Continuing the narrative of decline in the women’s weeklies market, the latest ABC circulation figures for the first half of 2019 did not paint a pretty picture.
However, despite often double-digit drops for a market that tends to shun digital, the top performing titles still maintain reasonable circulations.
Bauer Media’s Take a Break continues to lead the pack with a circulation of 432,700 despite being down -6.6% period-on-period and -8.4% year-on-year, while TI Media’s Woman’s Weekly still shifts 227,500 copies (-3.8% PoP and -5.5% YoY).
Meanwhile, Chat was down -10.5% in the first half of the year, recording a circulation of just over 182,000, followed by That’s Life with 175,200 (-8.1% PoP and -8.6% YoY).
The worst performing title was OK! Magazine with a hefty decline of -15.5% PoP and -18.5% YoY, taking the title to 126,000 copies.
Other titles in the market that suffered double-digit declines include New Magazine (-12.1% PoP), Real People (-11.6% PoP), and Bella (-11% PoP).
| Print & Digital (Gross) | Total Print Circulation | Total Digital Circulation | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Publisher | Jan – Jun 19 | % PoP | % YoY | Jan – Jun 19 | % PoP | % YoY | Jan – Jun 19 | % PoP | % YoY |
| Take A Break | Bauer Media | 432,683 | -6.6 | -8.4 | 432,683 | -6.6 | -8.4 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Womans Weekly | TI Media (UK) Ltd | 227,505 | -3.8 | -5.5 | 227,505 | -3.8 | -5.5 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Chat | TI Media (UK) Ltd | 182,045 | -10.5 | -10.3 | 182,045 | -10.5 | -10.3 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Thats Life! | Bauer Media | 175,200 | -8.1 | -8.6 | 175,200 | -8.1 | -8.6 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Closer | Bauer Media | 163,260 | -8.7 | -7.6 | 157,192 | -8.7 | -7.9 | 6,068 | -9.7 | 0.7 |
| Peoples Friend | DC Thomson Media | 162,300 | -4.2 | -6.0 | 162,300 | -4.2 | -6.0 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Bella | Bauer Media | 154,034 | -11.0 | -7.3 | 154,034 | -11.0 | -7.3 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| new! Magazine | Reach Magazines Publishing plc | 146,196 | -12.1 | -8.6 | 143,025 | -12.2 | -8.7 | 3,171 | -5.1 | -5.4 |
| OK! | Reach Magazines Publishing plc | 126,017 | -15.5 | -18.5 | 120,248 | -15.8 | -19.1 | 5,769 | -9.3 | -2.8 |
| Woman | TI Media (UK) Ltd | 124,580 | -6.4 | -11.5 | 124,580 | -6.4 | -11.5 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Womans Own | TI Media (UK) Ltd | 113,963 | -8.2 | -11.7 | 113,963 | -8.2 | -11.7 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Heat | Bauer Media | 117,452 | -5.2 | -1.0 | 112,430 | -5.5 | -1.1 | 5,022 | n/a | 1.4 |
| Best | Hearst UK | 105,954 | -6.6 | -9.8 | 101,543 | -6.8 | -10.3 | 4,411 | -0.8 | 2.2 |
| Real People | Hearst UK | 98,840 | -11.6 | -14.2 | 97,058 | -11.5 | -14.1 | 1,782 | -17.9 | -20.8 |
| Pick Me Up | TI Media (UK) Ltd | 90,156 | -10.9 | -14.9 | 90,156 | -10.9 | -14.9 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| My Weekly | DC Thomson Media | 84,047 | -6.7 | -8.7 | 82,186 | -6.8 | -8.8 | 1,861 | -2.6 | -2.1 |
| Love It! | ACH Publishing | 80,029 | -8.3 | -3.1 | 80,029 | -8.3 | -3.1 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Total | 2,584,261 | 2,556,177 | 28,084 | |||||||
Source:ABC
