August 15, 2013

Mag ABCs: Big circulation drops for most paid-for women’s lifestyle magazines

All but one paid-for women's lifestyle magazines saw circulation drop in the six months to June, according to the latest ABC figures.

John Lewis Edition, the John Brown-published magazine for the retail giant, retained its position as the largest title. The free title grew by 1.5 per cent year on year.

The other titles to increase circulation were Shortlist Media’s free magazine Stylist, which grew by 1 per cent, and Hearst-Rodale’s paid-for title Women’s Health, which grew by 1.8 per cent.

Overall, the sector’s total circulation was 1.4 per cent down, but this figure would have been much bigger were it not for the 446,005 copies of ASOS.com distributed by the online fashion retailer, which was not counted in last year’s figures.

A total of 12 magazines saw circulation fall by at least 10 per cent. The biggest decline came from Company, published by Hearst Magazine, which lost 36.7 per cent of its circulation.

Other big circulation losses were suffered by Psychologies Magazine (20.5 per cent), Hello (20.2 per cent), Look (19.9 per cent) and Candis (17.4 per cent).

Women's lifestyle magazine circulations for the first half of 2013 (source ABC)

Name	Average Circulation	Year-on-year change
John Lewis Edition (free)	487,550	1.5%
ASOS.com (free)	446,055	N/A
Stylist	435,768	1.0%
Glamour	400,371	-14.8%
Good Housekeeping	395,661	-3.2%
Woman & Home	340,239	-3.8%
Cosmopolitan	300,255	-15.0%
HELLO!	281,831	-20.2%
Yours	274,030	-2.4%
Prima	250,628	-5.2%
Marie Claire	230,973	-9.4%
Red	202,463	-10.5%
Look	200,265	-19.9%
Vogue	193,007	-5.9%
Candis	184,752	-17.4%
Elle (U.K.)	170,286	-10.2%
Grazia	168,030	-11.6%
Instyle UK	147,219	-9.9%
Harrods Magazine (free)	117,262	6.7%
Harpers Bazaar	112,895	-5.3%
Essentials	111,333	-6.5%
Women's Health	102,116	1.8%
Company	90,726	-36.7%
Vanity Fair	88,377	-12.2%
Tatler	84,285	-3.1%
Psychologies Magazine	73,357	-20.5%
WM The Womans Magazine	27,975	-12.6%
Total	5,917,709	-1.40%