ABC: Men’s Market Totters; CosmoGirl! Makes 170,000 Debut

Today’s release of new consumer magazine circulation figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) have confirmed the worst for the once-vibrant Men’s Lifstyle market. A year on year fall of 11.2% overall included a heavy loss of 20.4% for market leader, Emap’s FHM. Condé Nast’s GQ, Dennis’ Maxim and IPC’s Loaded were also among those suffering double digit year on year percentage falls.

In the last set of ABC figures it was the Women’s Monthly sector that had new life breathed into it, with the debut audit of Condé’s Glamour (see Glamour Makes Stunning 450,000 ABC Debut). The title managed to hold onto its 400,000+ figure this time, although period on period it saw a small decrease and it was still beaten to the top spot by the now nearly-30-year-old Cosmopolitan, which, with 463,010 compared to Glamour’s 436,579 holds a reasonable lead.

In fact, it was Cosmo’s little sister that proved a success story in this audit period. Entering a teenage market so tired that every other title saw a year on year loss, the three-month-old “baby glossy” registered an initial circulation figure of 170,629, effectively eliminating the market’s year on year loss and securing a middle position, ahead of IPC’s Mizz and only just behind Emap’s J17.

Elsewhere, Emap’s celebrity success story Heat continues to go from strength to strength, despite increasing numbers of imitators, with a year on year increase of more than 100% and a period on period increase above 50%. However, the more established celebrity titles showed signs of weakness as Northern & Shell’s OK! slipped 16.9% year on year. The renewed interest in heavy metal music brought on by bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit also benefited Emap’s music title Kerrang, which saw a year on year increase of 63.5%.

The full concurrently released figures will be available in MediaTel’s Press database after the embargo time of 5pm today. Analysis of the figures by major sector will appear on MediaTel NewsLine throughout tomorrow. Please note that all figures listed in the NewsLine reports are those reported by ABC as at Thursday 14 February 2002. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date and will be added to MediaTel’s Press database. Further information on how NewsLine reports are compiled is available by Important Notes: ABC Jul-Dec 2001.

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