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February 22, 2023

Women’s interest magazine ABCs 2022: Slimming World only title to see print growth

Six titles recorded year-on-year digital circulation growth in the UK and Ireland.

By Bron Maher

Slimming World was the only women’s interest magazine to see its print circulation grow in the UK and Ireland in 2022, according to the latest ABC figures.

The magazine is one of the highest-circulation titles in the sector, having grown its UK/ROI print circulation 10% year-on-year to 305,616.

The highest-circulation title was Hearst’s Good Housekeeping, which reported an average print circulation per issue of 356,603 worldwide and 349,107 in the UK/ROI.

Across the women's interest segments recorded by ABC - women's weeklies, women's general interest, slimming, health and beauty, lifestyle and fashion and home - six titles recorded year-on-year UK/ROI digital circulation growth. Those were:

New entrant The Highlight - Lookfantastic, a free digital-only magazine owned by online retailer The Hut, reported an average digital distribution of 146,599 in the second half of the year, up 39% compared to January to June.

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Hearst UK titles Harper's Bazaar, Elle and Best recorded some of the biggest UK/ROI print declines across the segment, seeing falls respectively of 27% (to 60,983), 29% (to 66,272) and 27% (to 45,113).

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Double-digit print falls were common however, seen also at Women's Health (down 20% to 56,997), Closer (down 17% to 73,117) and Bella (down 15% to 105,225). Less dramatic declines were recorded at Vogue (down 4% to 155,068), House & Garden (down 9% to 81,821) and Good Housekeeping (down 8% to 349,107).

Tatler (64,766), Vanity Fair (44,354) and Hello! (116,847) all held steady with no year-on-year print circulation change at all.

Some 17 titles across the sector recorded 100% actively purchased print copies, although two of those (Closer and The People's Friend) did distribute some free copies. Distributing more free copies were Elle (32% actively purchased), Harper's Bazaar (33%), Tatler (40%) and Vanity Fair (45%).

[Read more: US fashion sector proving resilient so far for Future]

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