The Independent looks at the grim prognosis for the future of magazines in Britain, as the figures for the first six months of 2007 from the Audit Bureau of Circulation were just released:
“In every significant sector, the big newsstand brands are clearly feeling the pain. Glamour, the top-selling women’s monthly, has lost 41,000 readers – 7 per cent of its total – since last year. Emap’s Yours lost 14 per cent. Of the weeklies, Bauer Publishing’s market leader Take A Break dropped 6 per cent. The once-exponential growth of Emap’s Heat is starting to go the other way, down 4 per cent… In the men’s market, there’s even more blood on the walls.”
“Those are not isolated examples. The trend is clear if we take a look at the 100 best selling, paid-for magazines in the country – making a distinction between these “actively purchased” titles and the magazines that come free with a Sky subscription…”