Women’s Monthly Round-Up – July To December ABCs
IPC, which has the most titles of all publishing companies in the women’s monthlies magazine sector, twelve, also has the largest market share, at 32%. The National Magazine Company, with its seven titles has the next biggest share, at 26%. The only other publishing company to have a share of over 10% is Emap Elan; its seven titles give it a monthly share of 14%.
The younger end of the market continues to grow since the successful launch of Emap’s Its Bliss and Attic Futura’s Sugar. Sugar, which launched in October 1994 has recorded only its second ABC, at 318,000, and it already has a 4% share of the market.
Among the more established end of the market, the battle between Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan continues, with Marie Claire fast catching up in terms of circulation; Marie Claire recorded an increase of 5% year on year, compared to the loss of 0.9% by Cosmo, reducing the gap between the two titles to just 3,873. Gruner + Jahr’s Prima remains the market leader, with a circulation of 550,692, although this is a decrease year on year of over 68,000 copies or 11%. The next best selling monthly is Nat Mag’s Good Housekeeping.
The strongest performance came from Northern & Shell’s revamped title for the older woman, Chic, which was up by 30.5% year on year to over 56,000 copies. Other titles which have fared well in this round of ABCs compared to last year include BBC Homes and Antiques, which was up by 18.4% to over 127,000 copies; Hair Flair was up by 17.7% to over 62,000.
Most of the home interest titles either lost circulation compared to last year or remained fairly static, with the exception of Mongoose’s Inspirations for Your Home which improved circulation by over 6%. Perfect Home however, lost 26% year on year, while IPC’s Homes & Ideas, Homes and Gardens and Ideal Home all lost over 10% year on year.
Elle and She also both recorded falls, Elle down 11% to just over 205,000, and She fell 10% to just over 250,000.
DC Thomson’s teenage title Catch is the weakest title of the sector, with a circulation of 40,430, and it also recorded a drop of 22.3% year on year.
Women’s Monthly Magazines Sector: Top Fifteen Titles in Terms of Circulation
| Pub Co | Jl-Dec 94 | Jl-Dec 95 | % Ch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prima | G+J | 618,870 | 550,692 | -11 |
| Good Housekeepinig | Nat Mags | 518,435 | 488,243 | -5.8 |
| Cosmopolitan | Nat Mags | 460,582 | 456,394 | -0.9 |
| Marie Claire | IPC | 430,622 | 452,521 | 5.1 |
| Woman and Home | IPC | 435,521 | 417,119 | -4.2 |
| Essentials | IPC | 383,676 | 328,528 | -14.4 |
| House Beautiful | Nat Mags | 325,915 | 326,831 | 0.3 |
| Sugar | Attic Futura | – | 318,053 | – |
| Company | Nat Mags | 305,592 | 290,081 | -5.1 |
| New Woman | Emap Elan | 257,024 | 263,464 | 2.5 |
| Its Bliss | Emap Elan | – | 262,633 | – |
| She | Nat Mags | 281,109 | 252,046 | -10.3 |
| Homes & Ideas | IPC | 285,378 | 233,920 | -18 |
| Looks | Emap Elan | 226,080 | 221,480 | -2 |
| Nineteen | IPC | 203,163 | 216,959 | 6.8 |
Market Share By Publishing Company
| Publishing Company | No of Titles | Total Circs. | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attic | 1 | 318,053 | 4 |
| BBC | 2 | 267,409 | 3 |
| Conde Nast | 5 | 590,947 | 7 |
| DC Thomson | 2 | 82,713 | 1 |
| DMG | 1 | 75,390 | 1 |
| Emap Elan | 7 | 1,156,698 | 14 |
| G+J | 1 | 550,692 | 7 |
| Hair and Beauty Ltd | 1 | 62,930 | 1 |
| IPC | 12 | 2,594,032 | 32 |
| Mongoose | 1 | 87,641 | 1 |
| N+S | 1 | 56,257 | 1 |
| National Fed. Women | 1 | 81,112 | 1 |
| National Magazines | 7 | 2,084,019 | 26 |
| Presse | 1 | 155,788 | 2 |