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August 15, 2013updated 16 Aug 2013 4:53pm

Mag ABCs: Private Eye still leads on print sales in robust current affairs sector

By Dominic Ponsford

Private Eye continued to be the top-selling current affairs magazine in the UK in the first half of 2013, with a slight 1.4 per cent year on year dip in print sales to just under 223,000 a fortnight.

It leads the pack in what continues to be a robust sector for the print magazine industry.

It is worth noting that with worldwide sales, The Economist dwarfs all its competitors with a total sale of around 1.5m.

The best performing title in relative terms in the sector is Richard Ingrams-edited independent monthly The Oldie, which was up 6.6 per cent year on year to 45,188.

No year-on-year comparison is available for The Spectator because it has broken out its 9,386 Australian sales which are now audited separately. When these are taken into account its total sale of 62,027 was slightly down on the 63,613 total of the same period a year ago.

UK current affairs magazine sales for the first half of 2013 ranked by total circulation (Source: ABC)

  • Private Eye: 222,880, down 1.4 per cent
  • The Economist –  UK: 209,274, down 0.5 per cent
  • The Week: 197,255, down 3.1 per cent
  • New Scientist – exc Aus and US/Canada: 86,573, down 2.3 per cent
  • BBC History Magazine: 75,193, up 5.3 per cent
  • Monocle: 73,867, up 2 per cent
  • The Spectator excluding Australia: 52,641, N/A
  • MoneyWeek: 52,027, up 5.6 per cent
  • The Oldie: 45,118, up 6.6 per cent
  • Limerick Post: 36,392, up 0.5 per cent
  • Prospect: 30,698, up 3.7 per cent
  • Investors Chronicle: 26,938, up 4.7 per cent
  • BBC Sky at Night: 23,731, down down 4.1 per cent
  • Wonderpedia: 19,210, N/A
  • Shares: 15,345, up 3.3 per cent

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