A number of former high-flyers of Australian magazine publishing are today licking their wounds following the latest round of figures from the Audited Media Association of Australia.
In what proved to be another alarming quarter for weekly mags, it was Bauer Media’s Zoo Weekly that experienced the biggest blow, sliding almost 35% compared with the same period last year.
Matthew Stanton, CEO of Bauer Media, attempted to limit the damage by stating that changing consumer habits are not yet fully reflected in the ABC figures.
”Although print remains the preferred medium for most people, consumers are increasingly interacting with our brands on other platforms,” said Stanton.
"These changing habits however are not yet fully reflected in the ABC figures. For example, sales of the unaudited Woman’s Day app, and the audited Zoo Weekly app, are quickly building as people discover them," he added.
Zoo is now averaging sales of 40,282 print copies a week, down from 61,471 copies at this time last year. This latest drop follows significant declines in each of the previous two quarters.
Following news that Fairfax is to axe the print edition of business title Business Review Weekly (BRW) from December, the latest ABC data for the September quarter showed a 27.85% fall in circulation for the title in the September quarter.
Famous proved the biggest problem title for Pacific Magazines, falling more than 17% to 74,220 copies.
Despite an 11% drop in the latest figures, the publisher’s That’s Life magazine is still holding its own with a circulation of just over 200,000.
