Bauer Media: July – December 2017 Magazine ABCs

15 February 2018

London, 15^th February 2018: Bauer Magazine Media publishes some of the world’s best loved magazines, delivering entertaining and inspirational content for readers and significant reach for brand partners.

Bauer Media remains the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher by total paid-for copies sold and Retail Sales Value.

London, 15^th February 2018: Bauer Magazine Media publishes some of the world’s best loved magazines, delivering entertaining and inspirational content for readers and significant reach for brand partners.

Bauer Media remains the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher by total paid-for copies sold and Retail Sales Value.

 

Commenting on the results Rob Munro-Hall, Group Managing Director, Bauer Magazine Media UK said: “Bauer Media retains its leading position in the highly competitive TV Listings and True Life markets. We’re extremely proud of our performance this period – TV Choice is the only magazine in the UK to sell over 1 million copies a week and Take a Break’s monthly companion magazine has seen an impressive 25% YOY uplift. We’ve also seen continuing success for our Specialist magazines, particularly our gardening titles Garden News and Garden Answers, whilst Practical Photography is the fastest growing monthly magazine in the UK. These standout performances demonstrate how magazines play a critical role in the lives of our readers, creating meaningful connections in a truly trusted environment. Our world class editorial teams are tireless in ensuring that they have a deep understanding of their audiences, both through insight and instinct. This enables us to deliver content that has a strong cultural impact whatever the passion area and brings readers back every week or month.”

 

HIGHLIGHTS THIS PERIOD:

• Bauer Media retains its position as No.1 in the TV Listings market
• TV Choice celebrates 11^th successive year at the top – the only magazine in the UK to sell over 1 million copies every week
• Bauer Media is the UK’s No.1 publisher in the True Life market, selling over 700,000 copies every week
• Take a Break leads the market and is the UK’s No1 women’s weekly while its monthly companion magazine records a spectacular growth performance, up 25% YOY
• Garden Answers records its ninth consecutive YOY increase
• Garden News is the UK’s No.1 weekly gardening title
• Practical Photography is the fastest growing monthly magazine in the UK, up 55.8% YOY
• Bauer Media’s Hobbies portfolio shows growth with YOY increases from Country Walking, Trail, Steam Railway, Model Rail, Rail and Bird Watching
• MCN remains market leader while Bike is the best-selling monthly motorcycle magazine in the UK
• CAR magazine has had an outstanding year, up 6.8% year-on-year

TV LISTINGS

 

TV Choice (w) – 1,188,588 (print only)

TV Choice, remains the UK’s biggest selling magazine, entering its 11^th successive year at the top and is the only UK magazine to consistently sell more than one million copies per issue.  TV Choice significantly outperformed the market trend YOY and increased its market share, continuing to outsell its nearest rival by nearly 300,000 copies every week. These great figures are testament to TV Choice’s relevance and ability to engage readers with entertaining content that enhances their love of the nation’s favourite pastime.

Total TV Guide (w) 94,209 (print only)

Total TV Guide has significantly out-performed all its competitors in the premium end of the sector in year on year performance. Changes in September 2017 saw the addition of editorial pages and increased consumer value by increasing its radio coverage and expanding coverage of digital streaming services. The popularity of these new additions has helped the title increase its market share.

 

TRUE-LIFE

 

Take a Break (w) – 497,349 (print only)

Take a Break continues to lead the market as the UK’s No.1 women’s weekly, selling nearly twice as many copies as its nearest competitor. The magazine’s success is underpinned by delivering consistently fascinating stories, key practical features, brilliant puzzles and generous prizes. A refresh in early 2018 promises to enhance and keep the title fresh for today’s true-life reader.

Take a Break Monthlies Series (m) – 212,560 (print only)

Take a Break’s bumper monthly special has carried its spectacular growth performance across the whole year with growth of a stunning +25% YOY. The companion magazine provides a similar winning formula to its sister weekly title, and continues to be a hit with its true-life audience, introducing a wider audience to the Take a Break portfolio.

 

That’s Life (w) – 203,031 (print only)

That’s Life has delivered a very strong performance this period, continuing to outperform the true-life market both POP and YOY. The magazine engages a younger weekly true-life audience through a combination of inspirational, emotional and incredible true life stories. A series of successful seasonal and crime specials reinforces the power of this brand for the reader and wider true life market.

 

CLASSICS

 

Bella (w) – 164,051 (print only)

Bella outperforms all competitors both POP and YOY, retaining its No. 1 position in UK full rate standalone sales and moving up to second place in the Classic Weeklies market closing the gap on its nearest competitor. Following a very strong summer and Christmas performance, Bella is the only title of the market to show a positive increase POP of 1.5% and has increased market share by 3.1%.

CELEBRITY WEEKLIES

 

Closer (w) – 189,577 (print + digital)

Closer maintains its position as No. 2 in the celebrity market.  Closer’s trend has improved both POP and YOY following a successful product refresh.  The title has a loyal readership who have a close connection to its unique content mix which brings together celebrities, real-life and inspirational lifestyle for the home and wardrobe, plus topical debates and expert advice on health, relationships and money.

heat (w) – 119,853 (print + digital)

heat outperforms the weekly celebrity market and increases market share both YOY and POP.  heat continues to set itself apart from its competitive set, delivering 360 multiplatform content across print, online, social and radio.  Renowned for its celebrity news, unique entertainment content and famous feature campaigns, heat has also successfully extended its fashion, beauty and lifestyle content through its ‘Wear it’s at’ and ‘Life hacks’ sections.

Grazia (w) – 102,859 (print + digital)

Grazia is uniquely positioned as a premium title within the weekly market. In October, the magazine underwent an editorial refresh, introducing new content ideas rooted in audience insight. The research revealed that readers were bored of homogenised content and sought more depth, emotion and opinion in order to fuel their conversations (both online and “IRL”). Grazia responded to this by building on its successful and unique fashion-led mix to offer more opinion, introducing “The Provocateur” & “The Take”, a new mental health column “School of thought” and by ensuring there is diversity and authenticity throughout. During the past six months Grazia has collaborated with Swarovski to create a cover-wrap in support of the launch of their Holiday collection, featuring Naomi Campbell & Karlie Kloss, with 50,000 copies distributed in key locations in central London. In November the brand created its first ever LUXE issue featuring Instagram style icon Giovanna Battaglia, celebrating premium and luxury brands in an accessible and compelling way and driving display fashion advertising from brands including Gucci, Dior, Chanel & Burberry up by +31% YOY.

FILM & MUSIC

 

Empire (m) – 109,654 (print + digital)

The world’s biggest selling movie magazine outperforms the market, while its website has seen unique users grow to over 2m per month in 2017. Empire continues to deliver standout issues that celebrate great film moments including the epic Star Wars collector’s issue to celebrate the release of The Last Jedi and the innovative Virtual Reality issue in partnership with Google and Fox to celebrate the release of Alien Covenant.

MOJO (m) – 62,779 (print + digital)

MOJO is the best-selling music magazine in the market and remains the definitive magazine for music explorers. 2017 saw the brand embark on an innovative cinema event that brought a new David Bowie film to 180 cinema screens in the UK, with each ticketholder receiving a bespoke copy of MOJO. Exciting plans are underway for the brand in 2018 under the new Editor, John Mulvey.

Q (m) – 37,073 (print + digital)

Q magazine performs in line with the market and this period delivered world exclusive interviews with both Noel and Liam Gallagher during 2017 as well as printing iconic cover treatments showcasing the breadth of contemporary music, from Paul Weller to St Vincent.

GARDENING

 

Garden Answers (m) – 34,688 (print only)

Garden Answers has recorded its ninth consecutive YOY increase of 24.1%, as well as a 3.5% rise POP, unusual in the highly seasonal gardening market. The magazine continues to grow its loyal subscription base as well as sales on newsstand.

Garden News (w) – 36,055 (print only)

Garden News has led the weekly gardening market in 2017 with a YOY increase of 2.3%. It continues to increase its lead over weekly competition by maintaining its commitment to delivering brilliant and practical gardening advice alongside a tactical cover mounting strategy.

Modern Gardens (m) – 30,888 (print only)

Modern Gardens has continued to grow on the success of its launch year with a YOY increase of 6.2%. The magazine provides entertaining and inspirational content to the ‘lifestyle gardener’ and has added growth to the gardening market by bringing in these new readers.

MATURITY

 

Yours (f) – 244,754 (print + digital)

Yours has outperformed the market YOY. By continuing to develop its mix of star chat, heart-warming real life stories, shared memories and health and beauty tips as well as delivering timely content, it continues to inspire its loyal 50+ readers.

HOBBIES

 

Practical Photography (m) – 39,289 (print + digital)

Practical Photography is the fastest growing monthly magazine in the UK, up 55.8% year-on-year, maintaining its position as the number 1 monthly photography magazine. A passionate audience of photo enthusiasts enjoy the magazine’s inspirational images, expert hands-on advice, tips and ideas, as well as the most authoritative equipment reviews out there.

Country Walking (m) – 30,524 (print only)

Country Walking Magazine is one of the fastest growing magazines in the UK, up 21.7% YOY. This impressive growth has been driven by an improved and refocused product, along with the successful sampling, awareness and conversion of new readers via subscription partnerships and the award winning #walk1000miles social media campaign, which over 50,000 people have signed up to take part in.

MOTORING

 

Motorcycle News (w) – 60,719 (print + digital)

MCN remains the market leader with a 41.6% share of the modern motorcycling market and 31% of the total motorcycling market. It has no direct competitors in print. In addition, motorcyclenews.com is the UK’s biggest motorcycling website with a 32% market share according to Hitwise, while more than 75,000 visitors attended MCN events last year. As a result, the MCN brand enjoys unrivalled reach among UK motorcyclists.

CAR (m) – 50,811 (print + digital)

CAR magazine has had an outstanding year with strong sales growth resulting in an ABC of 50,811, up 6.8% YOY. CAR has performed strongly in digital and subscription channels.  CAR reaches an affluent, discerning audience who value its heritage, design and progressive editorial content package.

Media Contact:

Jess Blake, Communications Director (Magazines)

Tel: 07739 516345

Email: jess.blake@bauermedia.co.uk

About Bauer Media UK:

Bauer Media UK reaches over 25 million UK consumers through a portfolio of world-class, multi-platform media and entertainment brands including heat, KISS, Grazia, Empire, TV Choice, Take a Break, Bella, Magic and Absolute Radio. It creates and curates entertaining media content that audiences love whenever, wherever and however they want through a multi-channel strategy and a focus on product excellence and audience insight. The result is an exciting array of influential brands, content and talent which provide compelling and engaging advertising opportunities with valuable audiences for UK commercial partners. Bauer Media UK is part of the Bauer Media Group, one of the world’s largest privately owned media businesses with media assets all over the globe.