Monthly magazines suffer circulation slump

The men’s and women’s monthly sectors have suffered huge circulation declines, according to ABC figures for the first six months of 2007. The women’s lifestyle market is down by more than 4% and, while the men’s market posted an increase of 7.5% thanks to freesheet Sport’s circulation of 317,093, the paid-for titles all experienced significant falls.

EMAP’s FHM, IPC’s Loaded, Dennis Publishing’s Maxim and the two weeklies Nuts and Zoo have all recorded falling sales. FHM, however, continues to maintain its lead in the sector.

The National Magazine Company’s (NatMags) Esquire, which has already been relaunched in “manbag” size, is one of the few titles to have recorded a slight increase in circulation – up 2% to 53,537.

Men’s Health is also up by 0.2% period-on-period and 1.3% year-on-year to 238,980. It has overtaken EMAP’s weekly Zoo, whose circulation fell to 186,732 per week – 90,537 copies less than rival IPC’s Nuts.

In the highly saturated women’s lifestyle sector, Condª Nast’s Glamour continues to lead against NatMags’ Cosmopolitan – by 93,702 copies per month. However, Glamour’s circulation fell by more than 7% in the period, compared to a fall of just 1% for Cosmo. Glamour is also down over 7% year-on-year, while Cosmo is up by 1.9%.

The relaunched New Woman title from EMAP has recorded disastrous results – down almost 43% in the period and 45.3% year-on-year to 126,805 copies. The results will add to the speculation about the title’s future.

The women’s magazine sector is set for a flurry of glossy celebrity-led weeklies following the huge success of EMAP’s Grazia. The magazine now sells 220,125 copies per week – up by a massive 25.6% in the year and 4.7% period-on-period.