Consumer ABCs: Women’s market

Unsurprisingly, with the nation in lockdown for much of it, the last six months were less than kind to the women’s magazine market. Almost all titles saw their circulations drop significantly, both over the period and over the year.

Only Bauer Media’s Take a Break Monthly magazine and The Stylist Group’s freebie magazine Stylist managed to hold more or less steady during the storm, maintaining circulations of just over 175,000 and almost 402,000, respectively.

Of those titles which elected to report their H1 figures, Heat and Closer were hit the worst. The former was down -30.58% over the period to a circulation of 78,290, while the latter dropped -22.81% to 119,931.

However, both titles also saw their digital circulations grow substantially, up 50% and 28.16%, respectively – although it was not enough to offset declines in print.

But, perhaps as a result of early lockdown’s exercise restrictions and a housebound nation, it was Slimming World Magazine that saw the most impressive digital growth. The title’s digital circulation shot up 1,194% to 61,908, going some way to offset a -23.97% decline in print.

Overall, the title recorded a circulation of 434,105, down -12.18% over the first half of the year.