ABC Jul – Dec 2001 Women’s Weekly Titles
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
The latest set of ABC Consumer Magazine figures brought mixed news for the Women’s Weekly market. Circulation as a whole was down 2.2%, but at more than 6 million this remains the biggest sector by circulation of the consumer market.
The best performance was seen at IPC’s Now, which appears to have made a successful combination of the lifestyle content familiar in the Women’s Weekly market with the magic ingredient in today’s market- celebrity news. The result: a 16.2% year on year increase in Now’s circulation, its total of 552,744 placing it comfortably in the top four titles in the sector, ahead of IPC stablemate Woman’s Own and closing on H Bauer’s That’s Life!.
IPC and H Bauer continue to be the dominant forces in this market and the latter’s Take a Break retained a considerable lead on the rest of the Women’s Weekly titles- it remains some 500,000 ahead of its nearest rival- despite registering a year on year increase of less than 1%. However, another H Bauer title, Bella, continued its worrying downward pattern this period, slumping 12% year on year as the worst performer in the market.
| Women’s Weekly Magazines Circulations | |||||
| Title | Publishing Company | Jul 00 – Dec 00 | Jul 01 – Dec 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Bella | H Bauer Publishing | 532,668 | 468,937 | -63,731 | -12.0 |
| Best | National Magazine Company | 431,352 | 430,433 | -919 | -0.2 |
| Chat | IPC | 469,769 | 478,230 | 8,461 | 1.8 |
| Lady | Lady | 40,815 | 41,242 | 427 | 1.0 |
| My Weekly | DC Thomson & Co | 318,294 | 305,407 | -12,887 | -4.0 |
| Now (See also Celebrity Magazines) | IPC | 475,571 | 552,744 | 77,173 | 16.2 |
| People’s Friend | DC Thomson & Co | 399,339 | 397,080 | -2,259 | -0.6 |
| Take A Break | H Bauer Publishing | 1,137,952 | 1,148,634 | 10,682 | 0.9 |
| That’s Life! | H Bauer Publishing | 569,804 | 584,221 | 14,417 | 2.5 |
| Woman | IPC | 636,528 | 646,643 | 10,115 | 1.6 |
| Woman’s Own | IPC | 553,701 | 518,495 | -35,206 | -6.4 |
| Woman’s Realm (M) | IPC | 152,053 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Woman’s Weekly | IPC | 496,162 | 504,531 | 8,369 | 1.7 |
| Total | 6,214,008 | 6,076,597 | -137,411 | -2.2 | |
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