumer Jan-Jun 2010: Women’s Weekly

It was a mixed period for the Women’s Weekly magazine sector.  Like most other sectors, some titles did exceptionally well while others struggled to maintain their circulations in a post-recession market.

However, having said that, the overall market is up 3.8% on this time last year, which is hopefully an indication of a continued rise.

Take A Break has a clear lead on its rival titles at the top of the Women’s Weekly sector, with an impressive total of more than 855,000 copies, despite seeing some of its readers drop off over the year.

The biggest story has to be Northern & Shell’s performance.  Owner Richard Desmond, who has diverted his attention to Channel 5 in recent weeks, will be pleased with New! and Star‘s results.  The titles have seen a remarkable improvement on last year’s figures, with year on year increases around the 40% mark.

In contrast, the media tycoon might not be so overjoyed with OK!‘s performance.  The weekly title, which is perhaps one of the most well-known celebrity magazines, suffered a significant drop this period.

Hubert Burda Media UK also had a mixed six months.  The publisher’s Full House magazine has enjoyed a substantial boost to its circulation compared with this time last year, however, the former News International title Love It! continues to see a significant drop.

Shortlist Media’s brilliant edition to the Women’s Weekly market, Stylist, has an average weekly distribution of more than 421,000 copies – up 2.5% on last period (July to December 2009).  The free magazine launched last October in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Brighton.

MediaTel Subscribers can get quick access to all the latest circulation figures in our new ABC Circulation: Consumer Magazines.

Log into MediaTel first, for the link to take you directly to the report.