ABCs: Women’s monthlies still sliding
ABCs: Condé Nast monthly lifestyle title Glamour has kept its place at the top of the women’s lifestyle/fashion sector but reported a dip of 4.6 on last year, according to latest ABC figures.
The women’s lifestyle sector overall saw a dip of 2.8% year on year with some established brands losing a hefty slice of average net circulation and weeklies faring better than monthlies.
IPC title Marie Claire continued its slide, reporting a 9.9% drop year-on-year in circulation to 285,307. The title has just undergone a revamp of its print and website. The publisher will be hoping a £1m marking push will reverse its decline in the next set of ABC figures.
National Magazines monthly, She, experienced the biggest fall within the women’s glossies, dropping 14.1% of circulation to 148,860. Sales of the publisher’s Cosmopolitan, the number two title in the sector, fell by 6.2% yar-on-year to 441,663
Among the weeklies Bauer Media title Grazia managed to stave off a decline and reported a slight rise of 0.7% to 228,694. More!, Bauer Media’s title, saw a significant rise in circulation, growing 17.3% year on year to 190,708, a 5.2% period on period rise. IPC’s weekly, Look, also gained 2.6% year on year bring its circulation to 315,410.
The planned release of free women’s lifestyle title StyleList from Shortlist Media in the Autumn, is expected to further impact on the sector as it directly competes with titles such as Grazia and Marie Claire.
Dennis Perks, UK Press manager at media agency Total Media, says: “Women’s magazine have maintained steady sales. This is the lipstick index in effect – which is the theory that women substitute larger purchases like bags and shoes with smaller treats like magazines and make-up during tough financial times.
“It’ll be interesting to see how successful Stylist, the new women’s magazine from Shortlist is. Using the free model they will very quickly achieve a very big circulation and find themselves near the top of the women’s weeklies ABC’s. How the other weeklies react will determine the long term success of Stylist and the question will remain on how valuable the stylist audience will be. However, it bodes well as we increasingly become a nation that devours free media.
