Reveal sold 239,907 copies from July to December 2004, according to the figures unveiled yesterday evening.
ACP-NatNags had not planned to publish Reveal's ABCs yesterday because the title only launched in October, giving it just three months of circulation figures rather than opposed to six.
The initial decision keep Reveal's circulation figures under wraps caused outrage among media buyers, who threatened to pull their ads from the title. It also prompted industry speculation that figures were not being published because Reveal was doing badly.
One press director said: "I'm not willing to run any more ads in the magazine. Their refusal to give out any figures can only mean Reveal is doing badly."
ACP-NatMags sent out at a press release with its Reveal figures at 6pm yesterday -- six hours after the rest of the industry published its results.
Reveal's circulation far exceeded the estimated figure of 130,000 to 150,000 copies.
Colin Morrison, chief executive of ACP-NatMags, said: "We are absolutely delighted with this result. Consumers are telling us they love this product and that's translating into positive newstand sales.
"The 10 issues of Reveal published during this period are exactly on target. Early indications for 2005 show that we're all set to continue to grow."
IPC's Now was the most popular celebrity weekly, recording its second highest circulation increase over six months. Its circulation was up 6.8% on the period to 619,186 copies a week, a 4.6% increase year on year.
Emap's Heat overtook Richard Desmond's OK!, grabbing almost 12,000 extra sales to hit 552,215, up 2.2% year on year.
OK! continued to slip, losing sales of almost 23,000 or 4.4% to stand at 529,492 copies, down 7.3% year on year.
Emap's Closer retained its upward momentum, adding 5% to bring its weekly circulation to 504,350 copies, putting it up 31% year on year.
OK! stablemate New! lost 1.9% of sales over the period to 396,079, although it is still up 18.5% year on year. Desmond's newest title, Star, was the biggest gainer, selling 15.2% more copies over the period to 211,551.
Hello! is close on the heels of New!, recording a circulation of 382,391 copies after it gained 5.9% over the period. Its year-on-year rise was 9.1%.
In the overall women's weekly group, IPC's Chat gained very slightly on H Bauer's Take a Break is still a way off achieving the top spot.
APC-NatMags is a joint venture between the National Magazine Company and Australian Consolidated Press. It was formed in December to publish weekly consumer magazines in the UK.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the here.
.jpg)
.jpg)