On Friday, we published the first set of publisher reactions. Below are statements from: Haymarket Consumer Media, ShortList magazine and Stylist magazine.
Haymarket Consumer Media
Haymarket Consumer Media has confirmed its position as the UK’s leading specialist automotive publisher as its flagship motoring titles Autocar and What Car? posted healthy magazine sales figures in the latest ABC results, while achieving record numbers online.
Car magazine sales
Overall, Haymarket Motoring now reaches 6.2 million* car buyers and enthusiasts each month in print and online, an increase of 21% year on year. It includes the brands What Car?, PistonHeads, Autocar and Classic & Sports Car.
Despite a challenging six months for new car sales, Autocar magazine maintained circulation at the same level as the July-December audit period, a significant achievement in a declining market. What Car? posted a year-on-year decline of 3%, which is expected to outstrip the motoring market as a whole.
Classic & Sports Car retained its position as the number one choice for enthusiasts in the prestige classic motor sector, heavily outselling all of its competitors.
Classic & Sports Car is one of the top three monthly car magazines in the UK, and is also the best selling classic car magazine in the world. May saw the launch of classicandsportscar.com, and the new website is already showing significant growth.
Gadget magazine sales
Haymarket’s market leading gadget magazine, Stuff, remains a top 10 men’s lifestyle magazine, outselling brands such as Esquire and Loaded. Circulation was down 6% year on year, still well ahead of nearest rival T3.
Football magazine sales
The hangover from the poor England performance at the World Cup contributed to a period on period fall of 11% for specialist football title FourFourTwo. However, recent issues suggest that this trend is reversing with the brand’s biggest-ever season preview issue now on sale, and Haymarket is confident of significant growth over the next six months in the lead up to Euro 2012.
Detailed analysis of ABC results shows that, as a group, Haymarket continues to focus on circulation figures that are based on an active purchase, with few bulk copies and heavily discounted subscriptions.
Haymarket is one of the first publishers to adopt the new ABC certificate format, which includes digital editions, which are accounted for separately.
Quotes
David Prasher, managing director, Haymarket Consumer Media: “Our robust ABC performance has come from our long term investment in producing high quality, highly targeted, specialist magazines. Our brands have outperformed the market in many sectors. Our success with subscriptions, which make up nearly 40% of paid circulation, and where revenue has grown year on year, shows how much we are valued by our most loyal customers.
“We’re able to demonstrate to our advertisers that this approach continues to deliver engaged audiences with which they can connect and this becomes even more compelling as Haymarket’s multi-faceted brands grow their digital audiences.
“Newstrade circulation is an important indicator, but only part of the picture: overall, Haymarket Consumer Media achieved significant growth so far this year, a clear indication of the health and success of our consumer brands in all formats.”
Patrick Fuller, Group Director, Haymarket Motoring: “Our mission is to produce magazines that our readers love and our editorial teams should be proud of these strong ABC results. Haymarket Motoring now reaches an amazing six million car buyers and enthusiasts a month, a figure which is still growing strongly and reinforces our leadership in the specialist automotive market.”
Alastair Lewis, Publisher, Autocar: “We published our record-breaking 5000th road test this year and have led the way with our coverage of high profile launches such as the McLaren MP4-12C and Range Rover Evoque. It’s clear that Autocar remains the premium weekly title for car enthusiasts.”
Andrew Golby, Publishing Director, What Car?: “It’s another strong market-beating sales story for What Car? Private buyers are thin on the ground at the moment, although the fleet market is recovering well. But regardless of buyer type, we remain the number one title for those researching a new or nearly-new car purchase. Our depth of coverage and expertise is becoming increasingly difficult to match, and we have plans to make life even tougher for our competitors. With a number of big new car launches in the second half of 2011 we’re confident of another strong performance over the next six months.”
Tim Bulley, Publishing Director, Classic & Sports Car: “Classic & Sports Car is up there with Top Gear and What Car? as a top three monthly motoring magazine in the UK and is by far the best selling classic car magazine in the world. This year we have continued to invest in the brand with the launch of a new website to ensure that Classic & Sports Car is the number one choice for classic motoring enthusiasts everywhere.&rdquo
Martyn Jones, Publishing Director, Stuff: “Stuff remains in great shape and we are pleased with our resilient performance. Retail conditions for both magazines and consumer electronics are challenging but we continue to invest and anticipate strong growth in the second half of the year.”
Martyn Jones, Publishing Director, FourFourTwo: “Despite post World Cup fan apathy, exacerbated by a challenging retail environment, we are pleased with our performance and have seen an encouraging increase in sales over the past 3 months. We anticipate significant growth in both our newsstand and online readership as FourFourTwo prepares for Euro 2012 and the London Olympics.”
* Figure based on unique users across Haymarket Motoring brands in June 2011 plus magazine sales. It does not include NRS readership figures or possible duplication across brands.
ShortList magazine
ShortList magazine today announces its new official ABC figure of 523,665 for the six months between Jan-Jun 2011.
An all-too-rare success story within the men’s magazine sector, this represents an increase of 1.1% year-on-year and 0.4% period-on-period, and is ShortList’s seventh consecutive ABC increase since its launch in September 2007.
These results are testament to ShortList’s commitment to intelligent editorial, sophisticated content, iconic covers and stunning visuals.
ShortList’s mix of news, sport, style, entertainment, technology and business has already made it Britain’s biggest men’s magazine, with a volume market share now in excess of 40%.
During this six-month period, the magazine’s cover stars included the likes of physicist Professor Brian Cox, Labour leader Ed Miliband, businessman Nick Hewer, politician Silvio Berlusconi, director David Lynch and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Meanwhile, major editorial initiatives included special features on art, architecture, literature, entrepreneurship and a nationwide screenwriting competition.
ShortList’s success indicates that the era of “boobs and beer” is now over. The brand shows you can succeed in attracting quality readers and advertisers with publishing innovation and editorial ingenuity.
Editor Martin Robinson comments: “In seeking to explore the changed values, concerns and desires of modern men, ShortList has clearly made a connection with a massive readership who have previously felt ignored, patronised or bored by the stuck-in-the-past men’s magazine market in the UK. The word is out about ShortList and it’s just getting bigger and bigger.”
CEO Mike Soutar says: “ShortList’s continued distribution increases are a good result both for us and for print media in general. This is proof that the right magazine, with the right approach to reaching its reader can still find an audience. ShortList shows that modern men want a title they can read with pride in public.”
Jan Pitt, Group Executive Director, Client Services, ABC comments, “It’s great to see ShortList report another set of ABC figures that show growth both year on year and period on period. We are delighted to continue to provide our stamp of trust which helps Shortlist trade using comparable, transparent, industry standard data.”
Stylist magazine
Award-winning women’s weekly title Stylist announces its official new ABC figure of 426,396 for the period Jan-Jun 2011, confirming the title’s increasing power and influence over the women’s magazine sector.
This represents an increase of 1.2% year-on-year and 0.5% period-on-period – and is the third consecutive rise since Stylist’s launch in October 2009.
Stylist aims to give intelligent career women a magazine that matches their IQ. Unlike its rivals, it doesn’t rely on gossip or paparazzi pictures.
This six-month period has seen it launch its first business column and a series of networking events for female entrepreneurs. The team decamped to the French capital for a special Paris edition and published its biggest fashion issue yet - a 100-page glossy edition featuring three separate ballet-inspired covers. Rankin has shot Stylist’s cover and illustrator Quentin Blake designed a bespoke edition.
Stylist was named Britain’s best new magazine at the British Society of Magazine Editors awards in 2010. The upmarket “freemium” title has now strengthened its market position, and its momentum continues to grow.
Editor Lisa Smosarski comments, “Stylist has an almost cult following among its readers. The first half of this year has seen the magazine become an even more powerful advocate for smart, working women. We will continue to provoke and surprise in what can sometimes seem a very conservative sector.”
CEO Mike Soutar comments, “No longer just an innovative launch, Stylist is a fully-formed market-transforming phenomenon. We have exciting plans to continue to grow its scale and influence.”
Jan Pitt, Group Executive Director, Client Services, ABC adds, “Congratulations to the Stylist team, we are thrilled to again provide our stamp of trust to their distribution, ensuring Stylist can trade effectively with comparable, transparent and accountable data, agreed to industry standards.”
