NEWS CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION A soft economy and digital interference saw newspaper and magazines circulations fall over most categories. Publishers were keen to talk about readership but this doesn’t do newsagents much good – they need sales over the counter. Some niche titles held their circulations with most mass titles losing ground. Printed newspaper circulations in Australia fell in the June 2011 quarter, as the retail climate continued to deteriorate and consumer spending contracted sharply. For Quarterly Audited magazines the Australian Average Net Paid Sales (AANPS) for Weeklies shrunk by 2.09% and by 3.95% for the Half Yearly audited titles over the previous periods.
NEWSPAPERS Monday to Saturday sales of national, metropolitan and regional printed newspapers fell 4.2 percent in the three months to June 30, 2011 compared to the corresponding period in 2010, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Newspaper Works CEO Tony Hale said the worst retail environment in Australia in 50 years had pushed sales of printed newspapers down, with print results further pressured by the ongoing transition in the industry as mastheads expand across multiple delivery platforms beyond print. Newspaper publishers were reluctant to talk about circulation numbers, preferring to talk about readership. With most papers down between three and five percent the Australian Financial Review was the worst performer, crashing by 11.3% year on year. Melbourne’s Herald Sun remains the dominant newspaper and is the highest selling paper in Australia (Monday to Saturday) selling 488,600 each weekday, 485,300 on Saturday and 573,600 on Sunday.
10
National Newsagent September 2011
MAGAZINES Pacific Magazines Pacific Magazines delivered the largest year-on-year circulation share increase of all major publishers to gain 0.7 percentage points compared to this time last year. Pacific Magazines’ share has increased to 30.4% of gross copies sold (up from 29.7% a year ago). Nick Chan, CEO, Pacific Magazines, comments, “It’s a tough retail market and Pacific Magazines has performed solidly to increase share and deliver significant wins in a number of key magazine categories.” Pacific Magazines has delivered share increases in eight of the 11 magazine categories that it operates in: women’s weeklies, women’s lifestyle, tween, teen, health, men’s lifestyle, fashion and major women’s monthlies. The latest audit confirms Pacific Magazines’ leadership in key publishing categories, including homes and lifestyle (55% share), fashion (47% share), tween (53% share), health (58% share), men’s lifestyle (69% share). Reflecting the mass migration of baby boomers into grey nomads, Caravans and Motorhomes was up 24.62%, the celebrity Famous was up by 2.17 percent and young Dolly plummeted by 24.99%
News Magazines News Magazines has sustained its market position in an audit period that was unusually characterised by devastating floods and cyclones, an historic royal wedding and weaker consumer sentiment. In the 12 months to June 2011, News Magazines realigned the business to focus on core food and lifestyle brands, selling an average of 998,932 magazines claiming the lion’s share of food, prestige home and gardening category sales. Sandra Hook, Chief Executive officer, News Magazines, said: “News Magazines’ performance has been bolstered by continued investment and innovation across our portfolio of media assets. Our core titles have fared well in an unseasonably tough market, and will continue to grow in second half thanks to brandbuilding initiatives like Vogue Fashion’s Night Out and the GQ Men of the Year Awards.”
NEWS CIRCULATION
ACP Magazines maintains market leadership with a 51.7% share of all Australian magazines sold in the latest ABC audit (January-June, 2011). ACP Magazines Amid the most difficult retail trading conditions in memory, ACP’s market share has grown from 51.2% since December, 2010. Consumers spent $465 million dollars buying a total of 90.1 million officially-audited magazines in the six months to June, 2011. Consumer spend is down by 2.3% since the December 2010 audit. Phil Scott, Managing Director of ACP Magazines, said: “The ACP team has delivered a great result in this audit, particularly against a background of continuing decline in discretionary spending across the retail sector. “While the circulation figures as a whole reflect consumer uncertainty and disruption caused by natural disasters many ACP titles have gained share and demonstrated great resilience in the latest reporting period.” In the weekly women’s category alone, ACP titles sold 55 million copies in the year to June, 2011. Sources: Pacific Magazines, News Magazines, ACP Magazines, Newspaper Works
What’s up, what’s not Whilst some titles for the young have enjoyed massive increases it is noteworthy that of the top 20 increases most catered for the older market. It’s the baby boomers who have the spending power. Dolly and Dmag fell over and Russh quietened from previous highs; theReader’s Digest fell sharply; FHM and Zoo both crashed, this against the success of Men’s Fitness. Perhaps we will see more sensitive buff blokes in the future?
NEXT ISSUE TOP 100 MAGAZINE TABLE
BIGGEST CIRCULATION INCREASES Gameinformer
69.96%
Men’s Fitness
37.49%
Caravans and Motorhomes
24.62%
The Monthly
21.81%
Frankie
20.73%
Australian Traveller
17.9%
Digital Photography & Design
16.48%
Country Home Ideas
14.55%
Australian 4WD Action
10.36%
Freshwater Fishing
9.19%
BIGGEST CIRCULATION FALLS Dmag
-38.19%
Dolly
-24.99%
Russh
-24.90%
Reader’s Digest
-23.45%
FHM
-19.62%
Australian Geographic
-18.71%
Zoo Weekly
-18.34%
PC Authority
-1797%
PS User
-17.16%
National Newsagent September 2011
11