Jan – Jun 2008 ABC Consumer Magazine Concurrent Release

Motoring

Let’s focus on the big 6 titles - BBC Top Gear, What Car? Evo, Car, Auto Express and Autocar,. Collectively their total circulation dropped from 603,031 copies to 586,504, a decline of only 2.7% POP.

This is a sterling performance in today’s consumer magazine market. When you add to the above fact that of the 17,000 lost copies, 8,000 of these came from one magazine (Car).

The news/lifestyle magazines have posted strong results with BBC Top Gear continuing to lead and continuing to hold onto their 200,000+ number (200,471 which is up 0.1% POP). The brand building of the television programme continues to play a big supporting role! Evo takes the silver medal behind TG with 74,201 sales and Car has fallen even further behind to 68,126 copies (down 9.2% POP). Whilst a beautiful looking magazine with stunning photography it still seems to lack that editorial punch?

Within the weekly market it seems that after years of steady decline, Autocar is beginning to get back on its feet hitting 58,091 in this ABC period. The continual investment in new car scoops and award winning journalism is obviously a winning formula – the loyal Autocar readers remain true to the brand. Auto Express had an uncomfortable ABC period dropping 9.1% YOY to 77,587. This battle between these two weekly titles will make for interesting reading come the next ABC release in Feb 2009.

The bible of the buyer’s guide, What Car? seems to have stalled the circulation decline by showing a POP circulation increase to 108,028. It was thought that this sector would be the first to feel the might of the digital migration. Maybe not?

Finally, keep your eye on Performance Car who will make their debut in the Jun-Dec 2008 ABC figures. The word is that they are currently outperforming Car and are hot on the tail of Evo? Lets wait and see!!!


Men’s

As expected the men's lifestyle sector saw some double digit decreases with readers continuing to move away from titles with heavy emphasis on salacious content. Maxim magazines long term future must now be in doubt after a YOY drop of 59% (43,542). Weekly titles Nuts and Zoo also suffered large YOY drops - 9.8% and 13.6% respectively

The move away from salacious content has also been reflected in the notable success stories from this sector. GQ and Esquire, posted increases this term and this highlights the fact that men are searching for sophisticated in-depth content. It is encouraging that GQ circulation has steadily increased over the last 8 years. Esquire, since their relaunch have also seen a positive response (+ 8% YOY to 58,136)

Specialist sports titles Men's Health (245,212) and Men's Fitness (65,626) will also be celebrating today after increasing their YOY ABC's 2.6% and 0.4% respectively but England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 has effected Four Four Two's POP figure (-5.5%) Their YOY figure however is still up by 4.2%

Women’s Celebrity Weeklies
The celebrity/fashion weeklies have seen a decline both YOY and POP (6% & 6.4% respectively) this is mainly driven by Bauer's More magazine which had the largest decline of 37.6% YOY to 162,544. If we exclude More magazine, the market is still down by just over 4% YOY. OK magazine has remained the market leader, circulating just over 600k. The gap is starting to close from its nearest competitor Closer magazine, during the last set of ABC's it was 134,000 copies behind; it is now only 80,000 copies away.
Northern and Shell as a group is the most successful publisher in this market, the combined circulations of OK, New and Star were up YOY by 6%. This was lead by OK magazine (9% YOY to 607,048) and Star magazine (13% YOY to 287,368). New magazine had a slight decline of 1.8% YOY. Looking into the POP performances, all three magazines have declined (OK -11.2%, Star -6.0% and New -6.6%). OK magazine is famous for it’s exclusively, most recently has been the Wayne and Colleen special and the exclusive photographs of Jennifer Lopez twins. On some occasions, these issues have circulated over 2 million copies.
Within Bauer’s portfolio, Grazia has remained successful with a 3.2% increase YOY to 227,102, it still continues to have the largest number of single copy subscriptions in the UK and Eire, and this has grown by 37% YOY to 24,064. Grazia have previously said that they are not specifically trying to grow its circulation as they do not want to become mass market but retain their existing audience. Following an editorially turbulent year, Heat suffered alongside sister titles More and Closer. However, Bauer have hinted at exciting developments over the coming months
IPC's Look magazine is another success story in terms of single copy subscriptions in the UK and Eire, they are starting to grow their database, and they currently have 6,680 which is a 198% increase YOY. Their top line figure has declined slightly by 3.6%. Now magazine has also declined, with a drop of 9.5% YOY.
Hello magazine's top line figure is fairly positive showing an 1.7% increase, however, after delving into these figures a little further it is clear that the success is not necessary transparent. The total actively purchased figure is down 5% YOY. Hello magazine is one of the only magazines within this sector to hides behind this data.
Natmags Reveal magazine is another title in trouble, they have declined by 20% YOY. They have recently signed up a number of new celebrity writers to try and halt this decline. Carol Vorderman, Vanessa Feltz, Holly Willoughby, Martine McCutcheon, Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, James Martin and Jonathan Cainer. They are hoping this new look/stance will hopefully combat this decline.
Are consumers starting to get bored with DE list celebs or is there too much choice in the market now? With the exception of the more fashion focused magazines (Grazia and Look), those titles solely relaying on celebrity gossip can not hold onto a loyal readership. They are only as good as their last cover.

Women's Weeklies - Traditional & Real Life sector

The traditional and real life sector saw an overall decline of 8.3% YOY with all titles except one seeing their circulations fall. This one title was Woman, which remained static YOY. This shows that the title's redevelopment process including more editorial focus on celebrity and fashion as well as a new look (started in February 2008), has been reasonably successful. This is the first time that the title has not seen a decrease in the last six ABC periods.

The worst casualty of this sector was Real People, down 25.6% YOY to 230,135. ACP Natmags' other title Best did not fare much better, despite the introduction of some celebrity columnists at the beginning of the year, with a decline of 11.5% to 301,437.

Although Real People saw the biggest decline, this was closely followed by Bauer's Bella which saw a decline of 22.6%, despite various revamps and celebrity focused editorial changes in an effort to attract younger readers. Bauer's other traditional title and the fourth highest selling UK magazine, Take a Break, was down 3.6% year on year and fell below the 1 million copies per week mark to 973,234. However it remains the market leader. Its main competitor, IPC's Chat magazine, saw its sales fall 4.7% year on year.

Many titles have been trying to refresh their offering to attract younger audiences into a traditionally older market place, with emphasis on celebrity editorial for example. However these recent ABCs show that the titles have failed to find their feet with this audience.


Women’s Monthlies

Overall the women's glossy market has shown a YOY decline of 3.5%, considerably less than seen at the last ABC result (- 6.4% YOY). POP the sector has remained largely static (0.3% POP) and this is encouraging, showing that the sector is in good health, especially when set against the overcrowded weekly market.

Leading the pack in terms of increases, Psychologies circulation is up 15.4% YOY to 150,112, its 6th successive increase since its 2005 launch. Hachette have again been supporting Psychologies considerably with press, TV and radio advertising, However, the continued success of the title also demonstrates the benefits of long term investment in editorial (PPA Editor of the Year 2008) and of the value of a loyal and sustainable readership.

On the other end of the scale, Top Sante Health & Beauty posted a 15.5% decline YOY, 5.2% POP to 92,981, a trend mirrored by other wellbeing titles such as Health & Fitness which continue to struggle YOY. Publishers Bauer announced last week that Top Sante will be relaunched in January 2009 in an attempt to curb the decline.

Elsewhere, Eve & Red have both posted declines, while She showed a small increase of 2.5% YOY, indicating it is still reaping the benefits of a significant relaunch 2 years ago. In general, the 30+ market appears relatively robust. This is not the case at the younger end of the market, with Company & Marie Claire both showing declines to 240,078 and 316,765 respectively. This is possibly as a result of stiff competition from the weeklies market and magazine websites. Essentials continues to confuse and confound, remaining static YOY but increasing by 6.5% POP.

The luxury market again appears to be performing well with Tatler, Vanity Fair, Conde Nast Traveller & Vogue all posting increases or remaining static. It remains to be seen whether the much-publicised downturn in our economy will have a detrimental effect on the luxury magazine market, or whether the aspirational nature of such titles will see circulations hold firm in the face of declining disposable income.

Interestingly, Nat Mag's Harper's Bazaar has shown a 3.1% increase YOY, despite Campaign and Media Week's claim to the contrary


Home Interest

The Home Interest Market is still demonstrating good health with yet another overall YOY increase of 24.4%, circulating 2,803,311. It tells a pretty similar story in comparison to last year with the majority of the increases coming from the more focused titles which have managed to secure a particular niche within the market. These results appear even stronger in comparison to the significant declines experienced within other sectors - this may well be a result of the current housing market with most choosing to renovate rather than move.

The Biggest winners within the Home Interest market are the niche title of Coast (YOY increase of 33.1% to 41,116), Living etc (YOY increase of 8.5% to 98,395) and Country Homes & Interiors (YOY increase of 5.7% to 87,056). These titles have been able to focus on highly specific areas of the market, identifying areas for expansion and clearly taking advantage of this.

Although Ideal Home (221,080) still remains the market leader, it was unable to halt its continued decline in circulation, with a further YOY decrease of 5.4%. Its nearest competitor House Beautiful is also falling behind experiencing a YOY decrease of 4.2%.

Considering previous stable performances the BBC set have also seen a disappointing posting with BBC Good Homes down 11.2% YOY and BBC Homes & Antiques down 15.6 YOY. This will undoubtedly be a big hit for the BBC. Another BBC title which failed to show a significant YOY increase was BBC Gardeners World (YOY increase of 0.1%); although this title did demonstrate a POP increase of 27.2%. Clearly the seasonality needs to be taken into consideration here, with a considerable uplift around Spring which is included in the Jan-June ABC's.

Lastly there are notable exceptions to the decline in the high circulating titles with Country Living increasing 3.7% YOY to 199,510, further widening the gap between House Beautiful, Homes & Gardens with a YOY increase of 3.5% and Your Home with a YOY increase of 3.8%.

As always the circulations within this sector are highly dependent on people's interest in the Home and its renovations. This will be an interesting sector to watch over the coming months to see if it can maintain this overall growth as people feel the squeeze and their disposable incomes diminish.

Domestics

Overall, this sector has seen a decrease of 4.1% POP and 2.2% YOY.

We often see a decrease in this market in the Jan – Jul period, as titles (particularly food) achieve increases in the second ABC period of the year due to the popularity of Christmas issue’s. Naturally, the following Jan – Jun period in comparison shows a decline. However, this is not the case across the board.

Sainsbury’s Magazine, after their decrease in the last ABC period announced that it was attributable to the change in reporting, moving from the traditional ABC measure to the more accurate EPOS figures, i.e. till data. A further decrease in the Jan – Jun period follows the trend in this market for this time of year, so we will be keen for the next results which should provide a better indication as to whether the title is really in decline.

Prima has also been in decline. In advance of the latest ABCs and the titles 5th consecutive POP decrease, the title re-launched following research with regular, irregular and lapsed readers. The changes have included the use of older cover models, and the addition of two new sections to offer the readers better value. These sections include Life Etc which offers practical advice on current consumer affairs and Prima Extra which provides reader tips, discounts and puzzles. Better understanding of the market and moving more in line with this, can only be a good thing. However, at the same cover price, it’s questionable whether the bigger pagination will translate to the reader as it is intended to, as better value.

Other titles, such as Essentials and Woman & Home have seen positive increases showing that this market isn't in too bad shape.


TV Listings: Radio & TV Guides

Overall this sector is down 4.1% YOY. Both TV Choice and Soaplife remained static whilst all other titles saw substantial declines. The worst hit was TV Easy, down 18.8% to 231,334. Only one TV title bucked the trend and saw a significant increase; All About Soap with a 20.1% rise YOY to 105,198.

PVR systems such as Sky+ which allow viewers to plan their TV viewing on their screen as well as record, pause and rewind their favourite shows have become increasingly popular. With this as well as the ability to watch repeats on demand of any TV or radio show online with programmes like i-Player, it is not surprising that these listing mags are losing readers. However, that said, TV Choice has remained as the UK's biggest selling paid-for magazine (1,394,269) in the first half of 2008, increasing its lead over rival weekly listings title What's On TV.

The success of All About Soap shows that there is still a huge demand for inside advance information on viewers' favourite shows, especially soaps, and TV Choice's huge sales figures show that although this sector as a whole is in decline, the desire for pages of TV and radio listings has not yet disappeared and remains healthy.


Music

The music market has seen a slight decline overall across both the Rock and Dance markets with both genres down -6.8% YOY. However, they still over 700,000 copies with The Fly and Uncut performing well.

These increases demonstrate that the trend is moving towards discovering new bands and music rather than reading about existing acts. The Fly remains a relatively niche title in a specialised market place but its circulation is now only 1000 copies behind Mojo at 105,212. The title has a strong online offering with podcasts, TV and Radio, all of which strengthen the brand proposition.

Q is still the highest circulating title in this market (113,174) despite posting a decrease of -13.1% while Mojo also posted a small decline of -5.1%. Although a much smaller title, Classic Rock fared slightly better with a minimal decrease of -0.9% YOY. Despite Q Magazine being heavily involved in Glastonbury each year this isn’t helping to stop the circulation decline.

Mixmag in the Dance sector has continued to drop further (-8.3% YOY) while Development Hells other title, the Word dropped a further -3%.

Circulations in the music sector are dependent on the popularity of the different music genres and what is fashionable at the time. There has recently been a step away from the club and dance music scene with more people becoming interested in the festival scene.


Pre School

The pre-school sector has really struggled in the last 6 months with many titles posting double digit decreases. 4 of the top 10 titles in the market - Toybox, Bob the builder, Charlie & Lola and Fun to learn all dropped over 18% of their circulation. The only two titles in the market to add readers were Play and Learn - Thomas and Friends and Fun to Learn - Friends who both posted an increase of 15%.

Last years big new launch was BBC's 'In The Night Garden' The market leader in this sector posted its second ABC this time round and saw a 6% drop since December.


Pre Teen & Teen

The big news in this sector is that Doctor Who Magazine - the market leader, is down almost 40% YOY to to 93,741. With the programme reaching it series climax in June the BBC with be disappointed that this crescendo did not spill over into the magazine. The reason for this could be the BBC's big new launch into the Pre Teen market - Match Of The Day who posted their first ABC at 85,000 and may well have taken readers away from Doctor Who. Notable success stories in this market are Egmont's Toxic magazine who are up 12% YOY, Sky Kids magazine and SpongeBob Square pants who both bucked the trend and posted single digit increases (2% and 2.5 respectively)

In this sector the launch of Match of the Day magazine lead directly to the closure of Shoot, a magazine that after gradual decline officially blew the final whistle in June.

In the Teen sector it is a real mixed bag of results, some disappointing decreases but also some excellent increases. Following continued investment from Orange 20 Mizz posts an impressive 2nd consecutive YOY increase.

The same cannot be said for Bliss who has suffered a 2nd YOY decrease. In the last ABC Bliss publisher Orange 20 blamed their circulation drop on a lack of investment from previous publisher Emap in the months leading to the titles sale. Following the sale to Orange 20 they initially did show signs of a turnaround so this result will be a disappointment for a publisher with a good record for turning failing titles around.

After mixed fortunes with many of their pre-school titles the BBC with be celebrating today after Top of the Pops magazine posted a 26% increase to 130,174. With the success of musical children's programmes such as Hannah Montana and High School Musical it is likely that the increased interest in music has rubbed off on TOTP.


Film

In the film market Empire (187,202) continues to grow its lead over Total Film (84,520) with a YOY increase of 4.4% compared to Total Films YOY decrease of 1.3%. Empire has a high subscription rate with 22% of its circulation coming from subscribers compared to only 14% for Total Film.

Empire creative use of front covers using lenticulars, popups and limited edition designs has created excitement around the larger film releases and will gain standout for the title on an already cluttered newstand. The title has done well to post an increase despite film content and trailers being readily available on the internet


Parenting

Overall this sector is down 1.4% year on year with the highest circulating titles posting decreases.

Mother & Baby continues to be the highest circulating title in the market (65,996) although Bauer with be concerned with a YOY decrease of 12%. Bauer also saw their other title in this sector - Pregnancy & Birth drop by the same figure and Pregnancy, Baby and You (Magicalia) faired worse still losing 34% of readers. These results serve to highlight the success of Prima Baby, a title who posted a 2% YOY increase to 51,766. This being a consecutive ABC increase for the title.


Business & News titles

This sector continues to be one of the success stories of the ABCs. The Week is going from strength to strength and has seen yet another consecutive increase, up 4.5% to 150,099. The Spectator (76,952) has also seen continued success; now assimilated with the monthly Spectator Business, the title has seen a 5.1% increase. Another winner was MoneyWeek which saw the greatest increase, up almost 15%.

Only Private Eye and the Investors Chronicle were exceptions in this sector, down 1.8% and 8.9% respectively (205,231 and 31,919).

Despite the fact that business and news stories are increasingly being broken on-line, and are very easily accessible in this format, this successful set of ABCs shows that consumers are still hungry for more in-depth analysis of business stories and current affairs. This marketplace seems to be maintaining its strong position in providing the short sharp view point that these consumers seem to thrive on.

Source - ABC Audit, January - June 2008