In the weeklies market, a clear contrast in fortunes could be seen between the precocious celebrity titles and their declining traditional counterparts.
The sector's most spectacular year-on-year performance was produced by Emap Elan's Heat, which rose a stunning 137.6 per cent year on year, and an equally impressive 81.2 per cent period on period, to 172,311. However, the magazine still has some ground to make up before establishing itself as a heavy-hitter in the market.
IPC Connect's Now produced 20 per cent year-on-year growth, catapulting itself above Chat and Best and to within striking distance of Hello!.
Northern & Shell's OK! established a clear lead over its old rival and broke into the weekly sector's top three, albeit with a 6.2 per cent year-on-year rise that owed much to bulk sales.
Among traditional weeklies publishers, H Bauer had the most reason to celebrate. Take a Break remains comfortably the largest title in the sector and is under no real threat from IPC's declining Woman. That's Life posted another year-on-year rise of more than 8 per cent to overtake Woman's Own, while Bella remained comfortably ahead of Woman's Weekly, which suffered a 9.5 per cent drop.
Verdict The momentum of celebrity weeklies continues to increase. However, they still have some way to go to compete with the weight of traditional titles, where H Bauer continues to rule.
WEEKLIES
Title Publisher Total ABC Period on Yr on yr
period %
Take a Break H Bauer 1,137,952 -3.7 -7.5
Woman IPC 636,528 -7.8 -5.0
OK! N&S 586,176 28.8 6.2
That''s Life H Bauer 569,804 0.4 8.2
Woman''s Own IPC 553,701 -4.1 -2.7
Bella H Bauer 532,668 -3.8 -6.9
Hello! Hello! Ltd 502,679 9.6 1.5
Woman''s Weekly IPC 496,162 -5.2 -9.5
Now IPC 475,571 11.9 20.0
Chat IPC 469,769 -1.6 -5.8
Best NatMags 431,352 -5.4 -8.6
People''s Friend DC Thomson 399,339 -2.0 -3.2
My Weekly DC Thomson 318,294 -4.4 -5.4
Heat Emap Elan 172,311 81.2 137.6
Woman''s Realm IPC 152,053 -5.3 -15.2
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations (July-December 2000)
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
