News magazine ABCs: The Week Junior circulation up by a fifth despite pandemic

The Week Junior, Dennis Publishing’s news magazine aimed at 8 to 14 year olds, grew its circulation by almost a fifth in the first half of 2020.

The audit period included three months of pandemic lockdown when UK parents were forced to home educate and it appears many may have turned The Week Junior for help.

The magazine, which launched in 2015, reached a circulation of 85,578 after growth of 22%. Its paid subscriptions were up 16%.

This compares to The Week’s circulation of 135,779 and a year-on-year fall of 7%.

Anna Bassi, editorial director of The Week Junior, said her title’s growth “proves print’s power to capture the imagination and provide a trusted source of information”.

“I’m delighted that The Week Junior continues to grow and reach new audiences,” she said.

“The past few months have been particularly hard for children, so it’s wonderful to know that our content is helping them.”

The Week chief executive Kerin O’Connor said the flagship title “held its own in a Covid affected market, particularly with the newstrade disruption.

“We’ve seen increased demand for subscriptions, and I’m confident that going forward we will see new circulation growth.”

Dennis said The Week’s website saw a “significant rise in readership and registrations” during the pandemic and record newsletter sign-ups.

The Economist grew its global circulation by 6% to 906,611 while Private Eye held steady on 231,073. The Economist’s average weekly UK print sale stood at 155,359, making fornightly Private Eye the UK current affairs magazine with the highest per-issue sale (in print).

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop said: “Thanks to the public for their fantastic response to our ‘Fork out to Help Out’ offer of a FULL PRICE copy of the magazine to EVERY reader who buys it.

“At last some cheering official figures – Private Eye Sales still healthy!”

The Economist’s bi-monthly lifestyle title was in third place with 227,245 copies per month.

Many magazine publishers opt to only publish annual ABC figure meaning they are omitted from the first half numbers.

UK news magazine circulations for the six months to the end of June (ABC):

Publication	Owner	ABC total (avg per issue)	Year-on-year % change	Free copies
The Economist (Global)	The Economist Newspaper Ltd	906,611	6%	109,576
Private Eye	Pressdram Ltd	231,073	-1%
1843 Magazine	The Economist Newspaper Ltd	227,245	-9%*	220,666
The Week	Dennis Publishing Limited	135,779	-7%	4,858
The Week Junior	Dennis Publishing Limited	85,578	22%	6,948
The Oldie	Oldie Publications Ltd	47,170	0%	1,003
MoneyWeek	Dennis Publishing Limited	28,493	-16%	1,541