NRS Advance Figures Apr’91-Sep’91
Topline NRS trends Apr’91-Sep’91 vs Apr’90-Sep’90
Commentary
National Newspapers
The NRS Average Issue Readership figures, for April-September’91, show that, among the national daily newspapers, only the quality titles are resisting the general downward trend.
The Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Financial Times all recorded year-on- year increases for this period. The largest rise was for the Daily Telegraph, up by 8.5% on the same period last year. The Evening Standard also gained readership, up by 3.7%.
All the other national newspapers lost readership. The Sun remains below the 10m mark, falling by 2.2% year-on-year. Readership for the Daily Mirror dropped by 800,000 to 7989,000.
Among the Sunday newspapers the Independent on Sunday experienced the largest increase, up by 22.0% on April- September’90. Other notable increases were for the Sunday Express (+5.0%) and Sunday Times (+3.1%).
The Sunday Telegraph, in direct contrast to the daily paper, recorded the largest fall in readership among the Sundays, down by 15.0%.
The People continued its downward slide, falling 13.3%, as did the Sunday Sport, which fell 7.2%.
Colour Supplements
The two popular Sunday supplements, the News of the World’s Sunday and the Sunday Mirror Magazine, once again recorded falls in readership. Sunday fell 4.4% and the Sunday Mirror Magazine fell 3.8%.
The mid-market supplements faired best, with the Sunday Express Magazine increasing its readership by 6.0% and the Mail on Sunday’s You increasing its readership by a more modest 0.6%.
ES, the Evening Standard’s monthly magazine, experienced a substantial loss during this period, with readership falling by 17.0% year-on- year.
General Weeklies
With no six-monthly figures being released for the TV listings magazines, Exchange and Mart leads the table for the general weekly magazines. It recorded a readership of 1566,000, up by 8.2% on the previous year.
General weeklies which recorded substantial increases include Amateur Gardening (+39.1%), Country Life (+42.2%), Number One (+39.2%) and Daltons Weekly (+37.7%).
Punch, which had previously been losing readership, increased by 8.5% to 305,000.
Of those which lost readership, most notable were Investors Chronicle (-20.8%) and Shooting Times and Country Magazine (-19.8%), which now occupy the bottom two positions in the general weeklies table.
Women’s Weeklies
The top three titles in this group have once again recorded readership increases. Woman’s Own, which leads the group, rose by 10% to 3535,000, while Bella and Woman rose by 4.5% and 2.5% respectively.
Take a Break, which has no figures for comparison, has moved into fourth place increasing its readership on January- June’91.
Hello’s readership reached the 1m mark in this period, up by 68.2% on April- September’90.
Woman’s Weekly (-10.2%), Me (-8.3%) and My Weekly (-2.5%), were among those losing readership in this group.
Women’s Monthlies
Prima continues to head the women’s monthly field with a readership of 2165,000, up by 1.8% on the same period last year.
Good Housekeeping increased its readership by 24.3%, moving into second place above Woman & Home, which rose by 1%. Several titles in this field recorded large increases during this period. House Beautiful, which for the first time has a figure for comparison, rose by 59.4% on April-September’90. Health and Fitness Magazine rose by 42.9%, Tatler rose by 51.4% and World of Interiors rose by 67.5%.
Other titles with notable increases include ’19’, Marie Claire, Here’s Health and Traditional Homes.
The four Argus Romance titles have all once again lost readership. The group has recently announced a restructure which is aimed at giving each title its own identity, in an effort to prevent their circulation and readership declining further. During this period readership for Woman’s Story fell 35.9%, True Romances fell 27.7%, True Story fell 16.0% and Love Story fell 9.5%.
Other women’s monthlies which experienced falls in readership include Mother and Baby (-17.2%), Parents (-16.4%), Home and Country (-28.8%) and Loving (-17.2%).
General Monthlies
Readers Digest leads this field with a readership of 5758,000. It is followed by TV Guide, with a figure of 2671,000, which has changed frequency from a weekly to a monthly. Although this title has no figures for a year-on-year comparison, its readership increased by over 650,000 on January-June’91.
This period sees the first published readership figures for BBC Gardeners World and Satellite TV Europe. Both titles have recorded high levels of readership.
BBC Gardeners’ World, with a figure of 1577,000, is placed fourth in the table and Satellite TV Europe, with a a figure of 1302,000, is placed fifth.
As a whole the motoring and motor cycling magazines have continued with their downward trend, although there are one or two notable exceptions. Fast Lane recorded a readership increase of 24.6% and Classic Bike recorded an increase of 12.4%.
The men’s magazines also continued their downward slide, Knave’s readership fell 28.5% and Penthouse fell 18.5%.
The music/style magazines Sky and Q both recorded substantial gains, increasing by 30.5% and 49.8% respectively.
Select recorded its first readership figure of 432,000, entering the table slightly ahead of Vox which has a readership of 416,000.
Other monthly titles that recorded notable increases include the film/ cinema titles Empire and Flicks. Readership for Flicks increased by 36.7% to 390,000, while Empire’s readership increased by 62.1% to 261,000.