Consumer ABCs: Women’s Weeklies
2017 opened with widespread declines in the Women’s Weeklies magazine market. That trend continued in the second half of the year.
First the good news: Take a Break Series – the special editions of the mag – was up almost 29% period-on-period to 212,500. The special editions were also up 25% year-on-year.
Bella from Bauer Media also recorded a boost (+1.5%), as did ACH Publishing’s Love It! (+2%).
The rest of the market only recorded declines. Still, the bestselling title, Take a Break, has a healthy circulation of almost 500,000 despite a -3% PoP decline and a YoY drop of more than -8%.
In second place, Woman’s Weekly was down -4.4% in the second half of the year to 255,200, while Chat was down -1.3% to 222,300.
Some of the worst performing titles in the second half of the year were Woman’s Own (-10%) and New! (-7%).
| Print & Digital (Gross) | Total Print Circulation | Total Digital Circulation | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Publisher | Dec end 17 | % PoP | % YoY | Dec end 17 | % PoP | % YoY | Dec end 17 | % PoP | % YoY |
| Take a Break | Bauer Media | 497,349 | -3.43 | -8.37 | 497,349 | -3.43 | -8.37 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Woman’s Weekly | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 255,288 | -4.42 | -7.57 | 255,288 | -4.42 | -7.57 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Chat | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 222,344 | -1.37 | -10.45 | 222,344 | -1.37 | -10.45 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Take a Break Series | Bauer Media | 212,560 | 28.79 | 25.00 | 212,560 | 28.79 | 25.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| That’s Life | Bauer Media | 203,031 | -0.51 | -6.59 | 203,031 | -0.51 | -6.59 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Closer | Bauer Media | 189,577 | -3.34 | -15.12 | 184,476 | -3.73 | -16.08 | 5,101 | 13.23 | 44.71 |
| The People’s Friend | DC Thomson Media | 179,640 | -3.84 | -7.55 | 179,640 | -3.84 | -7.55 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| New! | Northern & Shell Magazines Ltd | 170,887 | -7.14 | -17.07 | 167,624 | -7.10 | -17.61 | 3,263 | -8.88 | 24.83 |
| Woman | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 166,573 | -9.41 | -19.97 | 166,573 | -9.41 | -19.97 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| OK! Magazine | Northern & Shell PLC | 165,583 | -2.73 | -12.51 | 159,242 | -3.20 | -13.55 | 6,341 | 10.80 | 25.12 |
| Bella | Bauer Media | 164,051 | 1.49 | -1.14 | 164,051 | 1.49 | -1.14 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Woman’s Own | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 153,354 | -10.00 | -17.18 | 153,354 | -10.00 | -17.18 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Best | Hearst Magazines UK | 126,862 | -2.79 | -9.15 | 123,615 | -3.39 | -10.36 | 3,247 | 27.13 | 87.47 |
| Real People | Hearst Magazines UK | 121,842 | -2.42 | -13.10 | 119,745 | -2.94 | -13.91 | 2,097 | 40.93 | 85.41 |
| Heat | Bauer Media | 119,853 | -0.27 | -12.18 | 114,838 | -1.08 | -14.26 | 5,015 | 22.92 | 97.67 |
| Pick Me Up | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 119,764 | -1.43 | -11.69 | 119,764 | -1.43 | -11.69 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Star | Northern & Shell PLC | 102,825 | -4.65 | -16.15 | 101,523 | -4.55 | -16.36 | 1,302 | -11.73 | 4.83 |
| My Weekly | DC Thomson Media | 96,527 | -2.31 | -5.21 | 95,042 | -2.63 | -6.02 | 1,485 | 23.24 | 110.34 |
| Reveal | Hearst Magazines UK | 95,018 | -5.63 | -15.02 | 91,623 | -6.52 | -16.65 | 3,395 | 27.30 | 80.11 |
| Love It! | ACH Publishing | 84,465 | 1.97 | 2.09 | 84,465 | 1.97 | 2.09 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Now | Time Inc. (UK) Ltd | 78,619 | -9.46 | -25.08 | 78,619 | -9.46 | -25.08 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| The Lady | The Lady | 25,067 | n/a | -5.30 | 23,650 | n/a | -7.49 | 1,417 | n/a | 56.92 |
| Total | n/a | 3,551,079 | n/a | n/a | 3,518,416 | n/a | n/a | 32,663 | n/a | n/a |
