Consumer ABCs: July -December 2015: Women’s Weeklies
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.
Northern & Shell has reason to celebrate this period, with OK! magazine sales up by almost 38%, making it the third most-popular women’s weekly magazine (up from 10th the previous period). The celebrity and lifestyle mag now sells around 275,800 copies a week, however it is worth noting that the title was down -5.7% year on year.
Other than Take a Break Series, which was up 12% period on period, the majority of women’s weekly titles recorded small-moderate declines in circulation for the July – December period, with Bauer’s Heat hit hardest, down -11.8%.
Heat also recorded one of the greatest yearly declines (-20.3%), alongside Reveal (-23.6%), Star (-22.2%) and Now (-22%).
Despite a -3.2% drop in sales, Take a Break is still the most popular women’s weekly magazine by far, managing to flog almost 590,000 copies a week.
The second best-performing title in the market is still held by Woman’s Weekly with an average circulation of a little under 294,000.
However, a -6.1% PoP decline saw Closer slide down two places to fifth with 266,400 sales a week. In contrast to last period, the Bauer title is now outsold by both OK! and Chat.
| Print & Digital (Gross) | Total Print Circulation | Total Digital Circulation | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Publisher | Jul – Dec 15 | % PoP | % YoY | Jul – Dec 15 | % PoP | % YoY | Jul – Dec 15 | % PoP | % YoY |
| Total | 4,291,223 | 4,270,432 | 20,791 | |||||||
| Take a Break | H Bauer Publishing | 589,495 | -3.2 | -8.7 | 589,495 | -3.2 | -8.7 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Woman’s Weekly | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 293,718 | -1.0 | -4.6 | 293,352 | -1.0 | -4.5 | 366 | -23.1 | -17.0 |
| OK! Magazine | Northern & Shell PLC | 275,765 | 37.9 | -5.7 | 270,260 | 38.6 | -5.4 | 5,505 | 10.1 | -18.7 |
| Chat | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 270,707 | -1.4 | -10.6 | 269,847 | -1.3 | -10.5 | 860 | -25.5 | -35.6 |
| Closer | Bauer Consumer Media | 266,369 | -6.1 | -10.8 | 263,725 | -6.2 | -11.4 | 2,644 | 7.0 | 113.1 |
| New! | Northern & Shell Magazines Ltd | 246,962 | -1.7 | -18.0 | 242,934 | -1.9 | -18.1 | 4,028 | 13.1 | -10.6 |
| Woman | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 230,792 | -6.7 | -8.6 | 230,148 | -6.6 | -8.6 | 644 | -26.0 | -32.8 |
| That’s Life | H Bauer Publishing | 230,731 | -4.4 | -11.6 | 230,731 | -4.4 | -11.6 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| The People’s Friend | D C Thomson & Co Ltd | 211,048 | -1.8 | -6.6 | 211,048 | -1.6 | -6.5 | n/a | -100.0 | -100.0 |
| Woman’s Own | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 200,785 | -3.9 | -8.9 | 200,166 | -3.8 | -8.9 | 619 | -19.0 | -21.8 |
| Bella | H Bauer Publishing | 183,700 | -1.8 | -7.6 | 183,700 | -1.8 | -7.6 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Best | Hearst Magazines UK | 164,970 | -3.7 | -15.6 | 164,687 | -3.6 | -15.6 | 283 | -19.1 | 26.9 |
| Heat | Bauer Consumer Media | 163,392 | -11.8 | -20.3 | 161,213 | -12.0 | -20.9 | 2,179 | 2.1 | 83.3 |
| Take a Break Series | H Bauer Publishing | 158,658 | 12.0 | -8.1 | 158,658 | 12.0 | -8.1 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Real People | Hearst Magazines UK | 156,392 | -0.1 | -10.7 | 156,048 | -0.0 | -10.7 | 344 | -9.0 | 3.9 |
| Star | Northern & Shell PLC | 148,738 | 0.2 | -22.2 | 147,370 | -0.1 | -22.4 | 1,368 | 47.1 | 2.8 |
| Pick Me Up | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 145,773 | 1.3 | -8.6 | 145,345 | 1.4 | -8.5 | 428 | -18.8 | -29.3 |
| Now | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 126,921 | -9.5 | -22.0 | 126,194 | -9.3 | -21.7 | 727 | -36.1 | -55.4 |
| Reveal | Hearst Magazines UK | 122,986 | -7.6 | -23.6 | 122,190 | -7.5 | -23.5 | 796 | -16.6 | -29.7 |
| My Weekly | D C Thomson & Co Ltd | 103,321 | 0.2 | -2.9 | 103,321 | 0.2 | -2.9 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
