Women’s lifestyle sector on the rise

Condé Nast’s Glamour maintained its number one spot with net circulation of 526,216 – flat over the year but up 2.1% in the past six months –  a marked improvement on the decline it reported in the last set of ABC results.

NatMag’s lifestyle monthly Harper’s Bazaar posted its highest ever ABC performance of 118,553, up 7.2% over the period and 8.1% over the year. It is the 15th consecutive increase in circulation.

However, the biggest drop over the past six months came from NatMag’s Company, which fell 9.5% to 217, 324 (5.6% over the year).

Its sister title Cosmopolitan saw a 6.6% decline over the period to 401,750, a 9% drop over the year.

The title has just launched free spin off title, Cosmo on Campus, aimed at students as part of a long-term loyalty drive to cultivate the next generation of Cosmo readers.

Bauer’s Grazia fell into decline over the January to June preiod, down 0.4% to 228,770, but remained flat over the year.

Hachette Filipacchi’s lifestyle title Psychologies was close behind falling 9% to 119,025 (8.9% over the year).

However, Hachette’s Red magazine, posted its highest-ever ABC of 230,067 – up 1.6% in six months and 5.2% over the year.

Nadia Dawson, Publisher of Red and Psychologies says she expects Psycholoiges to pick up in the second half of the year

“We are confident that the changes we are gradually introducing to reinvigorate Psychologies will reap positive rewards and grow our audience of intelligent, up-market, life-curious women in the second half of the year,” she says.

Stylist, the free weekly title launched by Shortlist Media last Autumn saw a  2.6% increase over the period to 421,158. Shortlist Media CEO Mike Soutar says:

“These healthy ABC figures reflect the extraordinary hunger for our brands from both consumers and advertisers. I’m also delighted to see fast growing subscriptions sales for two free magazines”

John Lewis’ customer magazine, which launched last February, has shot into second place in the sector with an average circualtion of 484,040. It’s ABC debut means that customer titles now account for two of the top three women’s lifestyle title spots. Asos.com’s customer magazine has an average circulation of 449,943 – down 3.7% over the year.

Women’s lifestyle and fashion titles saw an overall increase of 14.8% over the past year to 6,922,973, up 6.9% in the January to June period.

It is the fourth biggest magazine sector, following TV listings, cookery and kitchen and women’s weeklies.

The Cookery and Kitchen sector saw a 21.3% increase to 9,089,120 over the past six months, up 14.8% over the year while women’s weeklies saw a 5.8% drop to 8,109,743, down 0.9% over the year.