Readership lift for flagship magazines

By SIMON HENDERY

The latest magazine circulation and readership figures should send "positive signals" to advertisers, says the Magazine Publishers Association.

The six-monthly Audit Bureau of Circulation result and ACNielsen readership figures showed that specialist publications were more popular and that mass circulation weekly titles remained stable, said MPA executive director John McClintock.

"It's great news for the industry that overall readership is stable despite the ongoing fragmentation of media markets and the huge choice available to modern consumers."

Circulation for Australian Consolidated Press' Australian Women's Weekly (now published monthly) was up 10 per cent to 82,800 compared with the same period last year.

The company's weekly Woman's Day was down 6 per cent to 147,100.

Readership of both rose 4 per cent - Women's Weekly to 530,000 and Woman's Day to 789,000.

The flagship title in New Zealand for troubled transtasman publisher PMP, New Idea, had a 6 per cent fall in circulation to 55,300, although readership was up 9 per cent.

Circulation for INL's monthly NZ House & Garden rose 14 per cent over the year to 75,600.

NZ NetGuide's circulation rose 9 per cent to 33,200.

Rival Internet Magazine has had a monthly circulation of 14,700 in the past six months.

Two magazines owned by Wilson & Horton's New Zealand Magazines subsidiary, NZ Woman's Weekly and the Listener, both lost circulation but gained readership. The Woman's Weekly's circulation was down 13 per cent to 95,900 but readership up 5 per cent to 888,000.

Listener circulation was down 4 per cent to 81,800 and readership up 2 per cent to 347,000.

Cuisine's sales were up 18 per cent on last year to 60,100.

The ACNielsen readership figures included the country's two Sunday newspapers, both published by INL. Sunday News readership was up 28,000 to 477,000 but Sunday Star- Times readership was down 5000 to 601,000.