Simply You Living, Bride & Groom, Habitat, NZ Life & Leisure and Wild Tomato were the major winners in the latest magazine figures, while The Red Bulletin, Trade a Boat, Cleo, Boating New Zealand and FishHead had tough years. PLUS: we look at spending trends of the top ten magazine advertisers.
For some time now, reporting on the newspaper results has been a repetitive exercise of commenting on the downward trends in the print industry. Each time the results come out, it again confirms that the print is in decline. Rather predictably, the latest slew of results again told a similar story. However, despite all the doomsday prophesying in the industry, there were a handful of standout papers that bucked the overall trend and successfully managed to lift their readership results. And none more so than the Otago Daily Times.
Last week’s report on magazine readership and circulation figures once again reiterated that print is undergoing a period of transition as audiences shift their media consumption online. And looking at Nielsen’s readership and ABC’s circulation results, it’s more of the same. However, there was some good news for the rural and community publications.
Over the last decade the digital age has swept over the cornerstones of newspaper publishing and eroded them with unforgiving consistency. Now, each time the Nielsen’s print readership and the ABC’s circulation results are released, what remains of the major publications look a little smaller than what they were the quarter or year before.
Nielsen and ABC have released the latest quarterly results for magazine readership and circulation and, to a large extent, the figures indicate a continuation of trends that have been taking shape over the last few quarters. There was however a shift in the sense that some special interest titles—which have until now have performed well—also showed signs of weakening.
Nielsen and the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) have released 2013’s fourth quarter readership and circulation statistics for newspapers and magazines. And while the previous article on magazines held some good news, the numbers for newspapers are far bleaker. However, it must be remembered that Nielsen’s readership insights for newspapers are exclusively based on print. So while the statistics might not seem promising, they only offer a glimpse at one aspect of readership.
Nielsen’s readership and the ABC’s circulation results do not bode well for the print versions of New Zealand newspapers. Most of the major publications recorded significant drops on both reports, leading to suggestions from some that it might be time to adapt the way statistics are collected so that readership can be measured across all platforms.
Once again, Nielsen’s latest readership results and the ABC’s circulation numbers don’t make for particularly pleasant reading for the magazine sector, with all weeklies charting declines deemed significant on the same time last year, plenty of other significant declines and a rare few increases. And, perhaps not surprisingly, the MPA and the various publishers are hoping to change the conversation from a one-dimensional discussion about quantity, to a multi-dimensional discussion about the quality of engagement across a number of platforms.
The latest readership and circulation numbers are out and they have continued to go in the wrong direction for newspapers, with every major paper down on both counts when compared to last year and to the last survey result three months ago.
The print newspaper industry continues to struggle with retaining readers in a difficult time for the sector, with the latest circulation figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) showing losses almost across the board.
The quarterly number fest that is the Nielsen CMI Readership and Audit Bureau of Circulation data has been released, and while only a few magazine titles bucked the general downward trend in paid circulation, a majority of titles experienced readership increases, making it the third consecutive survey showing an improvement in total readership.
The magazine sector was celebrating a mostly positive swing after the latest readership, circ and, importantly, engagement figures were released last week. And while the numbers aren’t quite as good for the newspaper sector, the sky is still not falling.
It’s a rather interesting period in the history of magazines and, despite the prevailing belief that shiny new digital toys are killing off paper, the latest readership and circulation numbers have once again showed the market is still in fairly good health in New Zealand.
The launch of the iPad and the expected ‘tablet revolution’ has put some wind in the sails of publishers who have been beaten down by the internet. But as everyone goes gaga over the new technology, it’s easy to forget that good old-fashioned paper-based magazines are still putting up a very good fight, with the most obvious trend from Nielsen’s latest readership figures and Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers being that Kiwi consumers are still willing to pay for good-quality specialist magazines.
It hasn’t been an avalanche this time round, but the usual dollop of press releases hit the desk today full of language reminiscent of The Property Press, with virtually every magazine claiming the publishing equivalent of “north facing sun-drenched decks” and “indoor/outdoor flow”. Still, purple prose aside, the latest readership numbers for the mags look pretty good for an industry that has taken a battering over the last couple of years. And this data will be welcome relief to those hoping the good news of three months ago was not an aberration.
Big up
Slow down
It’s a mixed bag for mags in the latest audited circulation results, with most mags reporting year-on-year declines. But there are a few notable exceptions.