Closer closes in on Heat

Bauer Media’s Closer magazine gained the most readers in the competitive women’s weekly sector in the 12 months to the end of March, according to new National Readership Survey (NRS) data.

The title gained 23% year on year more readers to record readership of 1.7m, closing the gap on its nearest rival Heat.

The celebrity weekly, also owned by Bauer Media, is the third most read title with 1.8m readers, down 1%.

Northern and Shell’s OK! continues to hog the top spot in the coveted sector, with 2.5m readers in the period, down from 2.5m in the same period last year.

Hello takes second place with 1.9m readers, although it dropped 4% of its readership.

IPC Media’s Look was the next biggest winner, gaining 22% readers to record 527,000.

Meanwhile general men’s titles continued to lose readers to more specialist magazines. Dennis Publishing’s Men’s Fitness gained 10% readers to record a 556,000 total for the period while film title Empire also gained 10% readers to 781,000.

Bauer Media’s FHM, NatMags’ Esquire and Conde Nast’s GQ all lost readers, although FHM continues to hog market share with NRS recording its total readers at 1,712 for the period.