Below are statements from: Bauer Media, H Bauer Publishing, BBC Magazines, Condé Nast, Dennis Publishing, Egmont, Forever Sports, Hearst Magazines UK, Immediate Media Co, IPC Media, PPA, Psychologies magazine, ShortList Media, Slimming World magazine and Square Up Media.
Bauer Media
Bauer Media’s consumer brands have delivered strong ABC performances this period speaking to influential audiences across multiple-platforms and offering a premium environment for advertisers to engage with consumers.
The Bauer portfolio, which encompasses the UK’s best-known print and digital brands, is committed to serving consumers through entertaining, engaging and inspirational content wherever, whenever and however they want it.
The company continues to explore and develop new and innovative ways to engage with audiences. This February saw the launch of The Debrief, a multi-platform brand for influential ABC1 20-something women. In its first six months the brand has reached 500,000 monthly UUs and its native advertising model has attracted an enviable set of commercial launch partners including H&M, Bacardi Group and 02.
Commenting on the figures, Chief Executive, Paul Keenan said: “Bauer Media continues to focus on building engagement among valuable audiences by delivering relevant, world-class content through its powerful brands. Our ongoing commitment to product excellence is reflected in our ABC performances. Yours (+0.5%) has delivered a market-beating performance and continued stability with period-on-period growth. Empire sees a +2% growth this period with the inclusion of its popular digital edition while Grazia also delivers a strong performance with the addition of nearly 4k weekly digital editions. In the specialist portfolio our gardening titles Garden News and Garden Answers (+16.6% pop) have both recorded significant period-on-period growth with Garden News +10% pop, retaining its number one spot in the highly competitive weekly gardening market.
As a market-leading multi-platform media owner, Bauer Media continues to offer advertisers access to 22 million UK consumers through increasingly powerful commercial solutions and partnerships.”
CELEBRITY WEEKLIES
heat (w) – 219,992 (print + digital)
The heat brand now has more than 6m consumer touchpoints across its multiple platforms – magazine, radio, online, TV and heat extra. heatworld has seen record traffic levels this year with 1,911,875 average global monthly UUs in the period Jan-Jun 2014 and heat radio, which has just announced its newest signing – Hollywood insider Ryan Seacrest - has demonstrated significant year on year growth, reaching a record 892,000 listeners, up 13% yoy. Bauer’s innovative neuroscience research, conducted in September 2013, demonstrated the power of the heat brand in creating an effective environment for cross-platform advertising campaigns. As a result, a ‘heat makes you happy’ consumer campaign launched in January, sponsored by Surf.
Closer (w) –312,917 (print + digital)
Closer continues to be the highest selling full price standalone title in the celebrity weekly market. Closeronline.co.uk, which delivers a daily fix of showbiz news, lifestyle features and real-life stories, has also shown growth following its September re-launch. It shows a triple digit increase in visits yoy +828% from January to June 2014 and now reaches 1.4 million women online every month.
WOMEN’S LIFESTYLE
Grazia (w) – 155,289 (print + digital)
Grazia has a higher proportion of AB readers than any other glossy at 44% (NRS April 13 – March 14) and continues to be the only weekly to attract premium fashion advertising. Grazia, which partnered with De Beers and Clinique creatively for the first time, records a market-beating performance of -3.0% pop. With newsworthy editorial campaigns such as the recent ‘Mind the Pay Gap’ initiative, the brand continues to deliver compelling content demonstrating an innate understanding of its audience across the magazine, iPad edition and on graziadaily.co.uk.
WOMEN’S SPECIALIST
Yours (f) – 272,329 (print only)
Yours records another market-beating performance and continued stability +0.5%% (pop) and -0.6% (yoy). Crucial to its success is a deep emotional connection with its 50+ readers every fortnight. This connection has enabled the Yours brand to continue to expand into every aspect of its readers’ lives from events to retirement services to shopping to dating and, more recently in the year of the magazine’s 40th birthday, the launch of yours.co.uk, a new and improved digital home for the magazine.
Mother & Baby – 31,124 (print only)
Mother & Baby remains No. 1 magazine in the parenting market holding 44% of market share, an increase in share of 2% pop. The magazine is at the centre of a multi-platform parenting brand delivering trusted advice and support to parents whenever and wherever they need it. Motherandbaby.co.uk has shown excellent growth following its re-launch in September 2013 showing a triple digit increase in visits yoy, +147% from January to June 2014. The site now reaches 300,000 women every month.
Top Santé (m) – 50,062 (print only)
Top Santé, continues to attract a loyal following of 30+ women seeking inspirational ideas and specialist advice on health and wellbeing and has seen pop growth (+0.1%). Jan-June 2014 was an exciting period for the title with highlights including the publication of an interactive issue (a first for the health market), a partnership with charity MIND and a move to a premium perfect-bound product.
GARDENING
Garden News (w) - 37,048 (print only)
Garden News continues to deliver outstanding results week-on-week, providing topical up-to-date gardening news, practical information, tips and ideas in a down to earth and friendly style. The brand has delivered significant growth in the Jan - Jun period with sales up a remarkable +10.7% (yoy) and +10% (pop), retaining the number one spot in the highly competitive weekly gardening market.
Garden Answers (m) - 20,771 (print only)
Sister title Garden Answers has also performed strongly registering an impressive +14% (yoy) and +16.6% (pop) in January - June period. 2014 has seen Garden Answers provide themed seed collections, inspiration and down to earth on advice on how to make gardens beautiful in an easy to digest format.
FILM
Empire (m) – 147,980 (print + digital)
Empire continues to dominate the film market outselling the nearest competitor by over two to one and is the number two in the wider men’s market. A truly cross-platform brand with multiple touchpoints, Empire has over 4 million brand interactions engaging with film loving audiences across the world. The inclusion of its digital edition this period has seen an overall growth of +2% pop. Empire’s March issue marked the beginning of a 12-month campaign including a host of ground-breaking initiatives planned around its 25th anniversary, incorporating an exclusive 25 cover X-Men promotion, a mega-sized Godzilla issue, the 300th ‘Director’s Cut’ issue and its most prestigious Jameson Empire Awards ceremony yet. Empireonline reaches over 2.5 million film-lovers every month.
MEN’S
FHM (m) – 86,534 (print + digital)
In June FHM celebrated the 20th anniversary of its annual 100 Sexiest Women in the World campaign; it remains the UKs longest running magazine promotion. The brand is having more conversations with young, switched-on men across the globe than ever in the history of the brand. With over 3 million followers on Facebook, 137K on Twitter and 100k on Instagram it is one of the biggest media brands on social media in the UK. A weekly Facebook post reaches in excess of three million with close to one million actively talking about the brand, and 3million monthly UUs on its website - FHM's digital footprint and influence continues to grow by the day.
ZOO (w) – 29,976 (print + digital)
ZOO is Britain's only men’s weekly lifestyle magazine and has seen a pop growth of +1.5%, including a rapidly-growing digital edition. Digitally the brand goes from strength to strength; passing 2.35m likes on Facebook. The website, Zootoday.com, records over 50m monthly page views from over 2m monthly UUs. And with over 280,000 followers, ZOO is the biggest UK men’s magazine on Twitter.
MUSIC
MOJO (m) – 70,667 (print only)
MOJO is the biggest title in the music market both in the UK and overseas, engaging its upscale loyal audience with a quality, immersive music experience. The magazine continues to deliver world-beating exclusive interviews with legendary artists such as Prince, Blondie and Jack White reinforcing the founding MOJO principle of producing content which simply celebrates the very best in music.
Kerrang! (w) – 33,024 (print only)
Kerrang! is the world’s biggest weekly music magazine, attracting an influential, passionate young audience across online, radio, TV and print. With the relaunch of its website, Kerrang! has extended its reach across the brand to over 5 million interactions every month. The annual Kerrang! Awards attract the biggest names in rock and the sell-out Kerrang! Tour presents an amazing opportunity for readers to engage directly with the brand. First published 33 years ago, Kerrang! continues to celebrate the best in rock music and in January 2014 marked the anniversary of its 1500th issue.
Q (m) – 48,353 (print + digital)
Q continues to be the authority on mainstream music delivering compelling and exclusive content, revealing the stories behind the music that matters. Bauer looks forward to celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the annual Q Awards later this year with the biggest and best artists from across the music world.
H Bauer Publishing
TV LISTINGS
TV Listings Market performance: 3,698,152
YOY -3.1%, POP -4.9%
TV choice
“Over 1.3 Million Copies Sold Weekly: by far Britain’s Biggest-Selling Magazine”
ABC: 1,303,011
YOY +1.6%, POP -5.2%
H Bauer’s TV Choice has yet again reinforced its position as Britain’s biggest-selling magazine, adding over 20,000 copy sales a week to its headline ABC figure, it is the only title in the listings market to show year on year growth. With sales in excess of 1.3 million copies a week, TV Choice outstrips its nearest rival by over quarter of a million copies an issue. This latest ABC performance is testament to TV Choice’s relevance and ability to engage readers with entertaining content that embodies their love of all things TV related.
Total TV Guide
“Total TVGuide puts in a market beating performance at the premium end of the sector”
ABC: 107,717
YOY -2.3%, POP -1.8%
H Bauer’s strength and expertise in the listings market was backed up by a sector beating performance from its premium listings title, Total TVGuide. With sales of over 100,000 copies a week, Total TVGuide continues to enhance the reader experience in today’s multi-channel environment by offering the best listings coverage of the vast array of digital channels now available.
WOMEN’S WEEKLIES – CLASSICS
Classic Market performance: 881,879
YOY -1.7%, POP -2.3%
Bella
“Strong Performance in the Classic Market: Bella remains Number one in fully paid single issue sales”
ABC: 195,193
YOY -6.6%, POP -9.4%
There are positive signs in the classic market this period and Bella remains the number one title in delivering fully paid single issue sales of over 195,000 copies a week. When competitor marketing activity is stripped out of the figures, Bella sells over 17,000 copies per issue more in the UK than its nearest rival in the classic market. It remains the only title in the market with 100% of its retail sales being achieved without discounting the editorial value it provides its readers.
WOMEN’S WEEKLIES – TRUE LIFE
True Life Market performance: 1,655,484
YOY -7.8%, POP -7.5%
Take a Break
“Britain’s Number 1 Woman’s Weekly dominates with 40% share of sales”
ABC: 657,282
YOY -8.8%, POP -5.6%
Despite increasingly challenging conditions in the true life market, Take a Break, Britain’s number one woman’s brand is weathering the storm and continues to dominate with a 40% share of the overall true life market. With sales of 657,282 copies a week, Take a Break remains streets ahead of its nearest rival, outperforming the number two title in the market by over 348,000 sales a week.
That’s life!
“Bauer’s value true life title maintains a healthy lead over rivals”
ABC: 252,786
YOY -8.1%, POP -9.3%
At the value end of the true life market, H Bauer’s that’s life! continues to dominate with sales of 252,786 it outsells its nearest rival by over 82,500 copies a week and holds a 15% share of the overall market.
H Bauer’s Take a Break and that’s life! combined account for an impressive 55% share of the entire true life market.
COOKERY
Cookery Market performance: 499,154
YOY -7.9% POP -21.2%
Eat in
“Closes the gap at the value end of the market”
ABC: 16,384
YOY -17.2%, POP -19.3%
The cookery market has had a lot of new launch activity in recent years but market conditions have been challenging of late. Eat in however has made such inroads into the market that it has now overtaken its nearest competitor Olive magazine at the UK newsstand.
* Bauer’s figures do not include non-ABC or retailer’s own magazines
SPIRITUAL
Spirit & Destiny
“Spirit & Destiny, the number one spiritual lifestyle magazine engages readers”
ABC: 39,836
YOY -2.9%, POP -8.6%
With an ABC of 39,836, H Bauer’s Spirit & Destiny dominates the spiritual lifestyle sector, with year on year sales down only slightly at only -2.9%. Spirit & Destiny’s uniquely engaging relationship with its readers continues to provide an attractive proposition for advertisers interested in communicating to those interested in pursuing an alternative lifestyle.
* Bauer’s figures include esoteric titles that do not release ABCs
David Goodchild, CEO, H Bauer Publishing said: “H Bauer’s print brands continue to dominate in each of their respective markets and the latest ABCs have seen our titles maintain this competitive edge.
TVChoice is one of only 2 paid for magazines that sell in excess of 1 million copies a week, and Take a Break far outsells its nearest rival in the woman’s weekly market.
H Bauer’s ability to engage readers with highly entertaining content provides a powerful platform for commercial partners to communicate with everyday women.”
BBC Magazines
BBC Worldwide brands have performed well in the latest round of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures, with the food portfolio outperforming the core food market period-on-period and BBC Good Food Magazine streets ahead of its rivals. Meanwhile BBC Top Gear Magazine goes from strength-to-strength as the strongest performer in the motoring market, with double the sales of its nearest rival and downloads of its award-winning app up 25% year-on-year.
In its 25th year BBC Good Food Magazine has grown market share in both volume and retail sales value against its rivals with a combined ABC figure of 236,865. The other key facts are:
* BBC Good Food’s subscriber base is now three times the size of its nearest two competitors, olive and Delicious.
* 95.1% of its sales are actively purchased, demonstrating continued loyalty to the brand
* The multi-award winning magazine app* continues to show growth as the number one food and drink app and the top selling women’s interest magazine app.
* The BBC Good Food website, relaunched last year, is now the UK’s biggest food website and continues to show impressive growth, now reaching 11.5 million unique users each month, while it delivers a social media reach of more than two million.
* BBC Good Food’s brand extension live events have expanded from five to eight in the past year.
(*PPA Digital Magazine of the Year 2011/2013, DMA Magazine of the Year 2013)
BBC Easy Cook, which created the value cooking market, has significantly outperformed its rivals with an ABC figure of 37,216. It is growing market share in volume terms period-on-period, following a successful price-cutting strategy. The revamped BBC Good Food Home Cooking Series has also had a strong year, significantly outperforming the market in newsstand sales.
Meanwhile with a combined print and digital figures of 143,160, BBC Top Gear Magazine is the strongest performer in the motoring market. The other key facts are:
* BBC Top Gear Magazine sells more than FHM, GQ, and Esquire.
* It is the number two biggest seller in the men’s lifestyle market behind Men’s Health.
* The digital edition continues to show impressive growth with 13,553 sales and is now the 3rd biggest selling magazine iPad app.
* The digital footprint is bigger than ever, with a total than 4.8 million unique users for the website and a social media reach of 15.5 million.
According to Lorna East, Publisher of BBC Good Food Magazine: “Approaching its 25th year, BBC Good Food launched the food magazine market and continues to dominate it. The magazine remains in rude health as the ‘go to’ destination not just for the original recipes that fuel the UK’s largest food website but for every aspect of food enjoyment. Its sister publications also continue to outperform the market. Good Food continues to expand digitally with its iPad edition joining Top Gear on Adobe DPS and a new optimised iPhone edition inspiring food fans in whatever format they want. With the 25th anniversary coming up we have a host of exciting plans and the future looks bright for this phenomenal brand.”
According to Simon Carrington, Publisher of BBC Top Gear Magazine: “Top Gear continues to be a brand at the top of its game, with editorial exclusives such as the world’s first drive of La Ferrari seeing us remain out in front, and with some big car launches taking place this autumn we’re very confident that the magazine will continue to perform well throughout 2014, both in the UK and overseas. We are also offering car fans the Top Gear content they want in whatever format they want. Our interactive edition continues to lead the way on iPad.”
Condé Nast
Condé Nast posts new ABC figures, combining print and digital sales, for the period January to June 2014. The Condé Nast Britain brands now reach a combined gross audience of 33,551,771*.
Vogue
Vogue, the fashion bible, posts a new ABC of 200,032. Vogue will launch interactive mobile editions this autumn to extend platform options for its engaged fashion-forward audience. Vogue.co.uk has 1,973,878 unique users**, and the brand has just exceeded 2 million followers on Twitter and 2 million Facebook fans.
House & Garden
Announcing a new ABC of 117,083, House & Garden further extends its reach with its new online site House, with 580,649 unique users less than 6 months after launch. House & Garden is the pre-eminent quality media brand for design and decoration.
Tatler
The original Social Media, Tatler announces a new ABC of 84,025, a 1% increase period on period and up 2.5% in UK actively purchased sales. UK subscriptions have risen by 2%. This October the magazine will be the focus of a prime-time three-part BBC2 documentary.
The World of Interiors
Announcing a new ABC of 58,064, this is an increase of 4.4% in UK actively purchased copies. The World of Interiors remains the go-to source for design professionals and opinion formers.
GQ
GQ extends its domination of the sector as the market-leading quality men’s monthly, announcing an ABC of 125,024. GQ has just launched digital editions for mobile, while sales for iPad and other tablet devices remain buoyant, accounting for almost 10% of total circulation.
Vanity Fair
An ABC of 91,065 of the world’s most influential and important audience is posted for Vanity Fair, up 1.2% period on period, and with a rise in UK actively purchased copies of 2.4% year on year.
Condé Nast Traveller
Condé Nast Traveller announces an ABC of 78,028, an increase of almost 4% in UK actively purchased copies and digital editions are up 7% period on period. The title is the leading luxury British travel publication, and the world’s most discerning travel media brand.
Glamour
The market leader for the 25th consecutive period, Glamour posts a new ABC of 405,045. This is steady year on year, with total actively purchased copies up by 0.2%. Digital editions are up almost 2% year on year. Glamour has just exceeded 2 million Facebook fans.
Wired
Wired has a new ABC of 56,017. Wired Events and the Consultancy business, together with the Wired.co.uk online audience of 1,513,866 unique users* connects an influential, hard-to-reach audience.
GQ Style and LOVE
Bi-annual LOVE has just published its Autumn/Winter 2014 issue with 510 pages and continues to set the edgy style agenda. GQ STYLE publishes its Autumn/Winter edition in September and is the definitive and most successful bi-annual men’s sartorial guide.
Nicholas Coleridge, Managing Director of Condé Nast Britain and President of Condé Nast International said: “Once again, we have experienced a remarkable stability in circulation, emphasising the loyalty of upmarket readers in an economy emerging from recession. With all our digital platforms performing well ahead of expectations, this is a stellar time to be in branded magazine publishing.”
Dennis Publishing
Dennis reports The Week’s continued ABC success with 32nd consecutive print increase and first Digital Publication with over 26,000 paid-for digital circulation.
* The Week delivers yet another print only ABC increase, growing 1.1% YOY to 199,459-
* First Digital Publication Circulation Certificate for The Week with impressive 26, 263 fully paid-
* Octane sees impressive increase, up 5.7% YOY and 3.3% POP-
* Land Rover Monthly sees 2.9% POP growth-
Dennis Publishing, one of the UK’s leading independent media companies, is pleased to announce an impressive Jan-June 2014 ABC results for its flagship title The Week and its specialist car division.
The Week sees yet another print circulation increase to 199,459, growing 0.6% POP and 1.1% YOY. The title has also released a Digital Publication Certificate for the first time, recording an impressive 26,283 paid-for circulation.
Kerin O’Connor, Chief Executive of The Week, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to submit The Week’s Digital Publication Certificate. Since we launched the digital edition app in 2011, we’ve seen a rapid rise in readership of The Week in digital format. With over 26,000 paid-for subscribers, The Week is arguably the biggest paid-for digital magazine in the UK. It’s also been terrific to see our readership success has been matched by digital advertising growth.”
Dennis Publishing’s specialist motoring division has also seen a positive growth, despite tough market conditions. The classic car title Octane increased its circulation to 37,494, up 3.3% POP and 5.7% YOY. Land Rover Monthly also increased its circulation to 21,300, up 2.9% POP.
James Tye, CEO of Dennis Publishing, said: “The Week continues to be recognised as a leading brand and these latest ABC figures demonstrate that our customers simply love reading The Week, whether it’s in print, on tablet or on mobile. It surely must be one of the most subscribed to titles in the UK with the largest digital circulation of any magazine. Our ongoing commitment to growing subscriptions is also shown by our specialist motoring portfolio, which is still showing growth in a challenging market.”
Egmont
Egmont Publishing’s magazines division enjoyed a strong set of ABC results for the period Jan – June 2014, with their HIT and Disney portfolio leading circulation increases.
In the pre-school sector, Egmont’s Thomas magazines portfolio continues to thrive, up 17% YOY and is one of only two pre-school brands in a position to publish two regular frequency magazines. Fireman Sam is also up 5%. year on year
Egmont’s most successful launch has been Disney Stars, weighing in with an impressive ABC of 45,363.
In addition, the strength of Egmont’s own brand magazines was also demonstrated by continued growth for Go Girl, which reported year on year growth of 2% with a circulation of 41,204. Toxic remains solidly at the top of the boys market with sales of 50,003, 10% ahead of the number two title in the market.
The success of We Love Pop magazine continues in the teen sector, closing the gap between Top of the Pops. At this point last year, the gap was over 16,000 and is now only 6,000.
Gillian Laskier, Managing Director of Magazines, Egmont Publishing said: “In an increasingly competitive market dominated by strong children’s brands, Egmont is delighted to note that their Disney and Hit portfolios are both up year on year, and their market leading titles in Primary Boys and Primary Girls have been maintained. As one of the most dynamic and resilient magazine sectors , the children’s market continues to thrive – offering revenue opportunities for retailers, advertising opportunities for companies, and a brilliant way for parents to encourage their children to read.”
Forever Sports
Forever Sports has entered the Men’s Lifestyle market with an ABC of 62,277 rivaling some key long-standing brands. This result puts it 6th in the Men’s Lifestyle market ahead of Esquire and Men’s Fitness.
Soft-launched in March 2014, Forever Sports is sold on the UK and international newsstand as well as exclusively through SportsDirect.com stores and online retail and premium lifestyle retailers USC, Flannels and Cruise. This unique new route to market has given advertisers a fresh way to target hard to reach 18-30 year olds through actively purchased print.
Sales since launch, despite the lack of promotional spend; have shown huge growth issue on issue.
To build on this growth, the brand is now entering a period of hard launch promotional investment, including a launch TV ad campaign, significant trade marketing investment as well as other tactical above the line activity worth in total nearly £1.25m, with the sole objective of getting the magazine into the hands its target audience and making this the UK’s largest men’s title.
Hearst Magazines UK
Good Housekeeping, published by Hearst Magazines UK, asserts its position as the UK’s top monthly women’s lifestyle in the latest combined ABC figures (Jan – Jun 2014), announced today.
The leading women’s lifestyle brand has overtaken its nearest competitor, Glamour, on combined print and digital ABC with a market leading figure of 406,803, up 1.6% year on year. Last ABC period, (February 2014), Good Housekeeping knocked Glamour magazine off its position as the most popular women's UK monthly lifestyle title in print after more than a decade.
The latest impressive ABC increase further reinforces the 92-year-old brand’s dominant position in the UK market and comes on the eve of a major re-development for the Good Housekeeping Institute. This month, the institute moves to cutting-edge premises in London W1 and will open its doors to the public as a cookery school and demonstration kitchen from Autumn 2014 - providing direct access to the Good Housekeeping experts and showcasing their famous triple-testing process.
Other Hearst-owned brands to announce remarkable growth this ABC period include Prima, which continues its upward trend by posting an equally strong combined print and digital ABC of 263,893, up 1.2% period on period and 4.9% year on year; and Women’s Health which continues to deliver strong growth with a combined print and digital ABC of 115,517 up a market beating 7.3% year on year and 2.7% period on period.
Prima’s outstanding performance reflects the unstoppable approach of the Prima team and the passion and energy they have put behind the brand in the last year. Women’s Health, which recently increased its frequency from 6 issues to 10, has continued to build upon its incredible success story with yet another record ABC – the fourth consecutive increase since the brand’s launch in February 2012.
Anna Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Hearst Magazines UK, says: “Our core strategy is to grow our brand audiences and reach by enabling our consumers to engage with our content and interact with our brands in the most relevant and convenient way for them. And it’s working: our portfolio of brands now reach more people than ever before, and I am naturally delighted with the growth of some of our key brands this ABC period. Good Housekeeping is one of the most famous and established brands in the UK and it continues to go from strength to strength as we expand the business into exciting new areas this year. Meanwhile, Prima’s strong performance shows what you can do with a fresh approach to an established brand and the continued success of Women’s Health demonstrates a healthy appetite for well crafted, innovative launches.”
Hearst Magazines UK publishes 20 magazines, 26 websites, 14 mobile sites and, to date, more than 150 applications and digital editions for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the Android platform. It is the largest digital publisher in the UK and its impressive reach in print and digital extends to 1 in 4 UK women and 1 in 6 UK adults.
(Runner’s World, Town & Country and Company were not audited this period.)
MONTHLIES
Cosmopolitan
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 289,044
Print ABC: 282,493 / Digital ABC: 6,551
Cosmopolitan, the ‘go to’ brand for the millennial generation, continues to grow its audience to more than 5m women in the UK across multiple touch points. One of the largest read magazines with more than 1.4m readers, Cosmopolitan constantly evolves to stay connected to the consumer recently re-launching cosmopolitan.co.uk with a mobile first platform. A month to moments editorial strategy puts Cosmopolitan in the palm of its readers’ hands, 24/7. The Cosmopolitan ecosystem continues to develop, creating new and innovative ways for commercial partners to engage the growing Cosmopolitan audience.
Country Living
Total combined print and digital ABC – 178,900
Print ABC: 176,397 / Digital ABC: 2,503
Country Living’s combined sale of 178k, of which more than half are loyal subscribers, ensures continued domination of this upmarket homes category. The brand’s growing equity has been the foundation for unprecedented success through the Country Living Fairs, its licensing business and specials. Country Living’s Modern Rustic is now into its second edition after excelling all expectations at launch. The newly launched Country Living website and its marketplace shopping experience are now providing more opportunities for both consumers and advertisers to engage with the brand across a growing number of more channels.
ELLE
Total combined print and digital ABC – 155,289
Print ABC: 150,427/ Digital ABC: 4,862
The success of British ELLE's 360º content strategy for 2014 has enabled the brand to reach an even wider and more engaged audience. ELLE’s online reach has increased with desktop users up 29.8% and mobile up 21%. This growth is expected to continue with the launch of ELLE UK’s newly redesigned website in August. ELLE UK also continues to lead the way on social media. It is the UK’s biggest woman’s magazine brand on Facebook with more than 4 million followers, its Twitter traffic increased by 16% to 725k over the Jan/June 2014 period and the ELLE fashion Cupboard (#ellefashioncupboard), an innovative new space and hub for digital and social content, was recently awarded the 2014 PPA Game Changer of the Year award. Between January – June 2014, ELLE UK also published the 17th edition of its award-winning catwalk bible, ELLE Collections, and is working towards the launch of the first edition of the new luxury bi-annual ELLE Wedding in September 2014.
ELLE Decoration
Total combined print and digital ABC 71,475
Print ABC: 65,592 / Digital ABC: 5,883
The British edition of ELLE Decoration, the world’s leading homes magazine brand, is celebrating its 25thAnniversary year in 2014. ELLE Decoration has seen UK actively purchased copies grow by 2.3% period on period, and has seen a 3% increase in actively purchased digital edition between Jan–Jun 2014. The brand’s Facebook and Twitter channels have shown an increased growth, with a combined social media reach of over 920K. June saw the re-launch of ELLEDecoration.co.uk, creating a dynamic touch point for this growing brand. ELLE Decoration published its 4th edition of the Interiors bible for luxury country living, ELLE Decoration Country, in May this year.
Esquire
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 58,538
Print ABC: 52,859 / Digital ABC: 5,679
The Esquire universe continues to develop at pace becoming one of the most innovative men’s luxury brands across print and digital platforms. Esquire magazine and the Big Black Book provide the ultimate luxury experience in print with the Big Black Book now established as the leading men’s luxury lifestyle bible. Esquire Weekly has recently launched on mobile following the ground breaking launch on ipad in 2013 and Esquire Daily reaches more than half a million uniques every month. With strong performances across all touchpoints, Esquire is the brand for style conscious British men.
Good Housekeeping
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 406,803
Print ABC: 403,442 / Digital ABC: 3,361
Good Housekeeping continues to dominate the market with another marked increase, further enhancing its unrivalled position as the UK’s top selling women's monthly lifestyle, and demonstrating – yet again – its unique command, reach and authority. With unmatched levels of loyalty and trust amongst its readership, Good Housekeeping has shown year-on-year growth across multiple platforms (print, website, books), and increased its influence and relevance in consumers' lives through the work of the Good Housekeeping Institute which this month moves into new, architect-designed premises in central London.
Harper’s Bazaar
Total combined print and digital ABC – 108,472
Print ABC: 105,310 /Digital ABC: 3,162
Harper's Bazaar continues to demonstrate its appeal to its target ABC1 female audience with a period-on-period 2.8% growth in its actively purchased copies. The brand's digital footprint also continues apace with the mobile-responsive redesign of the website resulting in its best ever traffic, with more than 300,000 monthly unique users with an even split between desktop and mobile/tablet. Experiential initiatives and key partnerships with cultural institutions and the business-focused Bazaar at Work continue to enhance Harper’s Bazaar's unique offering of fashion, beauty, art, culture, travel, and design for the intelligent woman.
House Beautiful
Total combined print and digital ABC – 111,676
Print ABC: 110,666 / Digital ABC: 1,010
House Beautiful has recorded a combined sale of 111k, of which almost 50k are long term subscribers. The recent launch of the new House Beautiful website, together with a growing range of successful events and licensing partnerships continue to highlight the strength of this brand.
Men’s Health
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 207,254
Print ABC: 196,894 / Digital ABC: 10,360
Men’s Health continues to dominate the male lifestyle sector with its 11th consecutive period as the UK’s best-selling men’s title. The Men’s Health audience grew to unprecedented levels during the Jan-June 2014 period, driven by a record 2.5M unique browsers and 6.5M page view in May 2014 alone on its market-leading website www.menshealth.co.uk, and by its combined social media reach expanding to more than 700K followers.
Prima
Total combined print and digital ABC – 263,893
Print ABC: 263,189 / Digital ABC: 704
Prima’s outstanding performance reflects the unstoppable approach of the Prima team and the passion and energy they have put behind the brand in the last year. The ultimate magazine experience for today’s savvy shoppers, Prima is seeing growth across both UK active newsstand sales and subscriptions, the sign of a brand in real growth. The new creating and craft off shoot, Prima Makes, is now in its 4th edition having sold well above expectations at launch.
RED
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 191,963
Print ABC: 188,298 / Digital ABC: 3,665
RED holds a unique and unrivalled position in the market as the leading luxury lifestyle magazine brand. Engaging a powerful demographic of upscale affluent women in all areas of her life, RED talks directly to women with purchasing power. A more fashion confident, luxury positioning supported by intelligent features is attracting a younger, affluent consumer to RED providing new and exciting commercial opportunities. The award winning Redonline continues to grow whilst the RED Network programme connects like-minded and influential women across the UK.
Women’s Health
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 115,517
Print ABC: 109,566 / Digital ABC: 5,951
Women’s Health has continued to build upon its incredible success story with yet another record ABC – the fourth consecutive increase since the brand’s launch in February 2012. Both print and digital editions have recorded year-on-year increases with combined sales growing 2.7% period-on-period and a resounding 7.3% year on year. This exponential growth since its debut into the market makes Women’s Health the most successful glossy monthly launch of the last decade.
WEEKLIES
All About Soap
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 56,546
Print ABC: 55,787 / Digital ABC: 759
All About Soap continues to offer fans their fix of soap gossip and fun every fortnight.
Best
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 205,552
Print ABC: 205,307 / Digital ABC: 245
Multiplatform classic Best, puts in a more solid print performance proving ‘TV + Style + Straight Talk’ to be a winning formula. BestDaily.co.uk is now established as the destination for classic women online and regular receives more than 400K unique visitors per month.
Inside Soap
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 136,182
Print ABC: 133,228 / Digital ABC: 2,954
No 1 soap mag, Inside Soap, continues to reign supreme whilst preparing for the Inside Soap Awards in October. Sales of the interactive digital edition for both iOS and Kindle Fire are up 33.5% period on period and up 75.2% year on year while the newly re-launched insidesoap.co.uk offers up ‘All of the soaps. All of the time.’ to soap fans across the UK and beyond.
Real People
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 170,074
Print ABC: 169,775 / Digital ABC: 299
Reader favourite Real People continues to outdo the real life sector and gains share for the sixth consecutive period. Now on its sixth swashbuckling special, Real People’s Crime Confidential sells more than 40,000 copies per quarter.
Reveal
Total combined print and digital edition ABC – 167,018
Print ABC: 165,508 / Digital ABC: 1,510
Fresh from a TOWIE-studded tenth birthday celebration Reveal beats all core celebrity rivals with a best-in-market performance. Reveal.co.uk continues to dominate with almost 1.2 million unique visitors every month and sales of Reveal’s optimised digital edition are up 3.6% year on year.
Immediate Media Co
Immediate Media Co, the special interest content and platform company, continues to outperform the consumer magazine market with its combined print and digital circulation of 1,918,351 for titles reporting in the period January-June 2014.
* Immediate Group print ABC: 1,897,790, down -3.5% year-on-year
* Immediate Group digital ABC: 20,561, up 31.6% year-on-year
* Immediate continues to deliver over one million active subscriptions*.
Immediate Media Co CEO, Tom Bureau, says: “The ABCs are an important measure of performance in the consumer magazine sector, and I’m pleased to report that Immediate continues to outperform the market in the latest audit.
“Immediate’s special interest brands have strength in depth – more so than ever, following our recent acquisition of Future’s market-leading Sport and Craft brands. And we remain focused on driving our strategy of delivering those brands across a range of platforms, meeting the needs of our passionate and engaged communities.”
Highlights for the ABC period Jan–June 2014:
* Radio Times remains the UK’s biggest-selling quality magazine, with a weekly print ABC of 762,814, retaining its position as the most valuable title on the UK newsstand. Radio Times is also the UK’s biggest weekly subscription title, with 241,998 subscribers, up 6.3% year-on-year and 4.3% period-on-period.
* BBC History Magazine remains by far the UK’s biggest history brand, with a print ABC of 78,695: the brand’s seventeenth consecutive ABC increase. BBC History Magazine’s digital sales continue to impress, up 28.7% year-on-year to 11,286, while subscriptions have seen excellent growth, up 9.2% year-on-year.
* BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine delivers a print ABC of 217,089 – up 10.9% period-on-period – cementing its position as the gardening market leader in the actively purchased sector, and representing almost two thirds of the entire volume of sales in the market. Digital edition sales of BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine are up 19.8% year-on-year.
* Youth & Children’s – Immediate remains the number one publisher in the overall Children’s market, with CBeebies Magazine a success at its new fortnightly frequency. The popular title delivers an ABC of 55,381, up 29.7% on the period. Overall the Immediate Youth & Children’s portfolio delivers an ABC up 2.2% year-on-year.
Immediate recently completed the acquisition of a range of market-leading Sport and Craft brands from Future for a value of up to £24m. Future’s market-leading Sport brands reach over 4.7 million unique users a month. BikeRadar.com is the world’s largest cycling reviews website, while Cyclingnews.com is the world’s number one source for pro-cycling news and race reports. The print portfolio has a monthly circulation of more than 100,000 and includes market-leading Cycling Plus, Procycling and off-road market leader, Mountain Biking UK. Craft brands include Simply Knitting – the largest audited print Craft title in the UK – and contemporary brand Mollie Makes, which has reinvigorated the general Craft market.
IPC Media
IPC Media today unveils highlights from the latest round of ABC figures for its brands reporting in the period January to June 2014. These latest results point to a resurgence in the women’s lifestyle market and continued growth in the home interest sector.
Marcus Rich, CEO, IPC Media says: “This period sees continued success from our titles in the women’s lifestyle market. Weeklies including Woman’s Own and Woman and monthly titles including woman&home and Essentials experienced growth on either the period or the year. Forty-plus women - or GenerationYnot! as IPC calls them – turn to our titles to inspire and advise them on every aspect of their lives. They are a hugely discerning yet often overlooked group that has great commercial sway over their friends and families, and it is fantastic to see such a strong performance from the magazine sector that serves this audience.
“As well as growth from our titles’ digital editions, our core focus is on expanding the overall reach of our powerful, market-leading brands. We continue to look for even more ways to satisfy and engage our consumers’ passions and in the past 12 months have launched new events and experiences, products and apps in a variety of sectors. We also look for new and exciting ways to leverage our portfolio of brands for the benefit of our advertising partners.”
IPC’s ABC results include:
Both mainstream and upmarket women’s lifestyle titles experience growth this period. Still glowing from its recent PPA double award success, woman&home, retains its position as the third biggest-selling glossy magazine. It is the second highest-selling women’s monthly on the UK newsstand, where it has increased sales by 2.3% on the year. woman&home’s combined print and digital ABC has reached 344,922, a print increase of 0.4% on the year.
Also in the monthly sector, Essentials posts a combined print and digital ABC of 109,098, an increase of 2.1% period-on-period. Essentials’ content is absolutely relevant to modern, busy women today and the brand delivers its tips and advice in a variety of ways to suit the lives of its audience.
In the weekly market, Woman’s Own enjoyed yet more growth, posting a 2.2% year-on-year print sales increase to report a combined print and digital ABC of 226,195. The title continues to go from strength-to-strength and outperformed the women’s weekly lifestyle sector. This performance demonstrates that ongoing editorial development work undertaken to evolve the title is resonating with its audience.
Sister brand Woman also outperformed the women’s weekly lifestyle sector to retain sector leadership reporting a combined print and digital ABC of 254,939 up 1.1% on the period. The brand continues to extend its reach and build new franchises from the core pillars of the brand.
IPC’s homes portfolio has delivered yet another market-leading performance in one of the industry’s most robust sectors. IPC’s share of the homes print market has increased by 1.2% year-on-year to 50.7%, reflecting the strength of its titles and breadth of portfolio which caters to every interiors enthusiast, from country to urban, modern to traditional and budget to luxury.
Titles delivering affordable interiors style have performed particularly well, with Style at Home recording the sector’s fastest rate of growth and breaking through the 100,000 mark by some distance. With a year-on-year increase of 10.9% and achieving a print ABC of 106,406, Style at Home is a real star of the interiors market. Ideal Home remains the biggest-selling title in the entire homes market, up 1.8% on the period to deliver a print ABC of 194,689, while, in the modern market, Livingetc cements its number one position, increasing print sales by 0.7% on last period to 92,224.
On the UK newsstand, other IPC interiors titles report steady sales, with Homes & Gardens posting a print increase of 0.4% on the period and Country Homes & Interiors delivering a print increase of 0.5% on the year.
Fashion bible InStyle is one of the standout performers in the fashion market, reporting total print ABC growth on the period of 0.6% to 145,468. New editor Charlotte Moore has re-focused the title’s positioning, delivering fabulous and inspiring fashion content, and arming readers with the shopping and styling knowledge they need to make trends work for them.
PPA
Barry McIlheney, CEO of the PPA, said: “The figures in this report reiterate how shifting consumer media habits continue to impact upon today’s modern, multi-platform magazine brands.
“The growth of digital editions is encouraging for the sector, and it should also be remembered that this ABC report does not include the increasing number of other ways – websites, live events, social media, etc. – in which the magazine brands of today engage directly with their consumers.
“The growing demand for digital content continues to place pressure on print magazines in some markets, but there are also a number of highlights in this report that demonstrate the continued robustness of print for certain brands, in certain markets, and among certain demographics.
“Overall, this ABC report shows how today’s modern magazine brands are continuing to extend their cross-platform audience reach and grow their influence as a key platform for advertisers.
“This growing reach and influence of magazine media is something that will be further demonstrated and promoted by the new consumer magazine media marketing agency, to be launched in the final quarter of this year. Further information on this will be provided in the coming weeks."
Psychologies magazine
Kelsey Media is pleased to announce an ABC increase for Psychologies magazine for the period January to June 2014 compared to the same period last year. The new figure is 73,711.
Kelsey Media Chief Executive Steve Wright said, “This is a great result for the Psychologies publishing team and for Kelsey Media. In particular, it is a great achievement for editor Suzy Greaves and her team. Suzy, who joined early last year, has overseen a remarkable transformation for Psychologies. She has emphasised Psychologies’ uplifting, distinctive voice and created a warm and inviting style in design, photography and engaging features that has paid dividends in sales. Psychologies has also seen a massive increase in its social media presence with over 840,000 Facebook likes.”
ShortList Media
ShortList
ShortList strengthens its market leadership of the upmarket men’s lifestyle category with a new ABC figure of 535,505 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. This is the title’s 13th consecutive increase since its launch in September 2007.
The new ABC – which represents the average weekly figure achieved by ShortList from January-June 2014 – increases the brand’s dominance of other magazines in its category. As the chart below shows, ShortList now enjoys a market share of 41.6%, up year on year by 1.2 percentage points in the competitive upmarket men’s lifestyle sector. The January-June 2014 ABC figure is up 0.2% year on year.
In 2014, the ShortList editorial team excelled with exclusive access to David Beckham, Roy Hodgson, Matthew McConaughey, Ray Winstone, Kasabian and Ricky Gervais; guest edited issues by Lily Allen and Steve Coogan; previewed the summer’s biggest blockbusters; and raised awareness of important male issues such as violence, body image, stress and addiction. The scale, quality and creativity of ShortList has led to a host of new advertisers including Grey Goose vodka, Coach, DKNY, Kopparberg, Hackett, Tumi, Courvoisier and Acqua di Parma, and launched the inaugural search for the UK’s most stylish man in association with Remington and supported by Reiss.
Online, ShortList.com is achieving 2.2m unique users and 20m page impressions a month, 25% of which are via mobile.
Thursday 25 September will see fashion biannual brand MODE replace ShortList for the week, increasing its reach from 250k to 535k, reflecting the growing interests of urban men in designer fashion, high-street fashion and grooming. To amplify the MODE brand, ShortList’s Style & Grooming section will be expanded and rebranded MODE, starting in the 28 August issue. In October, ShortList will reveal its second Brit List, the definitive guide to Britain’s most exciting up-and-coming talent across film, music, sport, business, tech and TV, followed by special issues dedicated to food, fiction and watches.
Stylist
Stylist cements its market leadership of the women’s fashion and lifestyle category with a new ABC figure of 436,120 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. This is the title’s ninth consecutive increase since its launch in October 2009.
The new ABC – which represents the average weekly figure achieved by Stylist between January and June 2014 – increases the brand’s dominance of other magazines in its category. As the chart below shows, Stylist now enjoys a market share of 24.1%, up year on year by 1.1 percentage points in the competitive women’s fashion and lifestyle sector.
The growth of Stylist in print has proceeded unhindered by the launch of the tablet edition of Stylist in April. The weekly tablet edition allows readers to enjoy a fluid and responsive version of the print edition, designed to adapt to all tablet devices and smart mobile handsets. The tablet edition has comfortably outstripped its launch target of 25,000 active views per week, and issued a recent publisher’s statement for its first seven issues, achieving an average of 29,100 per week.
Online, Stylist.co.uk has achieved 600k+ unique users and a further 300k+ on mobile every month, with 440k followers on social media. Meanwhile Stylist’s sister title, the glossy daily email Emerald Street, has reached a landmark 100,000 active subscribers.
In 2014, the award-winning Stylist editorial team has surprised and delighted readers with hard-hitting features such as ‘Feminism: Must Try Harder’, motivated them with ‘100 Inspiring Quotes For Life’ and amused them with the Stylist take on emojis and cats in hats. Stylist was also the only consumer magazine in the UK to interview Hillary Clinton. They’ve worked with major models such as Karolina Kurkova and Karen Elson and top photographers including Ellen von Unwerth and Rankin. The scale and quality of Stylist has also reflected itself in the calibre of new advertisers with Roberto Cavalli, Comptoir des Cotonniers and Marina Rinaldi among the range of brands appearing in the title for the first time over the last six months.
Wednesday 10 September will see the launch of Stylist’s first ever perfect-bound fashion edition – 236 pages of glossy fashion featuring top fashion advertising brands including Dolce & Gabbana and DSquared2. In October, Stylist will celebrate its fifth birthday with a spectacular special edition.
Slimming World
Healthy growth for Slimming World magazine sees it break into top five!
Slimming World magazine is now the fifth best-selling consumer title in the UK, according to latest circulation figures.
ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) figures for consumer publications released today (Thursday 14th August, 2014) show Slimming World magazine now has a combined print and digital circulation of 476,741. It has overtaken Saga magazine to move from 6th place in the actively purchased magazine charts to 5th position.
The new figure, which relates to January-June 2014, means the magazine continues to outsell household names like Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan and now has a circulation of more than three times competitor title WeightWatchers magazine.
Slimming World magazine has been the best-selling title in the women’s slimming and health sectors for more than eight years, and has increased circulation from the previous period (July-December 2013) by 18,224 and by 38,182 year on year. The new figure shows a 63.4% increase over the last five years – in January-June 2009 the title recorded a circulation (print only) of 291,730 – and the 8th consecutive year-on-year growth in circulation.
Today’s news is the second big celebration for Slimming World magazine in recent weeks after it was named Customer Magazine of the Year 2014 at the PPA Awards in July. The title supports members of Slimming World’s 12,000 weekly slimming groups, as well as introducing new people to the club via the newsstand and is published seven times a year. It features real-life success stories sourced from group members, a delicious food section, practical and emotional features, and shopping and fashion pages.
Editor Elise Wells says 2014 has been a great year for the magazine: “Winning our first PPA Award was incredible and to be the fifth best-selling magazine in the UK is another huge boost for the team. It’s their hard work and attention to detail that ensures the magazine is the top-quality product that our readers love and come back to issue after issue, and that helps us to inspire and motivate more and more readers on their weight-loss journeys.”
She adds that she’s particularly proud of the way in which the magazine team understands the title’s readers: “Our goal is for the magazine to be an extension of the compassionate yet practical support that Slimming World offers via its groups and online programme. Being based at Slimming World’s head office in Derbyshire brings us so much closer to the ethos of the organisation. We benefit from Slimming World’s 45 years’ experience of helping people to lose weight and keep it off and, as a result, have a much better understanding of slimmers, including their motivations and the challenges they face.”
The magazine’s circulation increase is particularly impressive when set against the backdrop of many other titles across all sectors who are struggling in the difficult publishing climate. Circulation figures for Slimming World magazine’s digital edition are also on the rise and these latest ABCs show it now has the 7th highest digital edition circulation. It is the top women’s digital title with a circulation of 11,621, which is a 50.2% increase period on period.
Elise says: “Traditionally slimming magazines have been seen as niche titles only appealing to a small section of readers. However, our circulation now exceeds many of the more mainstream titles, giving us – and Slimming World – a wonderful opportunity to reach even more people who would like help and support to lose weight or eat more healthily. While we’re delighted with our continued growth we’re not content to rest on our laurels, we’re always looking for ways in which we can develop and improve the support we give to our already loyal readers and to help even more people. We have some exciting plans in the pipeline and I can’t wait to see how they’re received.”
The August/September 2014 issue of Slimming World magazine is on newsstands now and the digital edition can be purchased from Pocket Mags, the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Kindle Fire and Zinio.
Slimming World is ranked 7th highest digital edition with sales of 11,621 (50.2% increase period on period). It is the top women’s digital title.
Square Up Media
Escapism magazine celebrates one year anniversary in top spot and Square Mile reports sixth consecutive increase as ABC figures are released
Escapism magazine continues its reign as the UK’s largest independent travel title according to the latest set of ABC figures released this morning.
With an official circulation of 85,270, the monthly print title is up by 4% and the only title in its category to post an increase, pushing it even further ahead of its competitors including Condé Nast Traveller and The Sunday Times Travel Magazine.
Escapism editor Jon Hawkins shares his excitement, “We're delighted Escapism's readership has continued to grow, and that the magazine has pulled further away from the competition to reinforce its status as the UK's largest independent travel magazine. It's conclusive proof that Londoners want to read a title that takes a fresh and exciting approach to travel.”
Square Up Media’s flagship brand Square Mile magazine - a free luxury lifestyle title catering to senior executives in the City, has posted its sixth consecutive increase in circulation with a new ABC figure of 51,918, up 8% from December and the largest increase in its category.
Both titles have also reported impressive increases in their digital audiences with each of their databases up by over 30% since December.
Square Up Media CEO Tim Slee is delighted, to say the least: "ABC time is like Christmas for us nowadays – with the added bonus of knowing our presents are going to be awesome. In terms of both pagination and revenue, Square Mile has just posted its largest ever issue – its AW Style issue – and we've recorded our sixth consecutive rise in circulation. Escapism remains the UK's largest independent travel title, and we've got no plans to tread water there either. We're in a rare pocket of publishing that's enjoying great success and growth at the moment. Long may it continue."
