New Market Leader As Women’s Monthlies Sector Suffers Decline

Women’s monthly titles suffered badly during the six-month period ending December 1999, with 60% of titles showing a decrease in circulation. Prima was toppled from its position as market leader with sales dropping 17%; its replacement was National Magazine Company’s Cosmopolitan which now heads the sector with sales of 470,000.

Other titles showing significant decline included IPC’s 19 which tumbled 27%, Minx, down 18%, and Company, which dropped by over 16%. The steep decline in many titles within the sector comes at a time when new magazines are attempting to enter the market (see Feature: Middle Youth Sector Strains As Two More Titles Plan To Launch). The whole sector fell by almost 4%.

The only titles to show a marked increase were Women’s Journal, which jumped 20% after a September revamp aimed at increasing its readership base (see Woman’s Journal Gets New Look). Zest (up 8.4%), New Woman (up 5.6%), Elle (up 4.8%) and Red (up 4.2%) also saw healthy increases.

The last six months has seen women’s content move onto the internet as publishers have discovered the potential for e-commerce within the sector. Of the three heavyweights in the sector, EMAP, which takes 24% of the market share, IPC (22%), and the National Magazine Company (20%), IPC has been most successful in launching a portal for the women’s market (see Web Review: BeMe.com).

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