All's not been well in the land of the women's mag, according to the latest Roy Morgan readership figures, with eyes going off the lady glossies like a stinky cheese plate that's seen sitting in the sun too long. Speaking of cheese, publishers of food titles can, however, thank the MasterChef effect for their lustrous new numbers. Herewith some handy comparative tables: I hope they don't hurt your eyes, Kitty.THE GLOSSIPS
In short: not good news. Ghastly results for NW and Who, in particular. What we need is a royal wedding. Get your act into gear, Prince William! Yes, less skinny celebrities, more Queen Elizabeth; that should do the trick.
THE WOMEN'S FASHION & LIFESTYLE GLOSSIES
Not usually one to buck a trend, Vogue Australia increased its readership numbers thanks, in part, to the anniversary September issue that went on sale August 5. Cleo said good-bye to 27% of its readers and SHOP Til You Drop lost 18%, while InStyle quietly retained its 239,000 readers. Girlfriend gained 12% as Dolly lost readers. Perhaps the adverse effect of competitive cover-mounting is creating a product that teen girls are reluctant to share? A small note on lovely Notebook:, which changed cover tactics to become more AWW, less homey, and took away the perforated separators back in April: ick!
HEALTH TITLES
Pacific Magazines' Women's Health continues to be The Business in this category as other titles eat her running-shoe dust.
Pacific Magazines' Women's Health continues to be The Business in this category as other titles eat her running-shoe dust.
HOMEMAKER & INTERIORS TITLES
Better Homes and Gardens is out of control: it's the third most read magazine in the country. Appalled that the beautiful InsideOut is getting no reader love: let's hope the makeover works for the December quarter.
FOODIE TITLESLast but not least, the category that got a boost thanks to Australia's infatuation with Matt Preston and his MasterChef cronies.
Yours truly,Girl With a Satchel
18 comments:
Didn't realise Vogue Australia and Vogue Living and GF were doing so well! Good for them!
How come Grazia doesn't give out it proper stats? So confusing.
The first issue of Grazia went on sale in July 2008, so year-on-year readership stats are yet to kick in. Herewith a post on the debut issue: http://girlwithasatchel.blogspot.com/2008/07/mags-grazias-glossy-debut.html
Notebook editor please take note: I REALLY miss the tabs the old issues used to have! Without them you are just like any other homey magazine out there. Bring back the tabs please!!!
Can't wait to see next years results... with all the redesigns, there're sure to be a few changes worth noting!
I wonder - do relaunches do the trick?
let's hope so.
Hi there! I just came to your blog after seeing your quote in Glamour magazine.
I love your blog and that you share scriptures and good news!
Sad, however, for all the mags. I love them and I'm sad to see them struggling so.
wow there's been quite a noticeable decrease!
One word - ouch!!
Not pretty. (Well, the tables are. The figures, not so much...)
Girlfriend going up 12% is a little unexpected, most teens I know are either just buying DOLLY, just getting American titles (teen vogue, popstar etc.) or not buying mags at all.
I spose trends elsewhere are probably the exact opposite though hahaha
The only reason I can think of for this is DOLLY is consistantly costing $7.95 these days and as most people are tightening their belts, maybe the cheaper cover price that GF still boasts (most of the time) is the better option?
I don't buy mags unless there's something in there I absolutely have to have.
I just borrow as many as possible from my local library.
Frangipani - teens are all buying Dolly, but readership is about reading, not buying. As Erica said, they may be reluctant to share it around (which increases readership) and just buy their own for the awesome free gifts. An increase in circulation but decrease in readership means their number of readers per copies decreases, which lends perfectly to Erica's theory.
The other thing is, because readership is for a 12 month period and comparing year on year means you're comparing to 2 years ago, the circulation will show an increase right away from a redesign, but it takes a long time for it to be reflected in the readership figures.
my bad anonymous - didn't read the full article, just skimmed the figures hahaha
Can I ask just how they measure readership? Like how can they tell how many people read what?
I assume there's an error in the Super Food Ideas figures? How could it be a decrease if the stats went from around 1000 people to 890000!? =P
I have been a loyal reader of Harper's Bazaar since I was 14. The elegance it oozed is what attracted me and influenced how I have dressed throughout my teenage years.
Edwina as new editor has overhauled the design and it is too glitzy for my liking now. It has increased similarities with the US Harpers Bazaar, rather previously it was closer to the UK editions in it's design. The Jennifer Hawkins cover, with it's flouro orange writing could have been mistaken for a Cosmopolitan or Cleo cover.
In conclusion, I have switched to Vogue (if I do buy Australian magazines) and am mourning the end of the wonderful and elegant Australian Harper's Bazaar era.
Frangipani - Readership is measured by Roy Morgan Research. They interview 55,000 people each year (so over 1,000 people each week) and ask each and every person interviewed which issues they have read for the monthly titles by showing them covers, and which weeklies they have read by showing them a list of all the titles (too hard to change the covers every week). This is then statistically weighted to represent the total population.
Erica, which Glamour were you quoted in UK or US?
I think a couple of your percentage changes are a bit off. AWW, for example, should be 7.9% down, not 12.8%. And lovely Notebook: should be 28.7% down, not 40.2%... :)
US Glamour, I think - I'm yet to see it in print!
Cheers,
Erica
Alas, mathematics = not my forte. Numbers amended. Apologies!
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