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August 28, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 8:44pm

Monthlies hit by glossy losses

By Press Gazette

Glamour has lengthened the sales gap between its nearest monthly rivals, despite losing sales itself year on year.

Glamour publisher Simon Kippin, whose magazine dropped 3.9 per cent year on year to 586,056, said he felt Marie Claire posed no threat to his title.

He said: "Marie Claire only relaunched in 2004. They're obviously having very big issues with the magazine — the drop is huge.

"I think they began to become a Glamour-esque title to try and copy the success of Glamour, and in the process of doing that lost their heartland, and they have issues editorially there, which are a separate thing."

Five years after its launch, it appears that Glamour's circulation figures have begun to decline. Year on year, the numbers are down by 3.9 per cent to 586,056 and period on period the figures are flat.

Kippin said that the threat posed by weekly magazines to the monthly sector was overrated.

He said: "Grazia has been the most disappointing figure I've seen. There must be crisis meetings going on at Emap at the moment, because that is really disappointing.

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"It just underlines the fact that it really is not eating into the monthly market that much — its importance has been overdone."

However, Grazia publisher David Davies said the concept offered by Grazia was proving to be a real success — the magazine's circulation was up 12.9 per cent year on year to 175,218.

He said: "I remain a bit surprised that no one has launched against us. I thought we would see that more quickly. There's been a lot of gossip about it, but so far no one has yet dared to."

Glamour has lengthened the sales gap between its nearest monthly rivals, despite losing sales itself year on year.

Glamour publisher Simon Kippin, whose magazine dropped 3.9 per cent year on year to 586,056, said he felt Marie Claire posed no threat to his title.

He said: "Marie Claire only relaunched in 2004. They're obviously having very big issues with the magazine — the drop is huge.

"I think they began to become a Glamour-esque title to try and copy the success of Glamour, and in the process of doing that lost their heartland, and they have issues editorially there, which are a separate thing."

Five years after its launch, it appears that Glamour's circulation figures have begun to decline. Year on year, the numbers are down by 3.9 per cent to 586,056 and period on period the figures are flat.

Kippin said that the threat posed by weekly magazines to the monthly sector was overrated.

He said: "Grazia has been the most disappointing figure I've seen. There must be crisis meetings going on at Emap at the moment, because that is really disappointing.

"It just underlines the fact that it really is not eating into the monthly market that much — its importance has been overdone."

However, Grazia publisher David Davies said the concept offered by Grazia was proving to be a real success — the magazine's circulation was up 12.9 per cent year on year to 175,218.

He said: "I remain a bit surprised that no one has launched against us. I thought we would see that more quickly. There's been a lot of gossip about it, but so far no one has yet dared to."

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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