ABC Jul – Dec 2001 Women’s Monthly Magazines

The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 14 February 2002. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date, and will thereafter be amended in MediaTel’s Press database. For full notes on how NewsLine’s reports are compiled please see Important Notes: ABC Jul-Dec 2001

Once again, the Glamour effect was felt in the Women’s Monthly sector with the latest set of ABC results, and the sector was up 7.3% in total circulation year on year. Condé Nast’s diminutive fashion title remained hard on the heels of market leader, Cosmopolitan, although with a small year on year increase from Cosmo the gap was widened slightly, with Glamour’s 436,579 trailing the now close to 30-year-old title’s 463,010.

Glamour entered the market alongside another US import, Time Life’s InStyle (shortly to be taken into the IPC Southbank stable). The latter title had its first official audit in the July to December period, and entered with a respectable, if not spectacular 151,159. While Cosmo may be standing up to the added competition these two titles have brought, there is evidence to suggest that two other big names, IPC/European Magazine’s Marie-Claire and Emap’s Elle are feeling the pinch. The former title saw a 4.6% fall year on year to 380,040, while Elle’s drop was even sharper, down 6% to 210,861.

On a more positive note, the new entries, which also include BBC Worldwide’s Eve, have done much to revitalise a well-established market, and magazines with a slightly different focus have benefited. Emap’s Red, aimed at a slightly older market, saw a 12.1% increase year on year to reach 173,774. Another Emap title, New Woman, which, while aiming at the younger market, tends to be more high street than Bond Street, also saw a good increase, of 8.3%, which took its circulation above 300,000 for the first time in its fourteen year history.

If there is a lesson to be learned from these figures it is that the right identity is key. Woman’s Journal, perceived as increasingly old-fashioned and outdated as its circulation declined, found that a long and respected history was not enough to escape a post AOL/Time Warner takeover cull at IPC Media. Meanwhile, She, thought by many to be suffering an identity crisis, but now avowed to return to its original middle youth target audience, saw a 17.4% decrease in circulation year on year, a fact that will doubtless cause consternation in the Natmag camp, which apart from the other exception of Zest, had seen a fairly positive set of results.

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