Fancy a bit of DIY? Doing up your house or garden? With the recession, the property market has seen a lot more home owners making the most of what they have, instead of upsizing to bigger and better houses.

Home interest titles, on the whole, have not fared too badly – compared to the women’s weekly market you would think that they were the Linford Christie of the magazine world. Perhaps people are generally more interested in cushion covers and the latest antique craze as opposed to who’s just had an affair with a footballer’s wife?

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for January to June 2011, BBC Homes & Antiques, part of BBC Worldwide, had an average circulation of 58,701 in the first six months of 2011 – up 6.5% year on year, but a decline of 3.7% when compared to the final six months of 2010.

BBC Gardeners’ World reported a circulation of 265,328, up 2% year on year, making it the biggest magazine in the group. When compared to the final six months of 2010, the circulation increase was a massive 24.9%.  The circulation growth can be partly attributed to its March redesign, offering the right sort of value and growth in subscriptions. But surely the real reason is the growing love for Alan Titchmarsh? I struggled to find an issue without him on the cover.

The news will be welcomed by private equity firm Exponent, which confirmed a deal with BBC Worldwide, buying all non-BBC branded magazines and the rights to publish BBC-branded titles, in a £121m deal earlier last week.
 
Country Living, part of the recently formed Hearst UK, reported a circulation of 206,027 in the first six months of this year, up 0.9% year on year and an increase of 0.1% when compared to the final six months of last year. However, Country Living, like many other magazines in the sector, actually reported a decline in actively purchased copies. Country Living’s actively purchased figure was 167,041 during the half year, down 3.2% year on year and 3.1% on the period. Perhaps those pretty pastel covers are no longer cutting it on the competitive shelves of WH Smiths?

Ideal Home, owned by IPC Media, reported an average circulation of 205,778 in the first six months of 2011, an increase of 0.1% on the same period in 2010 and up 1.4% from the final six months of 2010. The title reported an actively purchased figure of 197,801, down 0.6% year on year, but up 1.6% period on period and significantly higher than its competitor, Country Living.

Among the other IPC brands there were consistent gains, Homes & Gardens had a circulation of 137,812 in the first six months of 2011, up 1.2% year on year and 0.4% on the period. Living etc reported a circulation of 97,098, up 4.8% year on year and 0.6% on the period, and Country Homes and Interiors had a circulation of 92,563, up 2.7% year on year and 2.6% on the period. 

Condé Nast saw its home title, House & Garden drop -2.7% YoY, but increase by 0.16% PoP. With a circulation of 127,260 it’s certainly not one of the highest circulating in the home interest sector.

By: Carrie Millard

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For the last couple of ABC releases there has been a lot of doom and gloom, in particular for the men’s lifestyle sector, and unfortunately it isn’t looking good yet again. The market was down 4.4% overall on this time last year and the more premium leading titles were also badly hit.  

Starting off with the worst of the injured, at the lower end of the market we saw Bauer-owned Zoo and IPC’s Nuts dropping respectively 32% to an average circulation of 54,318, and 22% to 114,019. With Nuts recent re-launch not being truly reflected in this recent circulation audit there is hope that next period will see a retrenchment, but this is a very optimistic point of view.

FHM took another considerable drop this period with a 19.2% decline, taking the circulation down to a very meagre 155,557. There is a lot of pressure on the incoming editor Joe Barnes, previously of Front magazine, to turn round the fortunes of this once very successful magazine.

Clinging onto the top spot for the biggest selling men’s magazine in the UK is Men’s Health. Unfortunately it does seem that they are losing their way slightly. The magazine has previously bridged the gap between health and fashion very successfully, but it was clear in the SS11 Guide to Style in Men’s Health that their fashion offering was somewhat lacking. Even though the AW11 Guide to Style was an improvement there is still a severe lack of any top international fashion advertisers. It is therefore not surprising that they have seen an 11% loss year on year bringing them down to a circulation of only 218,368 a month. A depressing circulation when compared to the highest selling women’s lifestyle magazines which are currently circulating at double this. 
 
There were rays of light for the remainder of the men’s lifestyle publishers in the health sector, indicating that men’s interest in health and fitness continues to grow. Dennis Publishing owned Men’s Fitness reported a year-on-year circulation uplift of 1.7% up to 69,264, while River Publishing’s Healthy for Men was up 7.4% to 60,499.

The two leading upmarket men’s titles, GQ and Esquire, didn’t experience major moves either way. The ‘metrosexuals’ out there are holding this market up with their unwavering need for a monthly intake of high-end culture and fashion. Keep your eyes peeled though as  it will definitely be interesting to see how Esquire will fare in the next ABC’s following its re-vamp in June, which many thought took the title to a more accessible, mass level.

Stealing the show once again were the free titles, or ‘freemiums’ as they are now called. ShortList and Sport both continued to see a positive year-on-year increase. With ShortList recording a distribution of 523,665. The freemiums are really holding their own in this sector and are becoming a very effective way of reaching a male audience through print.

It is worth mentioning the effect of the rise of the tablet and mobile device, especially in the context of men’s lifestyle publications. There are a handful of titles which are already taking the first steps into the world of digital editions. Although the initial auditing base is still very small, evidence from the US does show that the packaging of print and digital access subscriptions is starting to make a difference to men’s reading habits as more and more turn to tablet devices for their reading consumption. This is where the UK market is possibly missing out – just take a look next time you are on the tube to see how many men are actually reading from a tablet or mobile in comparison to print. 
 
So, with some titles posting double digit declines in the men’s lifestyle sector the inevitable question is whether this is the end for the paid for ‘lads mags’? The future, we predict, will see a long life for the ‘freemium’ magazines and a strong shift into digital for the traditional paid for magazines.

By: Lucy Jennings

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The women’s market as a whole wasn’t affected too acutely, the sector overall was up 1.1% year on year (YoY) and 1.5% period on period (PoP).  However this is not representative of the mainstream women’s lifestyle set that apparel, footwear and accessories advertisers pour millions of pounds into each year.  Looking at a concentrated base, only 10 of the mainstream monthly and weekly women’s lifestyle titles posted YoY increases to their circulation and far more posted sizeable decreases.

Replicating the retail sector, the high end fashion magazines continued to outperform those with a more high street focus.  Aligning itself further with the high fashion set, Red posted  its 4th consecutive ABC and reached its highest ever circulation of 231,160, a rise of 0.48 YoY.  Newly gained sister titles Elle and Bazaar posted small increases – although upon further investigation this news should have been a little less sugar coated.

ABC certificates are used alongside other tools as currency for media agencies, so it’s predictable that magazines have been quick to obscure data that would have a negative effect on trading.    Newstrade and single copy sales are always the best indicator of how a magazine is performing and in the case of Bazaar’s modest increase, as with many other titles, the statistics that aren’t so widely published are more in line with the disappointments of the wider of the women’s market.  YoY UK & Republic of Ireland sales have in fact dropped by over 4%. The publicised rise is made up by the increase in sales of the Rest of the World copies.  Bazaar is by no means the only title which makes use of this kind of manipulation, perhaps having been slightly unsettled from their pedestal, it’s a practice Vogue are also adopting.        

For the leading publishers in the young women’s set, there are very differing stories.  Condé Nast’s Glamour has not only retained its position as the largest young women’s fashion and lifestyle monthly, increasing its circulation by 0.73% YoY to 530,060, but it has also extended its lead on the nearest competitor, the newly formed, in the UK, Hearst Magazines’, Cosmopolitan, which for the first time experienced a drop in circulation to fall below 400,000.  Elle Dolphin the newly appointed Publishing Director, previously from Grazia, will undoubtedly have her work cut out to reclaim the lost market share.  Further woes hit Hearst with the continuing decline of Company, which posted its third successive decrease, falling by 17% for Jan-June period.  In the last 18 months a quarter of the readers have departed the title, further evidence that Company is being squeezed out of a tough market.

Perhaps the least surprising news with the volume of magazines in the sector and the recent closure of She, was that the ‘middle-youth’ titles felt the sharpest declines. Marie Claire, Psychologies and Easy Living have all felt the pinch.  Whereas those hitting the older more discerning lady, namely Women & Home and Good Housekeeping proved to be more resilient.

By: Karen Stephenson

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