The celebrity weekly market shrank from 3.64m copies a week in the first half of 2007 to 3.48m between January and June this year, continuing the trend for declining circulations in the sector.
The one bright spot was Hello! magazine -- the only celebrity weekly to boost its circulation during the six months ending June 2008, adding 8% compared with the second half of 2007 to record average sales per issue of 427,054.
Big-selling issues for the period included its controversial coverage of the wedding of Peter Philips, and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt preparing for their twins' birth, although not their arrival, which will fall into Hello!'s figures for the second half of the year.
At the same time, rival OK! Magazine saw a 11.2% fall in circulation, with the Northern & Shell-owned magazine selling 607,048 copies a week, compared with 683,451 for the ABC figures for July to December 2007.
In the previous period it had bolstered sales with a massive marketing campaign, which pushed it ahead of Closer. OK! remains the biggest-selling celebrity title, but other Northern & Shell magazines suffered, with Star dropping 6% to 287,368 and New! down by 6.6% to 434,218.
Bauer Media-owned magazines Closer and Heat, which do not pay for celebrity interviews, both reported falls. Closer remained the second-largest celeb title inspite of a 3.9% drop in circulation to 527,325 copies, while Heat dropped 11.8% to 470,129.
The hardest hit title of all was NatMag's Reveal, down by 15% on the last reporting period, with average weekly sales of 277,002. Reveal this week unveiled a relaunch that will position it as the celebrity magazine written by celebrities.
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