Mags: State of the (Mag)Nation

So, no surprises with the latest magazine circulation and readership figures – consumers are penny pinching to accommodate the rising cost of living, leaving glossy mags behind at the checkout rather than chucking them in the trolley.

Sales of all the weekly titles fell (welcome to the market, Grazia!), while women's and men's lifestyle magazines also felt the brunt of lower consumer confidence. A rare exception to the trend, Pacific Magazines' Marie Claire managed to hold its ground, while new girl Women's Health (also Pacific) reported an increase of 13%, and Harper's Bazaar (ACP) continues to strengthen its position. Advance apologies for gaps in the below results – Pacific and News Mags have been slow to update their stats on their respective sites!

Circulation (i.e. sales)...

"Magazines have suffered their worst declines in circulation in years, the overall market diving more than 7% as consumers cut discretionary spend in tightening economic conditions," says AdNews. "The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures for the year ending June 2008 reveal weekly magazines suffered the most, declining by 9.31% last quarter while monthlies dropped by 5.38% over the last half year."

Down...
Cosmo dropped 18.7% of sales (165,301 Aussie sales)
Cleo dropped 12.3% (149,256)
The Australian Women's Weekly dropped 12.4% (to 530,143)
Madison dropped 2.4% (95,166)
Shop Til You Drop dropped 6% (75,197)

NW dropped 11.9% (to 155,150)
Famous dropped 10.8% (to 67,135)
Woman's Day dropped 8.5% (430,235)
NW dropped 12.3% (155,150)

Up and up...
Harper's Bazaar up 5% (55,891)
Better Homes and Gardens up 13.56% (335,000+)
Health Smart up 11.34% (80,161)

Readership...

Though overall magazine readership grew by 1.1% in the past 12 months, "Women’s weeklies, women’s fashion, teen girls, women’s lifestyle, men’s interest, and men’s lifestyle were among the categories to lose total readership," reports AdNews.

Down...
Madison down 20.6% (235,000)
Cleo down 22% (495,000)
Cosmo down 8.4% (688,000)

InStyle down 12.4% (240,000)
Harper's Bazaar down 2.9% (236,000)

NW down 12.7% (529,000)
New Idea down 9.7% (1,955,000)
Woman's Day down 9.5% (2,354,000)

Girlfriend down 15.6% (318,000)
Dolly down 14.4% (366,000)

Up and up...
Shop Til You Drop up 16% (206,000)
Marie Claire up 3.2% (513,000)
Vogue up 0.6% (350,000)

OK! up 31.4% (431,000 readers)
Famous up 3.9% (308,000)
Who up 2.9% (786,000)

Better Homes & Gardens up 16.9% (1,698,000)
Real Living up 8.2% (122,000)
Home Beautiful up 8.2% (367,000)
Notebook up 4.1% (340,000)
Vogue Entertaining & Travel up 20.1% (173,000)

Slimming & Health up 15.6% (89,000)
Delicious up 18.9% (509,000)
Super Food Ideas up 15.6% (1,003,000)

The Monthly up 102.2% (91,000)

Read my last readership report here and the last 'State of the (mag)nation' circulation report here.

Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel