Emap's FHM, the market leader, is expecting a period on period increase and its closest competitor, IPC's Loaded, is expected to be the only title with period on period and year on year increases.
In the December to July figures, 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.
After big falls the stabilisation in the market is being viewed with relief and growth is now being talked about, but industry opinion suggests this will not come in the immediate term.
Andrew Power, press manager at MediaVest, says it will be the ABC figures for the following period, which will really determine the health of the market.
Power said: "If the market was in decline again period on period it would be in trouble, but because it's remained static it's okay. It will be the next period that will be crucial for the sector."
IPC believes that the market has slowed because of the rapid growth it showed in the years following Loaded's launch in 1994.
"There has been a four-fold increase in sales of men's magazines since 1994. The market is now worth £58.8m in copy sales alone," a spokeswoman for IPC said.
The publisher believes this rate of growth could not continue and attributes the subsequent fall in the market to the fact that men have many more media channels available to them such as digital TV, interactive TV and the internet.
Others believe that the market has become stagnant and needs more innovation from publishers.
Steve Goodman, group press director at MediaCom, said: "I think that people are too quick to write off the men's market. It's a market that's relatively new and has room for growth. Part of the problem is that there's been too many products that have been imitating each other for too long."
Goodman believes that publishers need to come up with more ideas in order to shake up the market. "One or two titles have bucked the trend like Jack. It's still something different in the market in terms of format and style. Potentially, there could be a way of looking more horizontally at the market. There could be room for a broader title -- essentially that's what Jack is doing."
He added: "Other media have done it, such as outdoor advertising, which is constantly finding different platforms and opportunities. Magazines, which probably have the most personal relationships with their readers could do a lot more to nurture those relationships."
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