Women’s lifestyle mags on the rise
ABC: The Women’s Fashion and Lifestyle sector continues to rise, with year-year circulation increasing 6.7% 7,028,240 across all titles, according to the latest ABC figures for June to December 2010.
IPC Media’s Essentials saw the biggest rise of the major titles in the sector, with year on year circulation up 12.7% and up 9.5% for the period to 126,379.
Condé Nast’s monthy lifestyle magazine Glamour retained its place at the head of the women’s lifestyle/fasion sector, despite a 2.9% drop in its year on year circulation to 500,591.
National Magazine’s Good Housekeeping recorded its highest ABC performance since 2007, with a 3.2% year on year increase to 443,750 and is now the tenth biggest-circulating magazine in the UK.
Harpers Bazaar, another NatMag publication, was also one of the few women’s lifestyle magazines to see a substantial rise, reporting its highest ever ABC. Its year on year circulation rose 8.2% to 119,712.
However NatMag’s Cosmopolitan saw circulation fall 6.9% for the period to 400,575. Last year it launched a free spin-off title aimed at students to build legacy among the next generation of Cosmo readers.
Hachette Filipacchi, which is due to sell Red, Psychologies, Sugrascape.com and Inside Soap to the National Magazine Company in the second half of this year, saw mixed results across its women’s lifestyle portfolio.
Red reported a 2% year-on-year increase to 231,028 but Psychologies Magazine saw an 8.2% circulation drop off in the same period to 120,119. Elle fared slightly better, with year-on-year circulation rising 2.6% to 200,531.
Bauer’s Grazia continued to see six month circulation drop off, with a 2.3% year on year decline and and a 1.9% decrease for the period to 224,421.
Grazia publisher Ella Dolphin says: “Grazia continues to connect and engage with its fashion-fixated readers by leading the news and driving trends with an intelligent edge. It is still the stand-out, first choice brand for advertisers in delivering an upscale audience in a premium environment every single week.”
Bauer’s Yours title continued to rise, with circulation up 3% for the year to 293,016 – slightly down for the six month period.
Customer titles continue to challenge consumer magazines.
John Lewis’s customer magazine which launched last year is now the second most-read women’s lifestyle magazine and saw a modest circulation increase of 0.2% for the six month period, up to 485,139.
ASOS.com’s customer magazine is the third most popular magazine in the sector, with a year on year circulation increase of 0.3% to 451,369.
Shortlist Media’s free weekly title Stylist, which launched in 2009, again helped to bolster the sector with a year-on-year increase of 3.3% to 424,107.
Another bright spot of the sector included Bamdee Publishing’s Stellar magazine which saw a massive 143.1% circulation rise for the year to 21,556 – a 30.1% increase for the six month period.
The biggest year-on-year decline of the sector came from Image Publication’s Image magazine which saw circulation drop off 13.8%, down to 19,005.
