Sex and cars increase men’s magazine sales

Sex and cars helped men’s magazines to outpace the rest of the market in the latest ABCs.

IPC’s Loaded increased sales by 82 per cent year on year to 174,763, making it the most successful men’s lifestyle magazine in history. Linda Lancaster-Gaye, managing director of IPC’s Specialist group, says the next target is to top 200,000 sales.

EMAP’s men’s magazine FHM also performed well, increasing 41 per cent to 115,034, but EMAP’s fastest growing title was high-performance car magazine Maxpower, which grew 42.9 per cent to 160,461. Condé Nast’s GQ increased sales two per cent to 128,722.

EMAP’s teenage girl magazines suffered increased competition from Attic Futura’s Sugar and its own launch It’s Bliss. Just 17’s sales declined by 31 per cent year on year to 185,081, while Smash Hits fell 19 per cent to 244,743. Sugar increased 21 per cent to 318,053 while It’s Bliss’ first figures hit 262,633.

IPC blames the launch of the National Lottery’s Instants for declines in six of its eight weekly magazines. Woman’s Realm was the biggest loser, falling 12.5 per cent to 307,237. IPC believes scratchcards cost all weeklies 4.5 per cent sales.

Out of 57 IPC titles, 40 lost sales in the period. However, group managing director Nigel Davidson denies the company’s parent, Reed Elsevier, is likely to dispose of the group. IPC’s Marie Claire increased sales 5.1 per cent to 452,521.