ACP Magazines Leads Recovery in Readership Results

Press Release
28 May 2010
ACP Magazines Leads Magazine Recovery in Readership Results

Defying all predictions of its imminent demise, the total magazine market has increased in the past quarter, a growth fuelled by strong performances from market leader ACP Magazines’ titles.

Figures showing growth of one per cent in gross readership prove that the recession failed to produce a lasting impact on the sector1. As for competing media – the top 10 newsstand magazines reach more adults than the top 10 TV programmes2.

ACP titles are read by 2.9 million New Zealanders every year. Nine out of 10 women in New Zealand will read an ACP magazine in any given year and 45 per cent of women are classed as heavy magazine readers.

Overall, almost half the company’s titles increased their readership compared to the previous survey period. The company produces some of the newsstand magazines with biggest increases in readership in the 12 months to March:

Lucky Break +30%3,

HOME New Zealand +10%,

Your Home & Garden +7%,

Top Gear New Zealand +5%

In the highly contested women’s magazine market, ACP can boast the top two bestselling monthly magazines – Next and The Australian Women’s Weekly – and the biggest-selling weekly magazine, Woman’s Day.

Weekly women’s titles

This market has grown by 2.7 per cent compared to the last readership period, with ACP titles creating 40 per cent of the growth1.

Woman’s Day

Readership for ACP’s flagship weekly title has increased by 3 per cent, or 23,000 readers, compared with the previous period. With 783,000 readers, almost one in three New Zealand women read Woman’s Day every week and three out of four women read it every year. The readership gap between Woman’s Day and its closest competitor, New Zealand Women’s Weekly, is closing and is now the smallest it has ever been, with Woman’s Day just 31,000 readers behind its considerably lowercirculation rival.

Lucky Break

Lucky Break continues to build on the success of its launch and has posted the biggest readership growth of any weekly title within the past 12 months – a massive 30 per cent3, representing 28,000 readers, for a total of 123,000. This is the fourth consecutive period in which Lucky Break’s readership has grown.

Home, Garden & Lifestyle Category The other category to show significant readership growth in the past 12 months is Home, Garden and Lifestyle, increasing 7% in gross readership compared to the same period last year1.

Your Home & Garden

Now read by 278,000 readers each month, Your Home & Garden gained 17,000 readers (7 per cent growth) to post its eighth consecutive period-on-period readership increase.

HOME New Zealand

HOME New Zealand, New Zealand’s highest-circulating home-design title, grew its readership by 10 per cent over the past 12 months and now reaches 74,000 people.

Individual magazine highlights The Australian Women’s Weekly

The Australian Women’s Weekly is still the most-read monthly consumer magazine and has reported a solid performance with 607,000 readers every month. One in four women read each issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Top Gear New Zealand

Top Gear New Zealand is the country’s leading new-car magazine. It has attracted 10,000 new readers each month, representing a 5 per cent growth.

Little Treasures

Little Treasures, the only parenting title to measure its readership, gained 11,000 readers – growth of 5 per cent over the past 3 months – and now has 222,000 readers every issue.

CLEO

CLEO now has 132,000 readers, up 3 per cent over the previous period.

Metro

Metro, Auckland’s very own title, added 4000 readers (a 3 per cent increase) to its total in the last quarter. It now reaches 123,000 readers.

Commenting on the results, ACP Media CEO Paul Dykzeul said: “ACP has never wavered in its belief that our magazines would maintain their market leadership in the face of difficult conditions. These figures bear this out and are a tribute to the talent and hard work of committed people across the company. The fact that magazines outstrip television for reach in some areas is a clear message from consumers to advertisers about where the dollars are going to get the best return on their spend."

Source:

- Nielsen National Readership Survey; (April ’09 – March ’10)
- NZ Audited Bureau of Circulation (July – December ’09)
- All comparisons are YOY unless stated otherwise
1) Based on gross readership
2) Nielsen TV Audience Measurement (April ’09 – March ’10). All people 18+ Reach of Unduplicated Top 10 Programmes vs Reach of Top 10 Magazines
3) Comparison to March ’09 six-monthly figure.

About ACP Magazines
ACP Media is New Zealand’s leading magazine publisher. ACP publishes some of the country’s most popular magazines, including Woman’s Day, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Next, Taste, Metro and North & South.

ENDS

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