It was a tale of two business models in the men’s lifestyle sector, with free titles taking up the top two positions, while some paid-fors suffered heavy circulation declines.
Shortlist had the largest circulation figure in the sector, at almost 511,000, an increase of around 6% year on year, according to the latest ABC figures for Jan-Jun 2009.
It was followed by Sport in second place, with a circulation of more than 305,000 copies.
It was a turbulent time for the free title, as it suspended circulation in April after its French parent company went into administration.
However, it was snapped up by current owner UTV in May.
The two paid-for weekly titles Zoo and Nuts both saw their circulations plummet year on year, with Zoo down by around 30% to 111,000 copies.
Nuts saw its circulation fall by around 24.5% to under 189,000 copies.
IPC’s monthly title Loaded also performed poorly during the period, losing almost 24% of its circulation year on year, leaving it with a total of under 73,000.
FHM, published by Bauer Consumer Media, shed 16.2% of its circulation year on year, to leave its total at 235,000 copies, while NatMags’ Esquire was down 9.3% to under 53,000.
Despite the poor six months most titles had to endure, two did manage to buck the overall trend for men’s paid-for magazines.
Dennis Publishing’s Men’s Fitness and NatMags’ Men’s Health saw year on year increases of 3.6% and 2.1% respectively.
Men’s Fitness now has a circulation of almost 68,000 copies, while Men’s Health stands at over 250,000.
| Title | Publisher | Jan-Jun 08 | Jan-Jun 09 | Actual Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC Focus | Bristol Magazines | 70,122 | 68,144 | -1,978 | -2.8 |
| Esquire | The National Magazine Company Ltd | 58,136 | 52,705 | -5,431 | -9.3 |
| FHM (For Him Magazine) | Bauer Consumer Media | 280,392 | 235,027 | -45,365 | -16.2 |
| GQ | Conde Nast Publications Ltd | 130,008 | 120,019 | -9,989 | -7.7 |
| Healthy for Men** | River Publishing Ltd | n/a | 66,753 | n/a | n/a |
| Loaded | IPC Media Ltd | 95,371 | 72,679 | -22,692 | -23.8 |
| Men’s Fitness | Dennis Publishing Limited | 65,626 | 67,987 | 2,361 | 3.6 |
| Men’s Health | The National Magazine Company Ltd | 245,212 | 250,247 | 5,035 | 2.1 |
| Nuts* | IPC Media Ltd | 250,061 | 188,532 | -61,529 | -24.6 |
| Shortlist* | Shortlist Media Ltd | 481,320 | 510,720 | 29,400 | 6.1 |
| Sport | UTV Media Ltd | 313,274 | 305,341 | -7,933 | -2.5 |
| Stuff | Haymarket Publishing Group Limited | 88,081 | 84,565 | -3,516 | -4.0 |
| Zoo* | Bauer Consumer Media | 161,331 | 111,012 | -50,319 | -31.2 |
Source: ABC
*Published Weekly
**Published Bi-Monthly
