Television Listings Magazines – Cable Guide Leads The Way
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a satellite title, Sky TV Guide, that showed the highest circulation figure for the January-June 1998 ABC period. Cable Guide continues its growth showing the greatest percentage increase in circulation compared to last year’s figures.
Cable Guide experienced a massive 45.6% increase, putting it in third place in the circulation battles within this sector. This growth will essentially mirror the take-up of cable services as the magazine is distributed by cable operators to their subscribers.
Of the 10 other titles only 3 – Whats on TV, TV Hits and TV and Satellite Week – experienced an increase in their circulation.
TV Listings Magazines Jan-Jun 1998 ABC YoY Comparisons
| Title | Jan 97 – Jun 97 | Jan 98 – Jun 98 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Cable Guide | 1,101,251 | 1,603,006 | 501,755 | 45.56 |
| Live & Kicking | 231,884 | 215,205 | -16,679 | -7.19 |
| Radio Times | 1,400,270 | 1,400,095 | -175 | -0.01 |
| RTE Guide | 162,457 | 155,896 | -6,561 | -4.04 |
| Sky TV Guide | 3,491,173 | 3,571,949 | 80,776 | 2.31 |
| TV & Satellite Week | 195,126 | 198,049 | 2,923 | 1.5 |
| TV Hits | 274,115 | 281,889 | 7,774 | 2.84 |
| TV Times | 892,760 | 835,560 | -57,200 | -6.41 |
| Weekly News | 219,890 | 195,056 | -24,834 | -11.29 |
| What Satellite | 52,201 | 45,954 | -6,247 | -11.97 |
| Whats On TV | 1,702,184 | 1,750,167 | 47,983 | 2.82 |
(Note: Weekly News only carries listings in Scotland; the rest of the country has TV-related features).
The Radio Times has held very steady year on year, selling just over 1.4 million copies. TV Times, on the other hand, sold almost 60,000 fewer copies than this time last year, leaving its circulation at 835,000.
With the onset of Digital TV in September some of these magazines will certainly have their work cut out to remain dominant players in this market – particularly in the face of digital’s electronic programme guides (EPGs).
It has also been announced that Sky is to create the first digital listings magazine to coincide with the launch of Sky Digital on 1 October. The Sky Digital TV Guide will be published by Redwood Publishing, which already publishes the Sky TV Guide.