ABC consumer magazines concurrent release for the period January-June 2006
View the top 100 selling magazines [PDF]
View the top 100 circulating magazines [PDF]
The full concurrent release is available from www.abc.org.uk
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Consumer magazine market grows by 51m copies according to ABCs
ABC figures released today reveal that the total volume of consumer magazines circulated over the past 12 months increased by an impressive 51m copies or 3.5 per cent. The number of copies actively purchased in the last 12 months increased by 12.3m copies or one per cent as the weeklies market continues to show impressive results.
The Women’s Interest: Women’s Weeklies sector has risen by 6.6 per cent overall. Outstanding performers include Reveal, again performing confidently with a 25.3 per cent increase year-on-year, New with a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent and Star up 47.4 per cent year-on-year. Other strong performers include Closer with a 9.3 per cent increase, Heat with a 3.5 per cent and Hello! with a 2.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Debut figure’s for Love It’s and Real People showed circulations of 405,441 and 318,105 respectively.
In the Women’s Lifestyle Fashion, Easy Living and Grazia, posting its second ABC result, showed confident increases of 17 percent and 12.9 per cent respectively.
TV Choice moves up the overall rankings from third to the second biggest actively purchased title. Sales have increased by 130,000 copies year-on-year to 1,286,385 copies, a rise of 11.2 per cent.
Rock Music titles have had a good year with an increase of 2.7 per cent year-on-year. Outstanding performers in this sector, all showing double digit growth, are Classic Rock up 26.4 per cent year-on-year, Kerrang! up 24.2 per cent and Metal Hammer up 12.7 per cent year-on-year. Mojo also showed a healthy growth of 6.2 per cent year-on-year.
Total subscription sales have increased by five per cent or 6.8m copies per annum and subscriptions now account for 11.8 per cent of total sales up from 11.3 per cent 12 months ago.
Other strong performers showing double digit year-on-year growth in sales include Ace showing an increase of 34 per cent, Shout up 23 per cent, Stuff up 20 per cent, Four Four Two up 18.5 per cent, Real Homes up 15.4 per cent, Olive up 12 per cent, Money Week up 11.8 per cent, The Week continuing to rise with a 11.3 per cent increase and Men’s Fitness up 10.4 per cent.
However, this latest series of circulation figures do not highlight the success many of the sectors are experiencing as a result of expanding their brands beyond the printed page. Many markets are increasingly looking at developing their brands across mutli-media platforms to give consumers the content they want in the format they want.
PPA will be pushing for a better understanding of the success of this strategy and will be working closely with ABC to endeavour to make these expansions into other media measurable. Martyn Gates, director of newspapers & consumer magazines at ABC, says “Publishers continue to evolve the way they deliver content to their customers. Working with the industry, ABC is looking at ways to measure and report multiple platforms and brands to ensure that both buyers and sellers of advertising continue to have a transparent and independent currency.”
Phil Cutts, director of marketing at PPA Marketing comments,
“Overall the magazine market continues to grow with new titles helping drive the industry forward. The buoyant weekly sector has also ensured a spectacular growth in the volume of magazines purchased. Calculations by PPA of the latest ABC figures show that the total volume of magazines actively purchased over the last 12 months was up one per cent or 12.3m copies.”
Cutts continued “Further analysis shows that magazine circulation has increased by 51m copies over the last 12 months. This continues a five year trend of continued growth in magazine sales as recently demonstrated by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) over a period where most other media have experienced falling readership or audience figures. Clearly, magazines as a medium continue to engage with consumers – which will be welcome news for advertisers and brands in the current media climate where engagement is at a premium.”
Commenting on the release, Nik Vyas, Group press director at ZenithOptimedia, said "Weekly magazines continue to occupy their position as the primary engine of growth in the magazine market. Immediacy is the now the chief currency in media and the relentless rise of weekly titles reflects this. Their success is fuelling innovation is highlighted by the number of launches already this year – Love It, Real People, First; and there’s a heavy schedule of weekly launches pencilled in for this autumn."
He continued "A key feature of the market is that it continues to segment and new sub-sectors such as women’s weekly fashion and beauty (Grazia) and women’s weekly current affairs/general interest (First) are emerging. Magazines continue to evolve, proving remarkably resilient to the growth of digital media and proving magazines can still reflect the prevailing zeitgeist in a manner that is relevant and attractive to today’s consumers."