ABC consumer magazine results: overview
The latest ABC release for the January – June 2015 period charts all the trends for the consumer magazine market. Here is Newsline’s overview – with links to full articles and charts for each sector.
Newsline is now reporting on combined print and digital (gross) figures for all magazine brands, as this is now ABC’s “headline figure”.
Although the separate figures for print and digital are revealed in the charts below, all copy will only reference combined data.
Men’s Lifestyle
Perhaps a sign that the nation is finally growing tiresome of seeing the human form in all its glory, Men’s Fitness and lads’ mag Zoo recorded significant declines in circulation over the period, cementing their places at the lower end of the table.
Dennis Publishing’s male fitness-orientated mag was down -17.5% period on period (PoP) and -21.8% year on year (YoY) to record a combined print and digital audience of 37,800, while Bauer’s homage to scantily-clad women was down -14.8% PoP and -7.8%
Undoubtedly the big winner was Forever Sports which increased its audience by 45.4% over the year to more than 90,500 – the fifth most popular men’s lifestyle mag ahead of FHM (-8.9% PoP, -16.6% YoY) and Square Mile (3.6% PoP, 14.8% YoY).
Following Forever Sports’ good news, Square Mile was also the only title to significantly increase its audience both over the period and the year.
ShortList maintained the top spot with a combined circulation of 502,300, followed by Sport (304,400) and Men’s Health (193,900). In line with last period’s results, Conde Nast’s GQ took the fourth spot with 121,100 after recording moderate declines both PoP and YoY.
Click here for the full article.
Women’s Lifestyle
Very few titles in the women’s lifestyle market saw their combined print and digital audience increase in the first half of the year; however, declines were moderate in comparison to other markets.
Free titles John Lewis Edition and ASOS.com maintained the top two spots, with the former even recording a small 1.7% increase in circulation over the year.
A little further down the table, Women’s Health was up 5.6% period on period (PoP) and 8% year on year (YoY) – one of the few titles to record an increase in both period and yearly circulation, alongside Elle, Yours and Tatler.
Good Housekeeping, published by Hearst Magazines UK, was the third best-performing title for the period with a combined audience of 404,205, closely followed by free beauty and lifestyle mag, Stylist, with 403,200.
The largest decline over the period came from Evarn Ltd’s Look, down -15.3% PoP. The title was also down -22% over the year, seeing it drop below Bauer’s Grazia by almost 12,000.
Click here for the full article.
Women’s Weeklies
The women’s weekly magazine market took a big hit during the first half of the year, with no title recording an increase in its combined print and digital audience – both over the period and the year.
Northern & Shell’s OK magazine saw the biggest decrease, down -31.6% period on period (PoP) and -26.6% year on year (YoY) to secure a combined audience of 200,000. The publisher also saw significant losses elsewhere, with Star down -22.4% PoP and -30.1% YoY, and New! down -16.6% PoP and -23.3% YoY.
With a combined print and digital audience of a little over 608,700, Take A Break remained the best-read women’s weekly magazine; however, in line with all other titles, was down on last period’s figures.
Click here for the full article.
Home Interest
The first half of 2015 saw almost every title record declines in combined print and digital circulations in the home interest market.
Ideal Home, despite a period-on-period (PoP) decline of -6.8% and a year-on-year (YoY) decline of -11%, took the top spot with a total print and digital circulation of 174,842.
In second place, Hearst Magazine’s Country Living was down -7.6% PoP to record a print and digital circulation of almost 169,000.
Up just 0.2% PoP Hubert Burda Media’s Your Home was the only title to record any PoP increase, although only up 0.2%, the growth was marginal. The title has a total circulation of more than 120,000.
The worst performing title for the period was Time Inc’s 25 Beautiful Homes, down -10.6% (and down -16.4% year on year) to 81,600.
Click here for the full article.
TV Listings
While TV can do no wrong, apparently TV listings magazines can – with the latest ABC figures suggesting that the nation is growing bored of looking at what’s on (most probably because it’s either a repeat or the 1,678th series of Big Brother).
The only title up over the period was front-runner TV Choice – although by just 0.8%, which is an indication of how the rest of the titles fared.
Perhaps because the ability to write new soap story-lines has reached a plateau, All About Soap recorded the biggest decline, down -16.4% period on period (PoP) and -23.5% year on year (YoY), while Inside Soap was down -6.5% PoP and Soaplife down -5.8% PoP. The latter two titles also recorded greater declines over the year.
Click here for the full article.
News and Current Affairs
Following a fairly flat period for domestic titles last time round, firm favourite Private Eye was up 4% period on period (PoP) and 4.6% year on year (YoY) to secure a total circulation of almost 228,300.
Up 1.4% PoP, The Week, with a circulation of 202,800, celebrated its 34th consecutive ABC increase, while The Week Magazine, also published by Dennis, was up an impressive 11.3% over the period and 17% over the year.
The Spectator Group came in third with a combined audience of almost 64,000, while The Oldie finished the period with 46,100.