As the latest ABC circulation figures are released for the consumer magazine market, Mediatel News presents its round-up of the results. Click on the links to view the full analysis for each market, which also includes league tables and charts for subscribers.
Women’s Lifestyle
Only three of 17 titles in the women’s lifestyle magazine market managed to record any period-on-period circulation growth during the first six months of the year.
Conde Nast’s Tatler saw its total print and digital circulation rise a marginal 0.1% to 79,100, while The Stylist Group’s flagship title, Stylist, grew 0.2% to 404,400. Hearst’s Harper’s Bazaar recorded the largest growth over H1, up 1.1% to a total circulation of 117,600.
Meanwhile, market leader Good Housekeeping saw its circulation fall -6.4% over the period and -1.4% over the year, totalling just under 423,000.
Read the full article.
Men’s Lifestyle
Hearst’s Men’s Health magazine now leads the men’s lifestyle market, following the death of freebie mag ShortList late last year.
But the magazine had a tough first half of the year, with circulation falling -11.4% to just over 130,000 – a drop of -11.0% year-on-year.
Conde Nast’s GQ also saw its circulation tumble (-6.3% PoP and YoY to 103,100), while Esquire dropped -5.0% over the period and -7.3% over the year to 56,000.
However, bucking the trend, Square Mile magazine managed to grow its circulation 0.2% PoP and 1.4% YoY to 59,400.
Read the full article.
Women’s Weeklies
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.
Read the full article.
News & Current Affairs
The Economist remains the UK’s best-selling news and current affairs title according to the latest ABC figures – holding steady with its circulation, despite a price rise in March.
The title’s global print and digital circulation was essentially flat on the previous period at 1,657,800, while the UK edition circulation (ex-Ireland) was up 1.4% to 302,300.
Meanwhile, Private Eye, which places second in the rankings, also held steady, proving that people are still seeking out satire in politically ridiculous times. The print magazine was down a marginal -0.1% PoP and -0.6% YoY to a total circulation of 233,600.
Elsewhere, Dennis’ The Week Junior once again recorded the strongest growth out of all titles in the market, up 15.8% in H1 and 18.3% YoY to a total print circulation of 70,100.
Read the full article.
TV Listings
Suffering from the post-Christmas decline, no title in the TV listings market was able to record growth in the first half of 2019.
However, the top performing magazines – all still print-only – draw sizeable circulations.
Continuing to lead the market with a circulation of 1.12m, Bauer’s TV Choice witnessed a period-on-period decline of -3.4% in H1 and -3.8% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, TI Media’s What’s on TV, ranked second in the market, was down -5.5% PoP to 778,300, while Immediate Media’s Radio Times, the third most popular magazine, suffered a more serious decline of -10.5%, taking its circulation down to just under 520,000.
Read the full article.
Home Interest
Britain remains a nation of gardeners, it seems, with Immediate Media’s BBC Gardeners’ World recording double-digit growth in the first half of 2019.
ABC circulation figures show the title was up 20.2% period-on-period to a total circulation of 204,600 (with the majority in print).
The magazine was one of six titles to record period-on-period growth, with Elle Decoration (+0.10%), Garden Answers (+17.6%), Garden News (+7.5%), Style at Home (+6.3%) and Homes and Interiors Scotland (+21.6%) all enjoying a positive start to the year.
Elsewhere, however, there were some disappointing results…
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