ABC Results Jan-Jun 2007: Take A Break Stays Top Of Women’s Weeklies Amidst Sizeable Declines

The women’s weekly sector experienced sizeable declines in circulation, with few exceptions, according to the latest January to June 2007 consumer magazine ABC data.

Top weekly Take A Break saw its circulation fall to just over one million following a year on year drop of more than 63,500 issues, whilst Bella shed a sizeable chunk of its total, losing more than 84,000 copies, more than a quarter of its total year on year, which now sits at around 247,400.

Similarly, Chat was down by almost 43,000 year on year to leave its total at around 511,500.

Several magazines dipped by over 40,000 copies year on year, with Woman losing almost 47,400 copies to take its total to just shy of 370,000 for the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, That’s Life! dropped a similar amount. The 9.5% loss took its final figure to around 443,600, with a 4.6% decline period on period.

Best, Woman’s Own and Woman’s Weekly also dropped more than 20,000 editions year on year. IPC recently launched a new online women’s lifestyle portal called goodtoknow.co.uk, which will act as the central portal of some of IPC Connect’s weekly titles, including Woman’s Weekly and Woman’s Own (see IPC Unveils Women’s Online Lifestyle Portal).

Woman’s Own, which was revamped in April with a £2 million marketing push and a hike in its cover price (see Woman’s Own Revamps In Bid To Halt Declining Sales), shed 6.2% to leave its total at less than 345,000, whilst Woman’s Weekly now sits at almost 370,000 following a year on year decline of 21,500. Best, meanwhile, fell by around 21,400 issues – a 6% year on year and period on period drop.

There were some exceptions to the overall downturn in the women’s weekly sector, however, with Grazia pushing its total up by more than a quarter. The Emap upmarket glossy now commands a circulation of more than 220,000 after adding nearly 45,000 copies to its final figure year on year.

Meanwhile, IPC’s Look (see NewsLine Feature: Look, Another Women’s Weekly), the newcomer billed as a challenger to the high-class fashion bible, has reported its first ABC, an impressive 318,907. Launched in February and backed by an £18 million investment, it appears the publisher’s gamble has so far paid off.

IPC Connect managing director, Evelyn Webster, said today: “Look has enjoyed phenomenal success – in total volume terms it has instantly become the biggest selling fashion magazine in the UK. Editor Ali Hall and her amazing team have brought genuine innovation to the weeklies sector, and they’re rightly reaping the rewards.”

Celebrity focused gossip titles Hello! and OK! performed well, seeing their totals rise by around 16,150 and more than 9,000 year on year respectively. Hello! now holds a final figure just short of 420,000 (going up 1.7% period on period), whilst OK! now sits around 557,000, despite a 10.7% period on period decline.

Emap’s Closer is now ahead of OK!, despite shedding almost 20,000 copies year on year. OK!‘s rival now holds a circulation of 570,239.

In a similar content bracket, Heat lost around 21,500 from its ABC year on year, leaving the title’s total resting at 558,365.

IPC’s Now was also hard hit, with a decline year on year of more than 45,500 – an 8.5% fall both year on year and period on period. The celebrity-centric title, which unveiled a new look at the beginning of this month under editor Helen Johnston (see Now Magazine Unveils New Look), now holds a total ABC of over 494,000.

The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 16 August 2007. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date, and will thereafter be amended in MediaTel’s Press database.

ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk