Mags: State of the (mag)nation - March 2010 weeklies audit

The Famous magazine team must be tiring of popping the cork – the glossip has posted the biggest sales gain of any weekly title in the Aussie market, marking its sixth consecutive increase.

Famous' 14.39% circulation rise takes the title's average weekly sales to 88,151, closing the gap on ACP's NW, which suffered a -15.39% sales fall, by 34,000 copies.

Famous' Pacific Magazines stablemate New Idea posted the only other rise in the category, gaining 0.12% year-on-year (the title's first year-on-year circulation rise since 2006), while the other glossips floundered, including OK!, which posted a -14.62% sales drop.

ACP's Woman's Day remains the highest circulating weekly, despite a -0.18% circulation decrease, though Pacific's Who has cemented its position as the highest selling "celebrity weekly magazine" outselling NW by 12,437 copies. Fashion weekly Grazia lost a nominal 0.99% in sales, while the weekly "realities" – Take 5 and That's Life – also lost ground (attributable, perhaps, to too much GFC reality – celebrity always appeals more when real life sucks).

Clearly, consumers have been penny-pinching at the supermarket checkout making Famous' competitive price point and clever packaging an excellent value proposition for women who like their celebrity gossip with dollops of fashion, beauty and humour. The June audit should show more clearly how consumers have responded to Grazia's optimistically "aspirational" price increase to $6.


Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel