IPC Plans Specials For 1999
IPC Magazines is planning to plough another £7 million into its women’s weeklies sector by extending its Specials programme. The publisher launched Chat, Crime and Passion in February, and the group is planning around 25 Specials for the coming year.
In the pipe-line is Chat Fit & Fab, which will be on sale on 11 March for £1.10. On the same day the publisher also releases Woman’s Weekly Gardening Special, with a cover price of £1.20. Womans Weekly is one of IPC’s most popular titles, with a current circulation of 594,680 at the last ABC audit.
| ABC Period Comparisons For IPC Women’s Weeklies | ||||
| Title | Jan 98 – Jun 98 | Jul 98 – Dec 98 | Actual Change | % Ch |
| Chat | 482,143 | 497,731 | 15,588 | 3.2 |
| Now | 306,501 | 350,999 | 44,498 | 14.5 |
| Woman | 692,491 | 711,133 | 18,642 | 2.7 |
| Womans Own | 653,432 | 654,473 | 1,041 | 0.2 |
| Womans Realm | 221,838 | 197,313 | -24,525 | -11.1 |
| Womans Weekly | 609,557 | 594,680 | -14,877 | -2.4 |
| Total | 2,965,962 | 3,006,329 | 40,367 | 1.4 |
IPC recently awarded the account for its women’s weeklies sector to Mediacom TMB (see Newsline), and spent £1 million on a marketing push for the sector (see Newsline).
Linda Lancaster-Gaye, managing director of IPC’s Women’s Weeklies Group, commented: “This year we are planning around 25 Specials, and are forecasting over five and a half million copy sales and around £7 million in retail revenues. The key to the programme’s success is our editorial teams’ abilities to build on the very individual and focused brand promises of each of our titles, and therefore providing readers with extra, exciting new magazines based on their favourite titles.”
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