Consumer ABCs January – June 2016: Round up
As the latest ABC circulation figures are released for the consumer magazine market, Newsline presents its round-up of the results. Click on the links to view the full analysis for each market, which also includes league tables and charts for Mediatel subscribers.
Women’s Lifestyle
There were some hefty declines in the women’s lifestyle magazine market for the January to June period; however, following a relaunch last year, Cosmopolitan managed to buck the trend and reported a stand-out yearly increase to its print and digital circulation.
The new “pop-up and pick-up” distribution scheme is clearly working well for the Hearst-owned title, with circulation up 60% year on year.
While John Lewis Edition remains the best performing title, the free magazine was down by almost -17% compared with the last set of figures – leaving its once-strong lead in the market looking a smidge uncertain.
Men’s Lifestyle
In a market of declines and only marginal gains, Hearst’s Esquire – although coming from a lower base – has recorded a boost in circulation of more than 10% in the first half of 2016.
The magazine brand’s total digital and print circulation hit 64,700 in the January – June 2016 period, and was up 14.5% year on year.
Elsewhere in the paid-for section of the market there was largely bad news, however. Men’s Health took a turn for the worse and dropped -7.5%, period on period, and -7% year on year. The fitness magazine has a combined print and digital circulation of 180,000.
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Women’s Weeklies
Signalling a tough period for the women’s weekly market, all titles recorded combined print and digital declines between January and June 2016 – with just one seeing a small uplift over the year.
In stark contrast to last period’s data when it celebrated the biggest increase, OK magazine saw its print and digital audience slide by -36%.
The huge audience decrease not only lost the Northern & Shell-owned title its third place position (down to 10th) but also meant that it was the worst performing title in its market by a long shot.
News & Current Affairs
The Spectator Group performed well over the January to June period, up 6% PoP and an impressive 32.4% year on year, while The Spectator (excluding Australia) was up 7% PoP and an even bigger 37.9% YoY.
Private Eye and The Week clearly have a loyal readerships – with both titles seeing no change to their circulation over the period but remaining firm favourites in the market. Private Eye currently has a circulation of 230,100, while The Week secures 204,200.
Home Interest
The first half of 2016 recorded a mixed bag of results for the Home Interest market, but overall it was a better performance than the previous period.
There was a change in the top ranked titles, with Hearst’s Country Living kicking Ideal Home off the top spot after a healthy period on period rise of 7.65% (almost matched by a 7.14% year on year increase). The title has a current circulation of almost 181,000.
Time Inc.’s Ideal Home wasn’t trailing far behind, however, and reported a 4.36% PoP rise to 179,200.
TV Listings
We’re pretty sure some people will take this as a sign that television is dying, but the entire TV listings market recorded declines – both period on period and year on year – in the latest ABC release.
Although most titles still boast extremely healthy circulations, not one title witnessed any growth – in part, perhaps, due to the absence of Christmas TV viewing. But still.