ABC Results Jul-Dec 2005:Gossip Sees Growth As Weeklies Widen Appeal
The latest ABC results for the six months to December 2005 show women’s weekly gossip titles OK, Closer and Reveal with impressive sales increases year on year, proving the public’s continuing appetite for celebrity news.
Reveal saw the largest percentage increase in the women’s weekly sector, adding a sizeable 44% year on year. The title, which is less than 18 months old, now commands sales of 345,502.
Emap’s rival gossip title, Closer, also saw double digit percentage growth, with circulation now at 578,337 thanks to a 14.7% increase year on year.
The increase sees Closer edge ahead of rival Heat magazine, which now commands sales of 575,267 thanks to a 4.2% increase year on year.
Meanwhile, gossip stalwart OK magazine also saw a strong performance in the six months to December, adding 22.7% year on year to see sales hit 649,777. The increase sees OK hit its largest circulation for over four years, adding more than 120,000 copies in real terms compared with the same time in 2004.
New women’s weekly title Full House, published by Hubert Burda Media, saw an impressive debut ABC figure of 235,787, while Emap’s glossy Grazia magazine recorded its second circulation audit, demonstrating an increase of 10.1% period on period to 170,783.
Not every weekly gossip title saw success at the end of 2005, however, with IPC’s Pick Me Up slipping by 2.4% period on period to 491,669.
Less celebrity focussed titles such as Woman and My Weekly also saw their circulations slip year on year, losing 13.5% and 13% respectively to 456,524 and 212,574.
In the men’s market, weekly titles continued to perform well on the newsstand, with both Nuts and Zoo adding to their circulation year on year.
According to the latest ABC figures IPC’s Nuts added 11.4%, while Emap’s Zoo rose by 8.4%. The titles now command sales of 306,802 and 260,470, with Nuts continuing to widen its lead over its Emap-owned rival.
The success of Nuts will please IPC, especially given the 5.4% rise in circulation by stablemate Loaded, which goes some way to dispel criticism of weekly titles canibalising monthly magazine sales.
Emap was less fortunate, however, seeing its monthly men’s magazine FHM suffer a 13.6% downturn in sales year on year.
The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 16 February 2006. 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