Magazines have been all over the news of late, at least in media land.
The latest ABC figures for consumer magazines released at the end of last week are something of a mixed bag. Overall, circulation nudged up by 0.1% - growth of any kind is surely something to be celebrated given the economic vibe during the first half of the year and PPA boss Barry McIlheney duly did just that, pointing out that the figures underline the unique ability of magazines to create a real emotional connection with audiences "through their trusted and engaging content." I'll second that.
However, some sectors - such as real life weeklies - seemed to be particularly badly affected by recessionary factors, perhaps people who might have bought a handful of these cheap and cheerful titles in times past now only buy one. Or none. Still, despite some circulation falls when you look at the top three mags in that space (Take a Break, Chat, and Women's Weekly), some 1.5m copies are still purchased every week.
Other sectors are showing signs of reader fatigue with the formula, including celeb gossip and lads' mags. Sales of Heat, Now, Nuts and Zoo were well down.
Stellar performers include BBC Gardener's World, up almost 25% (the Monty Don effect?), and sales of current affairs titles (The Economist, Private Eye) were also boosted, doubtless due to a widespread desire to gain some sort of deeper understanding about alarming goings-on in this chaotic old world of ours.
And despite Sky's decision to can its customer mags, the customer mag sector overall remains huge and hugely influential.
Our colleagues over at MediaWeek have produced an excellent and comprehensive analysis of the ABC figures.
The other big news in the mags space was of course the long-awaited sale of the BBC Magazines business. Upon hearing the news that the purchaser was private equity house Exponent (also owner of the Ambassador Theatre group and Radley accessories) one chum commented: "Wondering what the synergy is between Radio Times, handbags and theatre? Well - I suppose you can put RT in your handbag when visiting the theatre!" As Exponent also owns thetrainline.com, Quorn Foods, and bed retailer Dreams the potential for concocting similar amusing scenarios is vast.
But seriously, given the BBC Mags business made a profit of ?21.6m (up 9%) on flat sales of ?164.5m in its 2010/2011 results - along with an impressive increase in subs revenue of 10% - it's easy to see why Exponent has made its ?121m move. Polestar, which is tantalisingly close to its long-held goal of reaching a landmark 100th year of printing Radio Times, must be watching developments very closely indeed.
The ABC stats show that while some magazines are in rude health, others are heading towards a trip to the publishing equivalent of Dignitas. This ebb and flow of publishing's winners and losers is of course of paramount importance to all the printers, paper companies and other suppliers operating in this space.
