ABC Consumer Jan-Jun 2012: Overview
Today’s ABC release, for the January to June 2012 period, paints a fairly bleak picture for the consumer magazine market, with just a few exceptions.
By Sector
In terms of sectors, Women’s Lifestyle is not holding up as well as it did in the second half of last year, with the majority of titles recording declines. Glamour, Hello!, Look and More! were among the worst hit. However, freebie Stylist enjoyed positive results and Easy Living posted a stand-out performance, bucking the overall market trend.
The Women’s Weekly sector is really suffering, with just one title seeing an increase in circulation – The Lady, up 0.1% PoP. Northern & Shell titles OK! and Star suffered the most substantial declines.
Free titles Shortlist and Sport continue to dominate the Men’s Lifestyle sector. FHM took a big hit, while Nuts also saw a substantial drop in sales. However, it was a much more positive outlook for GQ and Wired.
The Home Interest market saw a mixed set of results. There were a number of increases, including Country Homes & Interiors, Living etc and Style at Home, GoodHomes and Elle Decoration. Although some titles suffered losses – among them Ideal Home, Country Living and House Beautiful.
The Domestic News and Affairs market completely bucked the downward consumer magazine trend, with every title posting a YoY increase (the market is up 5.4% YoY and 0.5% PoP). Although the Business and Finance titles had a mixed period, with Business Life performing best, up 13.6% YoY and 6.6% PoP, but the overall market was down 0.3% YoY.
Overall the TV Listings market is down, with only one title posting a YoY increase (Total TV Guide; +3.1%). The top two titles in the market, TV Choice and What’s on TV, had a difficult period, losing 135,337 copies between them.
ABC Top 100 Actively Purchased Magazines
Despite the TV listings sector having a difficult period, they continue to lead the way in the ABC Top 100 Actively Purchased Magazines – with TV Choice, What’s on TV and Radio Times making up the top three.
Just three of the top 10 actively purchased titles posted period on period (PoP) increases, while two enjoyed year on year (YoY) rises. Slimming World had a good six months, up 4.3% PoP and 24.5% YoY. The only other title in the top 10 to record a PoP and YoY boost in sales was Saga Magazine – up 1.2% and 2.7% respectively.
ABC Top 100 Magazines – Total Average Net Circulation/Distribution
Customer magazines still dominate the ABC Top 100 Magazines by Total Average Net Circulation/Distribution – with Asda Magazine reaching just under two million people – up 0.7% PoP. Tesco Magazine comes in second place but is followed by the paid-for TV Choice, which boasts a total circulation of almost 1.3 million copies.
Out of the top 10 magazines, five are actively purchased (some 100%, some just under), while five are free titles – Asda Magazine, Tesco Magazine, Tesco Real Food, Morrisons Magazine and the weekly men’s magazine Shortlist.
Shortlist‘s sister title Stylist comes in at number 15 in the Top 100 Magazines after a positive 0.5% PoP and 1.1% YoY increase to more than 431,000 copies. Paid-for titles New! and Glamour also feature high up the list, as does Closer, Slimming World Magazine and Good Housekeeping.
By Publisher
By publisher, Egmont has done particularly well, while DC Thomson has grown its group, though its titles are down over the year. The biggest winners, in terms of titles, are H Bauer’s Eat In – up 52.7% YoY – and IPC’s Style at Home – up 52.2% YoY.