The latest Average Issue Readership estimates for the 6 months from October to March 1995 show that the controversy over Sky’s high readership figures seemed justified. The male interest title, which has had a readership second only to Readers Digest, of well over 2.5 million, had its prompt card changed by NRS in October to stop any confusion between it and any satellite listings guides. The October to March figures, the first since the new card, show Sky losing 1.128 million readers, down 41.1% to 1,616,000. Sky TV Guide, which is sent to all Sky subscribers, recorded its first NRS figure of 4,594,000, putting it behind Readers’ Digest, (which recorded an AIR of 5,654,000). Sky TV Guide’s figure is double that of any other general monthly title.
Sky however, despite its 41% decrease, remains in the top 4 highest read general monthlies, behind National Geographic. The other male interest titles while still nowhere near this large readership, recorded the highest increases year on year in their AIRs; Esquire was up 35.62% to 415,000 and GQ recorded an increase in readership of 27.85% to 583,000. Loaded recorded its first readership figure, for the year to March 1995, of 343.000. Music titles fared well; Select recorded a 25% increase year on year to 360,000; Vox recorded an increase of 16.46% to 481,000 and Q recorded an increase of 14.99% to 813,000.
Apart from the male and music interest sectors, the majority of the general interest titles recorded disappointing readership figures. There were only 4 other titles to improve on the same period last year; these were Performance Bikes, up 12.85%; High Life, up 5.44%; BBC Gardeners World, up 4.86% and What HiFi, up 4.67%. Flicks recorded no change compared to the same period last year. Behind Sky, Your Garden fared worst in terms of readership, down 38.29% to 224,000. Practical Gardening lost 9.48%, falling below 1 million to 935,000. Among the motoring sector, faring worst was Popular Classics, down 34.66%. Practical Classics and Car Restorer lost 25% and What Car? lost 22.26%. BBC Top Gear however, while it has no figure for last year remains the read of the motoring titles, with an AIR of 1,573,000, just above that of What Car?.
Top 10 General Monthlies
|
Oct-Mar’94 |
Oct-Mar’95 |
% CH |
Actual Change |
| Readers Digest |
5,798,000 |
5,654,000 |
-2.48 |
-144,000 |
| Sky TV Guide |
– |
4,594,000 |
– |
– |
| National Geographic |
2,145,000 |
2,119,000 |
-1.21 |
-26,000 |
| Sky |
2,744,000 |
1,616,000 |
-41.1 |
-1,128,000 |
| BBC Top Gear |
– |
1,573,000 |
– |
– |
| What Car? |
2,021,000 |
1,571,000 |
-22.26 |
-450,000 |
| BBC Gardeners World |
1,459,000 |
1,530,000 |
4.86 |
71,000 |
| Classic Cars |
1,229,000 |
1,103,000 |
-10.25 |
-126,000 |
| Golf Monthly |
1,041,000 |
959,000 |
-7.87 |
-82,000 |
| Practical Gardening |
1,033,000 |
935,000 |
-9.48 |
-98,000 |
