16 Feb 2006 | Sarah Pearce

ABC Results Jul-Dec 2005:Women’s Weeklies Market Fuelled By Gossip

The women’s weekly magazines market continues to thrive, with the latest set of ABC figures for July to December showing sizeable gains across the market, indicating the nation’s thirst for celebrity news.

Natmags Reveal enjoyed the largest percentage increase, pushing its circulation up by 44% year on year, with the title now commanding a circulation of 345,502.

This success was mirrored in Emap’s rival gossip magazine, Closer, seeing a 14.7% rise, adding almost 74,000 to its circulation and reaching a total of 578,337.

OK put in a strong performance for Northern & Shell, with the publication enjoying the largest actual increase in circulation. The 22.7% year on year rise resulted in an extra 120,285 being added to its circulation, currently standing at 649,777.

H Bauer’s Take A Break retained its position as the market leader, with the real-life magazine commanding a circulation of 1,155,886, despite suffering a year on year drop of 5.5%.

The German publisher’s other offerings, Thats Life! continued its downward trend, dipping by 8.6% year on year, while Bella also performed poorly, dropping by 11% year on year.

IPC Media saw declines in the women’s weekly magazine sector, with Chat, Woman, Womans Own and Womans Weekly all losing circulation.

Woman saw the biggest decline in the market, down by 13.5% year on year, losing 71,240 to command a circulation of 456,524. Chat, Womans Own and Womans Weekly lost 5.3% 8.9% and 7.4% year on year, respectively.

Emap, with its newest offering, Grazia continued to do well, adding 15,626 to its circulation from the January to June ABCs, with the publication now commanding a circulation of 170,783. Heat also managed to push its circulation up, enjoying a year on year increase of 4.2%.

Elsewhere, My Weekly dipped by 13% year on year, with DC Thompson & Co’s other offering, Peoples Friend, continuing the downwards trend, losing 3.7% year on year.

The figures listed in NewsLine’s ABC reports are those reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) as at Thursday 16 February 2006. Late submissions and changes may be made after this date, and will thereafter be amended in MediaTel’s Press database.


Women’s Weekly Magazines: Jul-Dec 2005 Year On Year Comparisons
Title	Publishing Company	Jul-Dec 04	Jul-Dec 05	Actual Change	% Change
Bella	H Bauer Publishing	428,028	380,973	-47,055	-11.0
Best	ACP Natmag	411,060	400,807	-10,253	-2.5
Chat	IPC	636,310	602,308	-34,002	-5.3
Closer	Emap	504,350	578,337	73,987	14.7
Full House	Hubert Burda Media UK	n/a	235,787	n/a	n/a
Grazia	Emap	n/a	170,783	n/a	n/a
Heat	Emap Entertainment	552,215	575,267	23,052	4.2
Hello!	Hello! Ltd	382,391	390,622	8,231	2.2
The Lady	The Lady	35,013	33,107	-1,906	-5.4
My Weekly	DC Thompson & Co	244,218	212,574	-31,644	-13.0
new!	Northern & Shell	396,079	426,161	30,082	7.6
Now	IPC	619,186	577,818	-41,368	-6.7
OK	Northern & Shell	529,492	649,777	120,285	22.7
Peoples Friend	DC Thompson & Co	372,743	359,104	-13,639	-3.7
Pick Me Up	IPC	n/a	491,669	n/a	n/a
Reveal	ACP Natmag Ltd	239,907	345,502	105,595	44.0
Star	Northern & Shell	211,551	213,594	2,043	1.0
Take A Break	H Bauer Publishing	1,222,774	1,155,886	-66,888	-5.5
Thats Life!	H Bauer Publishing	601,806	550,036	-51,770	-8.6
Woman	IPC	527,764	456,524	-71,240	-13.5
Womans Own	IPC	449,688	409,616	-40,072	-8.9
Womans Weekly	IPC	447,696	414,778	-32,918	-7.4
Total		8,812,271	9,631,030	818,759	9.3