FHM saw its circulation fall to 570,719, down from 716,679 last year, a slump of 20.4%. More seriously for the leading men's title was that its biggest circulation fall came in the last six months. Since the last round of ABCs in June, FHM has fallen 18.5% from 700,172.
The dramatic size of the loss will come as surprise to many in the industry, who had been anticipating a fall of around 10%.
Emap's FHM was followed by rival Maxim, published by Dennis, which was down 15.8% year-on-year to 276,640. IPC's Loaded, which gave birth to the whole lads mag sector, was down slightly less, falling 12.1% to 308,711.
There was, however, some good news for Loaded and its new editor Keith Kendrick, the former Chat editor. While heavily down on the year, Loaded was up 1.1% on its last ABC in June, indicating that Kendrick might be doing something right.
Bizarre and GQ both suffered serious falls as well. Bizarre was down 11.6% to 105,220 and GQ was down 10.2% to 125,885, but up 5.9% period on period.
There was better news for the National Magazine Company's Esquire, which was up 1.2% year on year to 62,007. Haymarket Publishing, which owns Brand Republic, had reason to celebrate as well, as gadget magazine Stuff recorded a slight rise of 0.7% to 55,606.
The former Wagadon titles now owned by Emap had mixed fortunes. The decline of The Face continues uninterrupted -- it fell 16.6% year-on-year to 55,329 -- while its stablemate Arena was up slightly year-on-year rising 3% to 38,182. On the last period, however, it plummeted 23.8%.
The health sector of the men's market witnessed mixed fortunes. Men's Health was down 8.6% to 215,517, while Men's Fitness was up 14.3% to 46,584.
While FHM was the biggest loser among the monthlies, its spin-off sister title FHM Collections recorded the biggest percentage circulation drop overall in the men's market, falling 21.2% year on year to 56,018.
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