Magazine readership has edged up but print circulation continues to fall across the board with few exceptions, latest auditing data reveals.
Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Circulations detail continued circulation declines between June and December, with many titles registering double-digit falls.
In contrast, Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (emma) records a one per cent increase in digital and print magazine readership between October and December last year, while Roy Morgan shows mixed results for the year ending December 2013.
According to the Magazine Publishers of Australia (MPA), Consumers bought 67 million magazine copies at a cost of $357m in the second half of last year.
Women’s Weekly remains Australia’s biggest selling magazine with a print circulation of 451,000, but this was down by 2.7 since last June's figures.
Among the biggest falls in circulation were the Australian Financial Review’s Smart Investor magazine which fell 22 per cent to 35,045 copies and Girlfriend which fell 21.5 per cent to 55,012.
There were some titles registering significant gains, like Family Circle (26.4 per cent), Real Living (8.1 per cent), Australian Property Investor (16.8 per cent) and Russh (5.6 per cent), but the vast majority fell.
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Roy Morgan print readership movement ranged from GQ (up almost 50 per cent) and Empire (up 32 per cent) to Cleo (down 30.7 per cent) and Super Food Ideas (down 22.5 per cent).
Emma data was more promising, showing wide differences on many titles to Roy Morgan results, and had most titles maintaining their readership numbers or showing slight increases.
The most notable gains were in men’s lifestyle magazines (1.8m readers) and other niche areas which generally fared better than generalist titles.
MPA Executive Director Robin Parkes says: “The figures for both readership and circulation still show the power of magazines’ reach and the high levels of consumer interest.”
“Readers are still showing an appetite for buying printed editions of magazines because they offer such a great reading experience. Australian consumers still love their magazines with 93% of adults reading magazines.”
Bauer Media chief executive Matthew Stanton says magazines remain the best way of engaging with women.
“The latest ABC audit and emma readership survey show a resilient Australian magazine market with growth in several key segments,” he says.
“The engagement these people have with the magazine they pay for is vital for advertisers to market their businesses.
“The performance of Bauer Homemaker and Health titles is particularly gratifying. Every Bauer Homemaker title added circulation year-on-year.”
ProPrint will examine newspaper circulation and readership reports tomorrow.
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