The data for the final six months of 2021, released yesterday (17 February), showed year-on-year circulation increases for a number of news titles, with print circulation rises achieved by MoneyWeek, The Oldie, The Spectator, and The Critic, while Private Eye essentially stayed flat year-on-year in percentage terms, with a marginal increase in circulation of 0.44%.
The magazine’s Twitter account posted: “A huge THANK YOU to all 237,754 people who were buying the magazine every fortnight between July and December last year – we really appreciate your support, and the proof that newsprint isn’t quite dead yet!”
The Economist saw a print circulation decline of 9% year-on-year but its digital consumption figure rose by 14%.
A raft of sports titles also saw both print and digital circulation boosts in the second half of the year, with print increases of 5% or more recorded by Angling Times, Improve Your Coarse Fishing, Mountain Biking UK, Four Four Two, and Today’s Golfer.
Leisure titles recording a print increase of 5% or more, meanwhile, included Airfix Model World, Motor Boat & Yachting, Country Walking, BBC Countryfile Magazine, Trail, British Horse, Bird Watching, and RPS Journal.
Publisher Immediate Media Co said its titles recorded a combined print and digital circulation of 2,508,680 in the six-month period, up 4.6% year-on-year, with print alone growing by 4% to 2,345,101.
It highlighted strong results for BBC Gardeners’ World, which saw combined circulation up by 14%, while consumption of BBC Good Food was effectively flat (up 0.3%) year-on-year.
Immediate executive chairman Tom Bureau said: “These are a fantastic set of results. That we’ve continued to grow our reach in print as restrictions have been eased illustrates the enduring popularity of our trusted market-leading brands.
“And it demonstrates the success of our strategic focus on quality content, helping our audiences get more from the things they love, whether that be gardening, cooking or bringing to life the latest big TV hit.”
Other major print circulation increases were achieved by The Beano (up 27%), Saga Magazine (up 25%), Pokemon (up 22%), Mojo (up 19%), and Classic Cars (up 18%).
The women’s weeklies market continued to struggle, with every title reported on in the sector again decreasing in print circulation year-on-year. Heat and Closer posted digital circulation increases of 98% and 59% respectively, but their print circulations were down by 15% and 10%. New! suffered the steepest decline in the market, its print consumption down by 23% year-on-year.
The title with the biggest print circulation in the six-month period was The National Trust Magazine, which posted a figure of 2,549,178, down 5% year-on-year.
Tesco Magazine was second, up 1% to 1,938,305, while the UK’s biggest paid-for print title, TV Choice, saw its circulation drop by 2% year-on-year to 1,016,951.
