Emap First for Men and Through the One Million Barrier With heat and Closer
17th February 2005
Emap Consumer Media (ECM) has delivered an exceptional set of active purchase circulation figures across a wide range of its magazines and markets, according to The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) who released Jan-Dec’04 and Jul-Dec’04 figures today.
Emap’s consumer magazines* only report circulation sales figures that fall into ABC’s active purchase category - ie UK and overseas newsstand sales, and single subscriptions.
EMAP continues to grow its dominance of the men’s magazine market, fuelled by sales increases in its top five men’s brands – ZOO, FHM, ARENA, EMPIRE and Q – making EMAP ‘First For Men’ in providing advertisers with an exclusive portfolio of brands that have sold over 17 million copies to men over the past six months alone – a figure unrivalled anywhere else in the industry.
Less than a year after its launch, ZOO, EMAP’s groundbreaking weekly men’s magazine, is now the fastest growing men’s magazine in the UK, delivering a Jul-Dec04 ABC of 240,215, up a staggering 20% year on year, despite the increased activity in price-promotion of rival titles.
ZOO’s proposition of ‘funny, sexy and of the week’ is now firmly established on the newsstand, and positioned at the higher end of the men’s mainstream market (55%ABC1) alongside stablemate FHM (58%ABC1) - which has also shown growth in sales.
FHM’s strength, as reflected in its JD04ABC of 580,027 (up 1% on the period, down 3.5% on the year) is a remarkable achievement given the successful establishment of the weeklies. FHM has again grown its dominant share of the men’s market to its highest ever level, and outstrips the combined active purchase sales of LOADED, MAXIM, FRONT.
Premium men’s monthly ARENA, film monthly EMPIRE and music monthly Q all recorded significant increases too.
EMAP has also strengthened its market-leading position in the celebrity weekly market with the powerful combination of heat and CLOSER, together boasting in excess of one million copies sold each week.
The rise of CLOSER continues its relentless pace, bursting through the half million mark to deliver sales of 504, 350
Despite the increase in competition and price-promotion from rivals, CLOSER has rocketed over 31% on the year and 5% on the period. heat meanwhile is still in terrific shape and has resisted the most intense competition by delivering a JulDec04 ABC of 552, 215 (up 2% on the period, down 2% on the year).
EMAP’s women’s glossy portfolio, Elan, is also strong with good sales for the recently reinvented fortnightly more – 274,644, up 6% and 7% on the period. Health and well-being monthly TOP SANTE outperformed a challenging sector to remain market-leader, while NEW WOMAN – set to be redesigned with the April issue – slipped slightly despite being the only monthly to hold price and format.
Amongst our teenage readers SMASH HITS outperformed the market recording an ABC of 126,100 – a 4.5 per cent rise on the period and a 10 per cent rise on the year, while bliss, the grown-up baby glossy for teenagers, has again made significant strides, up 18 per cent on the year to 285,061, and 10 per cent p-o-p. This is the smallest ever gap between bliss and the market leader.
At the more mature end of the market, EMAP Esprit's YOURS magazine, Britain’s leading newsstand monthly for women over 50 has reached another record high with sales of 438,872 for the Jul-Dec 04 ABC, a 9% year-on-year growth, overtaking Good Housekeeping to become the 3rd biggest selling women’s lifestyle magazine behind Glamour and Cosmopolitan.
EMAP’s presence in the women’s magazine is unparalleled in the industry and widely admired for its diversity and innovation. This position was further enhanced this week by the much-anticipated launch of GRAZIA, Britain’s first-ever weekly glossy.
For the second year running, however, EMAP Active’s MATCH magazine takes the prize for fastest growing title across EMAP with a 33% increase on the year to deliver a JanDec04ABC of 95, 806.
Paul Keenan, Chief Executive of Emap Consumer Media, commented:
“EMAP Consumer Media has had an excellent 2004 and these ABCS reflect that. They demonstrate our ability to create innovative new magazines like ZOO and CLOSER whilst successfully reinventing existing leading titles such as FHM, MATCH, More and heat.
“EMAP’s editorial and marketing talent explains this great achievement and our continuing gain of market share. Given the performance of FHM, ZOO, EMPIRE, and Q and ARENA, we can substantiate our claim to be ‘First for Men’.
“This year, 2005, is already shaping up to be the biggest year the magazine industry has ever seen and we are confident that GRAZIA will come to be judged the most significant event of the year. I am certain that GRAZIA, Britain’s first weekly glossy will change the women’s market forever.”
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