Mike Matthew’s IPC Magazines is planning a grand promotional push this Autumn, featuring revamps, freebies and extensive advertising all to the tune of £7.5 million (see Newsline). In view of the latest ABC figures on many IPC titles, the group is going to need all the pushing it can get, as the January-June 1998 data show multiple decreases in circulation year on year.
This report is significant for IPC as it exactly covers the first six months of the company as an independent publisher. The management buy-out, which was announced in January this year, left Mike Matthew as chief executive at which time the company promised launches which would take the number of IPC titles over 100 by the year 2000. However, since then IPC Magazines has, as a whole, lost circulation where other publishing groups, including EMAP, NatMags and the BBC, have generally gained. Matthew was not available to comment on the ABCs when contacted by Newsline, although IPC’s official line remains very optimistic.
The most dramatic decreases in circulation were displayed by Soccerstars and Eva, which showed massive year on year falls. Soccerstar fell 30.6% to 40,208, and Eva dropped 29.5% of its circulation, bottoming out at 152,800. Other titles which lost over 10% of their circulation include Melody Maker, NME, Shoot and Women’s Journal.
The most impressive improvement in circulation was achieved by the seemingly unstoppable Loaded, which gathered a massive 20% increase. In fact, only Loaded and teen mag 19 have looked healthy in the last six months.
Despite this, IPC is optimistic about the future and has ambitious plans for many of its titles. In terms of investment, editorial quality and marketing are at the top of the agenda, and Matthew has announced 17 new titles for launch during the spring/summer period next year. Brand new development also forms part of the plan, and TV campaigns are planned for the ailing Woman and Chat.
IPC’s strategy also includes the launch of masthead TV programmes, which are being developed for the titles Women’s Own and Loaded. Loaded as a brand has certainly shown its strength lately, with its website Uploaded being ‘the most successful UK lifestyle site’; nme.com, despite the fall in its printed version sales, is also the country’s busiest music website.
Sly Bailey, managing director of the TV weeklies group, said of the future: “New projects are currently in progress across the entire portfolio, with increased emphasis being placed on using IPC’s core consumer publishing competencies as the platform for development to grow the business still further”, stressing that although it may be bruised, IPC Magazines is most certainly not beaten.
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