NEWS: ABCs reveal slight fall in women’s monthlies

The women’s monthly magazine market - traditionally the main

battleground for publishing companies and the focus of much media

attention - has offered up a mixed bag of results in the January-June

ABCs.

Of the seven ‘glossies’, five saw their circulations fall, while two

showed slight year-on-year increases.

However, period on period, the slumps were less marked, with the

exception of Emap Elan’s New Woman, which fell 12.1 per cent, compared

with an 11.5 per cent decline year on year.

Emap Elan’s flagship glossy, Elle, was the biggest disappointment,

recording a year-on-year decline of 14.2 per cent. Significantly, Elle

has dropped below the 200,000 mark for the third time since its launch,

with its circulation having dipped to 191,243.

However, period on period, Elle’s decline was less pronounced - down 6.9

per cent.

Emap Elan’s managing director, Sue Hawken, said: ‘The figure for Elle

was disappointing, but this is one of those instances where the ABC

figure is retrospective in what it measures. There have been tremendous

changes at Elle and I’m exceptionally confident about the future.’

The gap between IPC’s Marie Claire and the National Magazine Company’s

flagship title, Cosmopolitan, remained more or less the same. Both

magazines inched ahead year on year - Marie Claire by 0.1 per cent and

Cosmopolitan by 0.9 per cent.

NatMags was not so fortunate. Company and She dipped by 4.8 per cent and

9.9 per cent respectively, with Company falling to 291,078.

However, the launch of Emap Elan’s Minx next month is likely to shake up

the younger end of the market.

A number of publishers have highlighted the issue of bulk sales. Hawken

said: ‘If you look at the newsstand sales for a number of titles, they

tell a different story.’

Colin Gottlieb, a managing partner at Manning Gottlieb Media, dismissed

talk of a downward trend: ‘The magazine medium is tremendously reactive

to products on sale. Readers are also promiscuous and there is a huge

amount of choice and overlap.’

Media Forum, p18

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Women’s Monthly  Magazines’

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Title          Publisher    Jan-June 96     Jan-June 95    % change

Company         NatMags      291,078         305,829         -4.8

Cosmopolitan    NatMags      460,141         456,131         +0.9

Elle            Emap         191,243         222,876        -14.2

Marie Claire    IPC          455,477         455,109         +0.1

New Woman       Emap         231,657         261,629        -11.5

Options         IPC          156,531         165,291         -5.3

She             NatMags      245,839         272,882         -9.9

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

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This article was first published on Campaign