The Men’s Lifestyle sector ABCs for July to December 2011 show a 2.5% decrease overall on this time last year (YoY) but a 4.9% increase on the first half of 2011 (PoP).
The free titles – Shortlist and Sport – remain in poll position ahead of paid-for titles Men’s Health and FHM. However, Men’s Health enjoyed an increase in sales PoP, as did GQ, Nuts, Zoo, Wired and a number of other titles.
However, it is a bleak picture for some men’s brands, with FHM, Men’s Fitness and Esquire all posting both YoY and PoP declines.
How long before some of these titles get put out of their misery? Take the free distribution out of the equation and the sector is down 12% and gathering downward momentum.
FHM’s glory days seem a long time ago, as it continues to head towards the 100,000 mark, with a whopping 21% decrease year on year.
IPC offloaded Loaded (which saw another 30% wiped off its circulation last year) and may soon feel that Nuts might have to go the same way.
The area that seemed to be of growing interest to the male magazine buying population, health, has surprisingly gone backwards this time around, with the 2 leading titles losing more than 10% of their sales year on year.
Men have not lost interest in the content provided by this sector, it would just appear that they are “getting it elsewhere”!
In total, 72 magazine brands have reported average circulation figures for their digital editions, more than quadrupling from the last reporting period, when just 16 reported.
ABC rules mean that the digital edition of a magazine – downloaded to tablets or smartphones through Apple’s app store and the Zinio platform – must have less than 5% editorial difference to the printed edition of the magazine.
Natmag Rodale’s Men’s Health title is the leading digital title, according to the ABC rules, registering 7,779 paid-for downloads in the six month period to the end of December, compared to 1,746 in the previous six-month period. The Men’s Health print title reported an average print circulation of 218,368 in the period, indicating that it is still early days for digital offshoots of magazines.
Future’s T3 gadget title came in second, reporting 7,327 downloads in the period. However, this figure only includes Zinio downloads as Future’s interactive iPad edition is not included. Future claims that an independent audit records 14,223 dowloads of the interactive iPad edition in the same period. Its interactive edition – audited by independent auditors Bright Graeme Murray – is not similar enough to the magazine to be registered with ABC.
Downloading and subscribing to digital editions of magazines has become easier for customers following the launch of Apple’s Newsstand – which groups digital magazines and newspapers in one place – in October last year.
