Below are statements about their ABC results from: Bauer Media, H Bauer Publishing, Condé Nast, Dennis Publishing, Egmont Publishing, Good Homes, Hearst Magazines UK, HELLO! Fashion Monthly, Immediate Media Co, Prospect, ShortList Media, Slimming World, The Spectator, Square Up Media, Time Inc UK.
Bauer Media
Bauer Media’s print brands have delivered strong ABC performances this period. The portfolio, encompassing some of the UK’s best-known magazines, delivers entertaining, engaging and inspirational content for advertisers and audiences wherever, whenever and however they want it.
Commenting on the figures, Chief Executive, Paul Keenan said: “Bauer Media is committed to constantly evolving its influential magazine media brands, investing in talented people and exploring innovative product development to deliver originated, curated, high-value content.”
Highlights this period:
* Empire dominates the film market increasing its pop circulation by 1.58%.
* Yours has posted another market-beating performance with increases pop (0.96%) and yoy (0.10%).
* heat and Closer record market-beating performances and grow share in the celebrity market.
* Impressive increases for Garden News and Garden Answers, up 13.61% and 16.58% pop respectively.
* Top Santé records 10.6% pop increase.
MARKET-BEATING PERFORMANCES FOR CELEBRITY WEEKLIES
Bauer Media’s influential celebrity weekly titles have recorded market-beating performances in the highly completive celebrity weekly sector. Closer and heat are now reaching more people than ever before across their multiple-platforms.
Closer (w) – 283,608 (print + digital)
Closer has become the highest selling title in the sector, regaining its number one position and outperforming the market both pop and yoy. The strength of the Closer brand lies in its breath of content as a modern women’s weekly. Closeronline recorded significant growth up 11% pop and 19% yoy, reaching an average of 1.24m global UUs each month.
heat (w) – 185,355 (print + digital)
heat has grown share in this period and now has 7 million consumer touchpoints across its multiple platforms. heat continues to build on its entertainment credentials both as a voice within the entertainment industry and as a key influencer and guide for its consumers. The popular culture brand offers commercial partners a unique opportunity to forge integrated partnerships across its multiple platforms. The ongoing partnership with Lifetime (part of the A&E network) is an example of how heat can work creatively to help drive tangible business results, growing viewing figures for key programmes by over 500%.
WOMEN’S GLOSSY MARKET
Grazia (w) 143,818 (print + digital)
Grazia continues to reach more AB readers than any other women’s glossy. The brand’s success has always been built on an in-depth knowledge of its audience, publishing in its tenth year The Game Changers: The women who went from wanting it all to changing it all, an in-depth study into the evolution of ABC1 women aged 25-44. In March Natasha Pearlman joined the title as editor from ELLE UK.
EMPIRE DOMINATES THE FILM MARKET
Empire (m) – 144,653 (print + digital)
Empire has posted an increase of 1.58% on last period dominating the film market and outselling its nearest competitor by over two to one (against Total Film JD14 release). 2015 has seen the introduction of a new vision for the brand expanding its breath of content to cover every cinematic form from movies and TV to streaming and mobile. Connecting with 3 million fans across its multiple touchpoints, Empire continues to deliver compelling entertainment content and unique creative cover treatments with world-first reveals for films such as Spectre, Jurassic World and Terminator: Genysis. With anticipation around the new Star Wars movies this year is set to be huge, both for the industry and for Empire.
YOURS CELEBRATES CONTINUED STABILITY
Yours (f) – 272,603 (print only)
Yours magazine has recorded another market-beating performance up 0.96% on last period and 0.10% yoy. Crucial to Yours’ success is a deep emotional connection with its 50+ readers demonstrated last month with the launch of its ‘Sowing the Seeds of Kindness’ campaign.
BAUER’S GARDENING TITLES CELEBRATE CONTINUED GROWTH
Garden News (w) – 40,084 (print only)
Garden Answers (m) – 22,607 (print only)
Bauer Media’s gardening titles are celebrating another outstanding set of results with Garden News posting a 13.61% on last period, up 8.19 % on last year and Garden Answers recording a 16.58% increase pop and 8.84% yoy. Garden News retains the prized number one spot in the highly competitive weekly gardening market.
HEALTH & WELLBEING TITLE TOP SANTÉ RECORDS STRONG POP PERFORMANCE
Top Santé (m) 48,545 (print + digital)
Following the launch of a fresh, modern design and new content, Top Santé has recorded a significant period on period increase of 10.6%. Celebrating living a naturally healthy life, the brand empowers women to make informed choices, with the best wellbeing, fitness, food and beauty advice.
H Bauer Publishing
David Goodchild, CEO, H Bauer Publishing: “H Bauer’s success this ABC period is the result of a continuous programme of investment in evolving our print products to ensure the content remains as relevant today as ever. Home to some of the UK’s most iconic magazine brands, our titles continue to outperform in each of our core markets: TV listings, true life and classic women’s weeklies.
Proof of that is that for the very first time H Bauer has become the market leading publisher of TV Listings magazines in the UK, and has overtaken Time inc. who has been No.1 since 1991.
In the food market we continue to break new ground in introducing a new magazine audience to the delights of affordable home cooking.
At H Bauer, we place over 2.5 million copies a week into the hands of our readers who trust in our brands to deliver the entertaining and engaging experience they have come to expect from the titles they know and love. In an increasingly hectic media landscape, the power of print to provide this much needed downtime should not be underestimated.”
TV LISTINGS
H Bauer – New market leader in TV Listings
TV Listings market performance: 3,461,626
YOY -6.4%, POP -3.9%
TV Choice
TV Choice soars ahead in the TV Listings market
ABC: 1,276,045 YOY -2.1%, POP 0.8%
Following a major improvement late last year to both the editorial and listings sections of the nation’s biggest selling magazine, TV Choice has grown both sales and share in the last six months. The improvements, designed to enhance readers’ usage and engagement of the magazine, has proven to be the success we anticipated.
The investment, including adding 16 additional editorial pages, shows exactly how much value readers place on their favourite TV Guide when navigating through the fragmented TV landscape of today. This also shows that despite the obvious digital disruption in this area, clarity of choice through the trusted printed media cannot be displaced easily.
Total TV Guide
Year on year growth for Total TV Guide
ABC: 108,851
YOY +1.1%, POP -3.3%
Combining the UK’s family favourite, TV Choice, and the TV enthusiast’s bible, Total TV Guide, H Bauer is now the market leader in TV Listings with over 40% share. Both titles have grown in this ABC period demonstrating H Bauer’s continued ability to drive reader ngagement and loyalty.
WOMEN’S WEEKLIES – CLASSICS
Classic market performance: 809,357
YOY-7.8%, POP-6.1%
Bella
A classic performance sees Bella increase its share of sale
ABC: 187,095
YOY -4.1%, POP -5. 9%
Bella’s readers continue to indulge themselves on a diet of celebrity, real life and service features to such an extent that Bella has maintained its share at 23% in a market where discounting is prevalent. Bella remains the market leader in full cover price sales.
WOMEN’S WEEKLIES – TRUE LIFE
True Life market performance*: 1,279,566
*No audited data available for love it!
YOY -7.9 %, POP -7.5%
Take a Break
Take a Break, The UK’s number one women’s weekly celebrates its 25th birthday!!
ABC: 608,743
YOY -7.4%, POP -5.8%
It is testament to the power of Take a Break’s editorial that the UK’s biggest selling women’s magazine celebrated its 25th birthday as No.1. With sales of over 600,000 copies a week more than double that of its nearest rival, Take a Break’s continued success is driven by its unparalleled ability to stimulate reader interaction and engagement.
that’s life!
that’s life! puts in the strongest performance in the True-life market
ABC: 241,289
YOY -4.5%, POP -7.5%
At the slightly younger end of the true life market, H Bauer’s that’s life! has also put in a market beating performance, with the strongest ABC in the sector as a whole.
H Bauer’s that’s life! is proof that magazines can and do continue to engage and recruit a younger demographic with gripping and page-turning editorial.
This success has increased H Bauer’s position over the true life sector; together Take a Break and that’s life! now account for nearly 60% of the sector as a whole.
COOKERY
eat in
Growth for Eat In as the affordable home cooking market takes off
ABC: 17,826
YOY +8.8% POP +4.7%
Eat In, H Bauer’s affordable home cooking title, has put in a sizzling performance with circulation increases both year-on-year and period-on-period, against a backdrop of circulation decline at the premium end. Eat In brings affordable home cooking to a broad audience and the combination of interesting, simple and affordable recipes, plus competitions, celebrity insights and advice is proving to be a hit with home cooking fanatics.
SPIRITUAL
Spirit & Destiny
Outsells its nearest competitor by over twice as many copies
ABC: 34,723
YOY-12.8%, POP -12.5%
Spirit & Destiny, H Bauer’s premium spiritual magazine, sells over twice as many copies as its nearest competitor in the spiritual lifestyle market and has a 68% share of all UK newsstand sales. Packed full of interesting features on all things mind, body and spirit, Spirit & Destiny is the number one lifestyle brand for readers with an appetite for ideas and inspiration on alternative lifestyles.
Condé Nast
Condé Nast Britain posts ABC figures combining print and digital sales for the period January to June 2015. As routes to the media brands increase, monthly issue sales remain robust with seven magazines showing areas of growth for the period.
Vogue
The fashion bible Vogue posts a new ABC of 200,058, a rise of 0.3% in total actively purchased copies and UK subs increase by 2.5% period on period. Vogue.co.uk has 2,004,748 unique users*, with 2.6 million followers on Twitter and 2.7 million Facebook fans. Ways to engage with the brand are further increased with the bi-annual magazine Miss Vogue, and the annual Vogue Festival. Vogue will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2016.
House & Garden
The pre-eminent quality media brand for design and decoration announces an ABC of 113,047, a rise of 2.1% in total subs period on period. Its digital iteration House has 905,533 unique users and the brand is brought to life annually with the Spirit of Summer and Spirit of Christmas Fairs, events enjoyed by a total audience approaching 100,000.
Tatler
Tatler unveils a new ABC of 84,383. This is up 9.5% year on year and an 8.7% increase in UK actively purchased copies period on period. UK subs have risen by 18.8% year on year.
The World Of Interiors
The World of Interiors is the go-to source for design professionals and style arbiters. Posting a new ABC of 58,066, this is an increase of 5% in UK actively purchased copies period on period and year on year. UK subs are up 9% year on year.
GQ
GQ announces an ABC of 121,085, up more than 1% in UK actively purchased copies and UK subs rise by 7.2% year on year. GQ is the leading upmarket men’s lifestyle media brand and the recipient of 56 major awards to date for print and digital.
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair has a new ABC of 88,009. From print to the big screen, tablet to iPhone, Vanity Fair is the pre-eminent arbiter of our era.
Condé Nast Traveller
With an ABC of 78,067, Condé Nast Traveller is up 2.6% year on year in total actively purchased copies, and single copy sales have increased by 9.9%. The title is the leading luxury British travel publication, and the world’s most discerning travel media brand.
Glamour
Glamour posts an ABC of 370,012. Remaining the media brand of choice across multiple platforms for the millennial generation, Glamour has a combined gross audience reach of more than 7 million.
Wired
Wired announces an ABC of 54,057, up 0.8% in UK actively purchased copies and UK subs have grown by 5.3% period on period. The Wired.co.uk online audience of 1,565,090 unique users together with Wired Events and the Consulting business influences a significant and hard-to-reach audience.
The ‘Talents’ A/W 15 issue of bi-annual LOVE has just been published with seven different covers to choose from, and continues to redefine the edgy high-end sector. Britain’s essential style bible GQ STYLE will publish its A/W issue in September, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Brides remains the market leader in its sector, continuing to post its ABC annually.
Nicholas Coleridge, Managing Director of Condé Nast, comments: “It is good to see further significant gains in audience interaction with our luxury brands. For the eighth period in succession, the UK print element has held steady, or even grown in some instances, while the digital metrics continue to soar. At no previous time in history have more readers paid more attention to the Condé Nast brands.”
Dennis Publishing
The Week celebrates 34th circulation increase whilst motoring portfolio continues strong growth
Dennis Publishing, one of the UK’s leading media companies, can today report impressive circulation increases for its flagship current affairs title The Week and continued growth across its motoring division.
* The Week – grows 1.7% YOY and 1.4% POP print and reports Digital Certificate increase of 17% YOY
The Week magazine celebrates its 34th consecutive ABC increase reaching 202,842, a growth of 1.7% YOY and 1.4% POP. Digitally the brand reports its third Digital Publication Certificate, increasing its paid-for digital magazine circulation to 30,750.
James Tye, Chief Executive of Dennis Publishing said: “The Week celebrated its 20th anniversary in May this year and it continues to grow. It has pioneered the digital subscriptions model that has proved hugely successful.”
* Dennis Motoring – Octane up 3.0% POP and 4.7% YOY to 39,260 whilst Land Rover Monthly up 1.3%POP and 1.4% YOY to 21,593
Dennis Publishing’s specialist car titles have seen an increase in circulation for the second time in a row, bucking the current market trend. Iconic car magazine Octane reached its highest circulation since its launch in 2003 with 39,260, up 4.7% YOY. Land Rover Monthly has also reported an increase with a 1.3% POP increase and up 1.4% YOY to 21,593.
Consumer Magazine ABC Jan-Jun 2015 Combined Print/Digital
Egmont Publishing
Egmont Hits No 1 In Children’s Market With Disney Frozen
* Disney Frozen launch ABC: 91,011
* Toxic up10% year on year
* Thomas and Friends up 4.3% year on year
* Disney & Me up 4% year on year
* Disney & Me up 18% period on period
* Toxic up 5.8% period on period
* Thomas and Friends up 0.5% period on period
* Go Girl up 0.1% period on period
Egmont Publishing UK is celebrating an amazing debut ABC figure of 91,011 for Disney Frozen magazine, which takes the number 1 spot with the highest ABC in the children’s magazine market. Jo Doubtfire, Publisher of Egmont’s Disney magazines portfolio said ‘We are delighted with superlative performance from Disney Frozen magazine. The magazine reflects everything that girls adore about the Frozen story and our strong programme of covermounted gifts and engaging editorial means they can immerse themselves in the Frozen experience and enjoy their favourite characters off screen.’
Egmont also enjoyed a strong set of ABC results with significant year on year and period on period increases for three titles: Toxic, Disney & Me and Thomas and Friends and a period on period uplift for Go Girl magazine.
Cally Poplak, Managing Director of Egmont Publishing UK said: ‘Our performance in this round of ABC’s is spectacular, demonstrating that this sector of the magazine market is a dynamic and competitive arena and that print products for children are very much alive and kicking. Our Consumer Insight clearly demonstrates that parents recognise the role magazines can play in encouraging their children to read and that magazines represent an ideal route to reading for pleasure.”
Good Homes
Good Homes magazine posts a massive new ABC increase
Good Homes magazine recorded a very strong ABC performance of 50,080 for January to June 2015 period, representing a 55% increase on the previous ABC.
Media 10 Ltd acquired Good Homes magazine from Kelsey Media in September 2014. This is the first full ABC under the new ownership.
Media 10 Ltd attributes this excellent ABC performance to significant investment in the relaunch of the magazine. This has comprised of a larger format magazine, extra pages, more editorial content, a fresh new look, more exclusive reader offers and supplements, which have all brought new life into a trusted and credible brand. This has all been lead by Lisa Allen, Editor in Chief, who was Editor at Good Homes when the magazine was owned by the BBC, and when it was at the height of its sales in the 1990’s.
Coupled with this, there has also been significant marketing activity from the time of the relaunch in late October 2014 across newsstand, subscription initiatives and sampling operations at key targeted events. This has included subscription sales drives and sampling at London, Manchester and Scotland Ideal Home shows, which is also form part of Media 10 Ltd.
As a direct result, newsstand sales increased in excess of 12,000 copies per issue, which equates to 70% increase, and subscriptions have also seen a marked upturn of nearly 30% for the same period.
Good Homes is now the fastest growing home interest magazine.
Media 10 Ltd are committed to the long term investment and development of the magazine.
An exciting time and future for Good Homes magazine.
Hearst Magazines UK
Hearst Magazines UK has today released its latest set of ABC figures (Jan – Jun 2015), which sees ELLE and Women’s Health record both year-on-year and period-on-period growth, Prima and House Beautiful register year-on-year increases, Cosmopolitan deliver period-on-period growth, and Good Housekeeping retain its market-leading position.
Women’s Health recorded its sixth consecutive ABC increase since launch, posting an 8% year-on-year and 5.6% period-on-period increase, with a combined print and digital ABC of 124,740.
ELLE saw 5.7% year-on-year and 0.4% period-on-period growth, recording a combined ABC of 164,081. Prima increased its circulation by 0.1% year-on-year posting a combined ABC of 264,155, and House Beautiful grew by 0.3% year-on-year to 112,027.
Cosmopolitan, grew 0.3% period-on-period with a combined ABC of 258,448.
Good Housekeeping retained its position as Britain’s biggest-selling lifestyle magazine with a combined ABC of 404,205.
Asda’s customer magazine, which Hearst is now publishing, released an ABC today of 2,109,560 up 6.9% period on period and 6.1% year on year. It is distributed free to customers and is the UK’s biggest lifestyle magazine.
Anna Jones, CEO of Hearst Magazines UK, says: “Seeing strong growth from many of our key brands in print as we continue our positive growth trajectory online is fantastic. Good Housekeeping maintains its market leading position, ELLE continues to deliver a valuable and growing fashion audience and Women's Health goes from strength to strength with an extremely strong editorial proposition. We recently appointed Farrah Storr, former Editor of Women’s Health as Editor of Cosmopolitan, and we are looking forward to seeing her apply her talent to an even bigger audience.”
MONTHLY BRANDS
Cosmopolitan: Total combined ABC of 258,448, -10.6% YoY and +0.3% PoP
Country Living: Total combined ABC of 168,800, -5.6% YoY and -7.6% PoP
ELLE: Total combined ABC of 164,081, +5.7% YoY and +0.4% PoP
ELLE Decoration: Total combined ABC of 66,406, -7.1% YoY and -5.1% PoP
Esquire: Total combined ABC of 56,499, -3.5% YoY and -3.5% PoP
Good Housekeeping: Total combined ABC of 404,205, -0.6% YoY and -3.7% PoP
Harper’s Bazaar: Total combined ABC of 106,089, -2.2& YoY and -5.0% PoP
House Beautiful: Total combined ABC of 112,027, +0.3% YoY and -8.9% PoP
Men’s Health: Total combined ABC of 193,901, -6.4% YoY and -3.1% PoP
Prima: Total combined ABC of 264,155, +0.1% YoY and -1.4% PoP
Red: Total combined ABC of 188,844, -1.6% YoY and -1.9% PoP
Women’s Health: Total combined ABC of 124,740, +8.0% YoY and +5.6% PoP
WEEKLY BRANDS
All About Soap: Total combined ABC of 43,285, -23.5% YoY and -16.4% PoP
Best: Total combined ABC of 171,227, -16.7% YoY and -12.4% PoP
Inside Soap: Total combined ABC of 124,455, -8.6% YoY and -6.5% PoP
Real People: Total combined ABC of 156,478, -8.0% YoY and -10.7% PoP
Reveal: Total combined ABC of 133,088, -20.3% YoY and -17.3% PoP
HELLO! Fashion Monthly
HELLO! Fashion Monthly outshines Vogue and InStyle in today’s ABC figures on the newsstand, establishing itself as a top 10 title within its competitive set.
HELLO! Fashion Monthly (HFM) today releases its first ABC, announcing a 100% actively purchased sales figure of 90,892 and a remarkable 6.7% market share in the Women’s Lifestyle/Fashion sector, proving that ‘fashionistas’ still have a thirst for glossy print magazines.
Since its launch in 2014, HFM has grown the Women’s Lifestyle/Fashion sector, with 61% of its sales coming from consumers new to the market. Three quarters of its readers are either new to the sector, or bought HFM in addition to another magazine, whilst 25% of sales have come from competitor titles including Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle.
From a standing start, the magazine has already affirmed its position on the newsstand as one of the UK’s top monthly Women’s Fashion and Lifestyle titles less than a year after launch. HFM is now ranked sixth in its competitive set, ahead of long-established brands including Vogue, InStyle, Tatler and Vanity Fair in UK newsstand sales.
Internal figures also show that circulation has grown by an impressive 28.7% period on period, proving HFM is a serious player in its category, with a growing brand and a loyal following.
With its mix of high-street and high-end editorial content, HELLO! Fashion Monthly fills a gap in the market – light-weight and compact with a uniquely low cover price combined with more newsy content than traditional monthlies (with a deadline of just 10 days before print), it is designed to meet the needs of time-poor readers keen to get an expertly-edited fashion fix. Today’s results are testament to the fact that, in the right format, demand for inspirational Fashion monthlies is still strong, and growing. The title will celebrate this success alongside its first birthday this October.
Juliet Herd, editor at HELLO! Fashion Monthly, said: “HELLO! Fashion Monthly is a ‘glossy-lite’ packed full of vibrant content that proudly champions emerging talent and offers inspirational fashion edits and exclusive interviews – and today’s results prove this to be a winning formula. We’re thrilled to report such positive results for our first ABC, and that this comes so close to our first anniversary is an added bonus, giving us yet another reason to celebrate.”
Kevin Petley, who joined HELLO! Ltd in May this year as Business Director says, “Today’s figures have identified HELLO! Fashion Monthly as a serious contender in the highly competitive Women’s Lifestyle/Fashion sector. HFM’s unique selling points have enabled us to establish the magazine on the newsstand as both a regular purchase as well as an impulse buy. The readers of HFM are younger than those of its parent title HELLO!, adding commercial strength and greater reach across our portfolio of cross-platform brands.
“Our pioneering approach to publishing fashion inspiration has created a new market for both consumers and advertisers (attracting new commercial partners including Ralph Lauren, Levi’s and Armani Exchange), and is a success story for the industry as a whole.”
HELLO!, HFM’s long-standing and world-renowned parent title, also saw impressive results in today’s ABCs. Reinforcing the durability of the brand and its high-quality editorial, HELLO! has outperformed every title in its sector, both period-on-period and year-on-year, despite increased promotional activity from its key competitors.
Immediate Media Co
Immediate Media Co Delivers Growth In Print, Digital And Subscriptions
Immediate Media Co, the special interest content and platform company, has posted a combined print and digital circulation of 1,865,885 for reporting titles, up 6.8% year-on-year.
* Immediate’s ABC audited print circulation is 1,855,077, up 6.7% year-on-year, on the back of some hugely successful new launches, with 99% of its circulation actively purchased.
* Immediate’s ABC audited digital circulation is 10,808, up 37.9% year-on-year.
* With a total audience of 1.1 million subscribers, the company remains the leading magazine publishing company for subscriptions.
Tom Bureau, CEO of Immediate Media Co, says: “Immediate is a real magazine media success story as we reap the benefits of a clear investment strategy designed to grow our business across all platforms. We continue to launch new magazines with fantastic brands that engage consumers of all ages. We’ve grown circulation and RSV and our market share also continues to grow.”
“Beyond print, our market-leading brands continue to flourish – now reaching over 17 million UK consumers a month. With our profitability at record levels, investment in the right talent pool and technology, and special interest brands that delivers to our passionate communities, we remain laser-focused on delivering the content and products our super-engaged consumers want.”
Highlights for the ABC period Jan-June 2015:
* Radio Times remains the UK’s biggest-selling quality magazine, with a weekly print ABC of 712,927 retaining its position as the most valuable title on the UK newsstand. Radio Times is also the UK’s biggest weekly subscription title, with 253,390 subscribers, a 5% year-on-year increase as more than 1 in 3 readers now choose to develop a long term relationship with the title. Its digital growth has been astonishing, with a record breaking 7.1 million unique visitors visiting the site in January and a total brand reach of 3 million per week. The first ever Radio Times Festival is taking place in Hampton Court in September, as the brand continues to engage people in new and exciting ways.
* BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine was up an impressive 14% period-on-period to 208,948 as it outperformed the market, with its May Gardens To Visit Guide more popular than ever and gaining record media coverage. It has grown its undisputed leadership in the market and remains one of the biggest-selling monthly magazines. Circulation of its digital edition has increased by 30% year-on-year as readers engage with the brand’s content across different platforms.
* Youth & Children’s – Boosted by launch activity, Immediate remains the number one publisher in the overall Children’s market with a gravity-defying performance up 31% year-on-year. CBeebies Magazine is one of the fastest rising of all consumer magazines with a 25% year-on-year increase with 69,466 fortnightly readers. Meanwhile Mega has rocketed by 42% year-on-year, while Lego Legends of Chima is up 19%. Children’s appetite for Lego is apparent in the success of new launch Lego Ninjago which has debuted at 58,070. Swashbuckle has also outperformed expectations, landing with a debut ABC of 51,007. Readers have also given the thumbs up to Top of the Pops Magazine’s redesign as it has had a successful re-launch with period on period growth of +5.8%.
Other Immediate Media titles:
BBC Good Food
Combined: 220,105
Print Jan-June 2015: 209,847
Digital Jan-Jun 2015: 10,258
Combined YoY: -7.08%
Combined PoP: -11.69%
* BBC Good Food head and shoulders above rivals with a combined ABC of 220,105 and extends market leadership in print.
* BBC Good Food has more subscribers than its next two rivals’ total circulation combined.
* Astonishing growth digitally, now at 18 million unique users per month for bbcgoodfood.com.
* BBC Good Food now magazine brand with the biggest reach across all platforms at 8.8 million. (NRS PADD)
* The Live shows continue to expand. There are now eight a year, with the first ever international show launching in Dubai.
According to Publisher Simon Carrington: “BBC Good Food is 25 years old but the past year has been the most exciting in the brand’s history as we’ve re-launched the magazine and re-designed the brand, celebrating our 25th anniversary with unprecedented brand awareness. We’ve also become the magazine with the largest reach across all platforms, launched a record number of live shows and touched a remarkable 18 million unique users. We are a specialist brand with a reach only newspaper websites can rival. With a new Editorial Director in Christine Hayes as the helm and a host of exciting new brand extensions the future looks more exciting than ever.”
BBC Top Gear Magazine
Combined: 133,664
Print Jan-June 2015: 119,102
Digital Jan-Jun 2015: 14,562
Combined YoY: -6.63%
Combined PoP: -7.56%
* BBC Top Gear Magazine outperforms the market during a transition period with a combined ABC of 133,664.
* BBC Top Gear sees continued digital edition growth at 14,562, up 7.44% year on year.
* The brand has a wider reach than ever. The website now is fully optimized and re-launched last month, reaching over 2 million unique users.
* The social reach is huge with 21 million facebook fans across the Top Gear and Stig profiles and nearly 2 million followers on Twitter.
According to Simon Carrington: “Top Gear continues to produce fantastic industry standard content that’s published across our market leading platforms and engages our audiences in ever increasing numbers. In print, our recent Chris Evans cover showed that there is appetite amongst the readers to understand more about our future direction and we’re pleased that once again, over the last 6 month we have outperformed the market. Our digital edition continue to show growth and now account for 11% or our total circulation whilst our new look website has seen a positive response from users and advertisers. BBC Top Gear is a brand that shows no sign of slowing down.”
Prospect
Prospect continues to show strong circulation growth
Subscriptions and newsstand sales both rising
Figures released today by the independent Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show that Prospect, the leading magazine of ideas, continues to achieve strong circulation growth.
The magazine now reaches 31,425 readers with every issue, an increase of 1.1% in the last 6 months alone.
This growth is underpinned by strong subscription sales, which have increased by 2.2% since the start of the year and newsstand sales, which have increased by 1.5% in the same period.
Prospect shows that long-form writing on the key issues of our time from the world’s greatest thinkers is highly sought after, in all formats. Both print subscriptions and digital subscriptions are on the rise—digital numbers are up by 11.5% in 2015.
Prospect's cutting-edge offering does not stop with what the written word—it is continued through a vigorous programme of events and debate.
Bronwen Maddox, Editor, said: “This result shows that Prospect is essential reading in turbulent times, with important questions about Britain's place in the world to be answered. That will only continue. The results are a tribute to our high journalistic standards and we look forward to increasing Prospect’s reach in the rest of 2015.”
ShortList Media
* ShortList and Stylist retain ABC market leadership
* ShortList’s new ABC of 502,267 represents 41% of the total men’s lifestyle sector
* Stylist’s new ABC of 403,200 gives it 24% of the total women’s lifestyle sector
ShortList announces a new ABC of 502,267 for the period Jan-Jun 2015. This compares to a figure of 500,449 for the Jul-Dec 2014 period. Stylist reports a Jan-June figure of 403,200 versus 400,302 for the Jul-Dec 2014 period. Having taken the strategic decision to re-set the circulations of both titles in tune with advertiser needs at the last ABC audit, these new figures reflect continued stability at the heart of both of the UK’s leading freemium print brands.
Both titles remain number one in their sectors, with ShortList capturing 41% of the men’s market and Stylist achieving 24% of the women’s fashion and lifestyle market. This is represented in the tables above.
Shortlist Media’s titles are the UK’s only freemium titles to be distributed by hand merchandisers nationwide – in 10 major UK cities – and through a direct network into workplaces, retailers and airport lounges.
Multi-award winning journalism from the editorial teams on ShortList and Stylist is also now available on numerous platforms:
* On the web: ShortList.com and Stylist.co.uk are fast-growing sites with considerable UK and global audiences. ShortList.com reaches 500,000 UK Unique Users every month, with total global UUs stretching to 1.9M. Stylist.co.uk reaches 700,000 UUs in the UK, with total global UUs rising to 1.2M.
* By email: ShortList’s daily email Mr Hyde has an active readership of almost 65,000 affluent urban men and Stylist’s daily email Emerald Street reaches more than 110,000 engaged, active professional women readers. Both are number one in their markets.
* On tablet: the full edition of Stylist is available on Apple, Android and Kindle newsstands and has become the most downloaded women’s title on tablet in the UK. According to the publisher’s statement, 3 February 2015, it averages 28,459 active readers every week and was named one of Apple’s Apps of the Year 2014.
* Internationally: Stylist is published every week in France and, in October 2014, it debuted as Stylist Arabia, distributed in the Middle East. The Arabian edition of ShortList magazine will launch later this year.
Shortlist Media CEO Mike Soutar says: “I am incredibly proud of the teams working so hard to produce our market leading print brands. I must take this opportunity to pay tribute to the relentless diligence and unarguable talent of our Distribution team who ensure that our brands enjoy the full benefit of our unique nationwide distribution network each and every week. Plus, the increasing reach of our brands across our digital platforms means that we are able to offer advertisers ever more powerful access to our valuable urban adult audience.”
Slimming World
Slimming World Magazine Doubles Circulation In Eight Years
Slimming World magazine has more than doubled its circulation under the leadership of editor and publisher Elise Wells, new ABC figures (Audit Bureau of Circulations) released today show.
In February 2007 when Elise took the helm the title had a circulation of 258,903, and today it boasts a combined print and digital circulation of 550,407 for January to June 2015.
The new figure is not only a 113% increase in the past eight years and the highest ever circulation recorded for a slimming title, it is also a rise of 73,666 copies (15.5%) year on year and 52,700 copies (10.6%) period on period. The magazine retains its place as the 5th highest actively purchased magazine, too.
Elise says: “Undoubtedly, we’ve gained readers as a result of the huge membership growth we’ve seen in Slimming World groups – we now support hundreds of thousands of members via 13,000 weekly groups – and online**. Yet we’re seeing more and more people picking up Slimming World magazine from newsstands as well, which is great because it enables us to introduce people to Slimming World’s unique weight-loss support including our Food Optimising healthy eating plan. Nearly two thirds of people are overweight, so that role has never been more important than it is today.”
While hugely proud that the magazine has doubled its circulation under her editorship, Elise counts the title’s success as a real team effort: “Across the whole magazine staff we’ve got a really great mix of people. There are those who’ve been with us for a long time – some more than a decade – and have a really deep understanding of Slimming World and our members, and we’ve also benefitted from key appointments from top food and consumer titles in recent years.”
The magazine’s achievements are even more impressive when considered in the context of the wider publishing landscape, with many magazines struggling to keep readers and seeing their circulations fall. Certainly Slimming World magazine is bucking the trend in the diet and health sector.
Elise says: “We’ve recently introduced new fonts to keep our design fresh, our new men’s section ‘M’ now champions male slimmers and offers practical advice to men trying to lose weight, and we’ve developed our digital platform. Our readership is very diverse, and we work really hard to showcase success stories that will inspire people of different ages and life stages. We want every page of the magazine, including our real-life successes, recipes and motivational features, to appeal to and be useful for as many slimmers as possible, and we’re striving to cater to the different ways in which people like to consume content like ours, too.”
For members of Slimming World who attend weekly group sessions, the magazine offers an additional layer of support and inspiration and it is also sold on the newsstand. It is published seven times a year and produced at Slimming World’s head office in Derbyshire. The title features real-life success stories sourced from Slimming World members, a delicious food section, practical and emotional features, and shopping and fashion pages.
The Spectator
Sales of The Spectator hit an all-time high
Editor Fraser Nelson writes: It’s a red-letter day for us here at 22 Old Queen Street. The latest circulation figures for British magazines have just been published and show that sales of The Spectator have broken through their all-time high. More people are buying the magazine now than at any time since we started publishing 187 years ago.
Our last high was in 2006; since then, print publications have struggled to cope with the challenges of the digital age. Newspaper sales have fallen by 40 per cent. Different publishers have responded in different ways; some have full paywall, others no paywall at all. We have gone for a metered paywall: if you like us enough to read a certain number of magazine pieces a month, we ask you to join us as a subscriber.
And it’s working. Our metered paywall hasn’t stopped the number of online readers surging by 83 per cent year-on-year: our monthly unique users averaged 2.0 million in the first six months of the year (and about 300,000 of them from social media). When our digital readers subscribe, most ask for the printed magazine – so in this way, our digital success is reinforcing our print success. Print sales are higher than they were 15 years ago.
Our headline ABC certificate figure for the first half of 2015 is 63,906 copies, our highest for five years. But that’s a circulation figure, not a sales figure – the difference between the two is crucial. To judge any publication properly, you have to strip away things like airline deals (where copies are bought in bulk, or given away free) and look at how many people are actively buying it.
For The Spectator it’s 55,165 for print and a further 7,553 digital-only, making a total of 62,718 paying readers in H1 of 2015. That takes us (just!) past the previous record. And we’re growing fast: UK print subscriptions are up 6 per cent in the last six months alone. So our recovery is complete; we’re now entering the most successful period in our magazine’s long, proud history.
Of course, the word ‘magazine’ doesn’t quite cover it: we now publish more articles online than in print; and have an outstanding stable of bloggers of the calibre of Nick Cohen, Rod Liddle, Alex Massie and Douglas Murray. We broadcast regular podcasts (subscribe to them here) with tens of thousands of listeners. We have sibling magazines, like Spectator Life, Spectator Health and Spectator Money. And we host regular sell-out events – our next ones include an evening with Melvyn Bragg and hearing Andrew Neil talk to Charles Moore about the long-awaited second volume of his Thatcher biography.
The digital era means it’s easier to convene meetings with our readers; not just at these debates, but for tea in our garden here at 22 Old Queen Street, or for beer and talk about politics. And when we do, we’re all struck by a simple fact: The Spectator’s greatest asset is our subscribers: the best-read, most fun people in the world.
Square Up Media
Escapism magazine surpasses 100,000 in circulation as publishing house Square Up Media reports ABC rises across all titles.
Escapism magazine has received a new ABC figure of 100,613, the first and only publication in the travel category to surpass 100,000 in circulation. The new figure is a 7% increase from its Dec 2014 figure of 94,274, once again cementing it as the UK’s largest independent travel magazine.
The free glossy magazine distributes the bulk of its copies at Zones 1 and 2 Tube stations through a partnership with the Evening Standard and its own independent merchandisers. In addition, copies are available in select venues, corporate receptions and airports.
The new ABC results also boast wins for Square Up Media’s other print titles. Foodism, the London food and drink magazine, received its first full-year figure of 109,210 securing it as the capital’s largest circulation food and drink publication.
The publisher’s flagship brand Square Mile has reported its eighth consecutive ABC rise in with a new figure of 59,612. This increase of 4% comes as the magazine celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
The full breakdown of the new ABC figures is as follows:
Escapism magazine:
July - Dec 2014: 94,274
Jan - June: 100, 613
7% increase
Square Mile magazine:
July - Dec 2014: 57,533
Jan - June 2015: 59,612
4% increase
Foodism magazine:
July - Dec 2014: 108,950
Jan - June 2015 - 109,210
0.02% increase
Time Inc UK
CEO Marcus Rich comments on the highlights from the ABC release for the period January to June 2015: “This set of results shows our strength in two of the biggest volume markets, women’s weeklies and TV, along with our ability to grow in a challenging women’s glossies market where InStyle sees one of the largest annual increases within the sector.
“Woman and Woman’s Own achieved their highest combined UK newsstand share of the weeklies lifestyle sector in seven years at 55.8%, up 1.5% on the year. These brands are part of Time Inc. UK’s GenerationYNot! stable and this performance demonstrates our deep insight into forward-thinking forty-plus women, meeting their evolving needs and interests by offering them a smart, stylish read that reflects their busy, modern lives.
“Woman’s Weekly retains its top position in the traditional weeklies sector and records it highest ever UK newsstand share at 49.9%. The brand continues to demonstrate the strength of its relationship with its loyal engaged readership through the ongoing expansion that super-serves its consumers’ many and varied passions.
“Once again, we are the number one TV magazine publisher on the newsstand in terms of value, reflecting the strength of our titles and breadth of the portfolio. The TV titles continue to excel across multiple platforms, influencing over 6.5 million readers.
“InStyle stands out in the market for its total focus on fashion and beauty and has had an outstanding period with a year-on-year increase of 2%. This impressive rise is the second annual increase in a row under editor Charlotte Moore and sees the title outperform the market by some way.
“Across our multi-platform portfolio, we engage with almost half of all UK adults in print, reach over 28 million global users every month through our websites and run nearly 300 live consumer events every year. We continue to transform our business and reposition ourselves for growth, seeing real opportunities in e-commerce, e-learning, video and building new revenue streams through a combination of organic investments and acquisitions.
“Just this week we announced our investment in Snap Fashion. And during this year, we have acquired UK Cycling Events as well as announced e-commerce businesses such as Horse & Hound’s Equo, the upcoming Marie Claire and Ocado retail beauty venture and unveiled the Wallpaper* e-commerce store along with partnerships like the Livingetc - Made.com collaboration. Equally, we have launched new products such as theROOMedit.com and print titles - Fit & Well and History of Rock.”
