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August 21, 2008

Skymag is Britain’s most-read magazine – but readership lags behind official circulation

By Rachael Gallagher

The latest figures from the National Readership Survey show that listings guide Skymag is the most widely read magazine in Britain – even though its readership is one million below its official distribution figure.

Distributed free to Sky TV customers every month, SKymag has a readership of 6.47 million, down five per cent year on year from July 2007 to June 2008. The magazine’s circulation, according to ABC, was 7.47 million for the first half of 2007.

Real life weekly Take a Break remained the most read paid-for title, with its readership down three per cent year on year to just over three million with a six per cent drop in female readership but a 15 per cent rise in male readership.

News Magazines’ Love It! saw the biggest increase in readership in the women’s weekly market, up 25 per cent to 804,000, 25 per cent women and 15 per cent men.

The biggest drop in the weekly market was Bauer Consumer Media’s More, down 49 per cent to 371,000.

Men’s monthly FHM was the most read in the men’s lifestyle sector, with a readership of 1.7 million, down 26 per cent.

Men’s Health came in second, with a readership of 1.05m up eight per cent overall and 22 per cent more women reading the title.

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Hachette Filipacchi-owned title Real Homes saw its readership increase 50 per cent year on year to 329,000 – with 50 per cent more women reading the title and 49 per cent more men.

NRS’s random, continuous survey asks 36,000 people each year what they are reading; year-on-year comparisons are not a measure of actual readership, but of how NRS’s readership estimate has changed.

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