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ABCs: Weekly magazines continue to slide, with Zoo again leading the way

Zoo WeeklyThe weekly magazine market continues to slide with five of the 11 audited titles posting double digit declines.

Zoo Weekly continues to be the hardest hit, posting a decline of 33.70 per cent, according to the latest figures from the Audit  Bureau of Circulations (ABC) which take in the months of April to June 2014.

This time last year the Bauer Media owned title was averaging 46,871 copies per week, but it now shifts just 31,0844 each week, a situation media analyst Steve Allen described as “terminal”.

“There’s just not a need for it, all the stuff you get in a magazine like that is available online in an instant,” he said. “In categories where most of the content or similar content is available online – I’m not saying Zoo don’t do original journalism – it’s just that genre of content is available all over the internet. And categories where that is the case, they’re just terminal.”

Despite the figures the Enhanced Media Metric Australia (EMMA) readership figures released on Monday said Zoo’s readership had actually gone up, with  more than 15 people reading each copy of Zoo.

Pacific Magazines’ celebrity gossip magazine Famous continues to have the greatest decline for the publisher, seeing its circulation drop by 22.40 per cent from 80,045 copies sold a week to 62,105.

Rival celebrity title OK!, owned by Bauer Media, continues to halt its declines, posting a 13.40 per cent decline compared to the last audit period’s decline of 16.3 per cent. The title shifts 72,0128 copies a week.

Fellow celebrity gossip Bauer title NW continues to sit between OK! and Famous in the circulation ranks however is not managing to slow its circulation loss. The title saw its sales numbers drop by 16 per cent from 95,237 to 80,030. This follows on from the title’s circulation declining by 16.7 per cent in the last audit period.

Mark Brandon, former deputy editor of Pacific Magazines’ New Idea, started as editor of the magazine in May.

Once again Pacific Magazines’ glossy celebrity title Who had the smallest declines amongst the celebrity titles, losing just 10 per cent of its circulation numbers, dropping to 108,126 from 120,081.

Bauer Media’s TV Week saw its circulation drop by 8.40 per cent, sending its circulation from 158,518 to 145,211.

That’s Life, owned by Pacific Magazines, continues to hold its ground against rival Bauer title Take 5 with That’s Life’s circulation only falling by 4.40 per cent while Take 5’s dropped by 5.60 per cent.

That’s Life currently has a circulation of 194,217 while Take 5 sits on 165,031.

Seven West Media-owned Pacific Magazines’ New Idea posted the smallest decline amongst the weekly titles with its circulation dropping by 2.90 per cent from 290,049 to 281,514.

Peter Zavecz, Pacific’s director of magazines said in a statement: “New Idea’s integration with My Kitchen Rules and House Rules has delivered positive results, with New Idea outperforming the weekly market and its print and digital sales combining to grow its total circulation by 0.3% period-on-period.”

Woman’s Day, owned by Bauer, trumped its rival New Idea in circulation despite its figures declining by 5 per cent from 345,256 to 238,053.

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