Second half 2011 FAS FAX results show 4.6% over all circ decline

Canadian magazines that are measured by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) showed an average decline of about 4.6% in total audited circulation in the last 6 months of 2011, compared with the same period the year previously. According to ABC FAS FAX data just released, Canadian ABC-measured titles had total circulation of 9.3 million compared to 9.8 million a year ago. Total paid and verified circulation, net of controlled copies, was 6,648,000 in 2011 compared with 6,994,000 in 2010 and was down 6.3%. Subscriptions were down about 5.9% and single copy sales down about 4.2%.

Among the largest major gainers in total circulation were Hello! Canada, Chatelaine, Today's Parent, LouLou and Elle Canada. Among the largest major decliners were publications of Reader's Digest Canada, including RD itself, its French counterpart Selection, Our Canada, More Our Canadaand Best Health; also Canadian Gardening.

Among the big gainers in single copy sales were major Rogers Media titles:  Maclean's (up 77%), Chatelaine (up 32%) and LouLou (up 15%).

U.S. FAS FAX results reported by Folio: showed that total paid circulation was down about 1%, from 305.5 milion to 302.45 million. Subscriptions were up about 1%, though single copy sales were down almost 10%.

Canadian magazine gainers and decliners in ABC FAS FAX results:

Gainers Avg. 6 mos 12/31/11 Avg 6 mos 12/31/10 % +/- MOI & LA CUISINE 14,189 10,420 36.2 BC OUTDOORS SPORT FISHING 14,724 12,993 13.3 COOL! 48,750 43,894 11.1 ANIMAL 14,734 13,486 9.3 HELLO! 137,025 125,494 9.2 RENOVATION BRICOLAGE 33,123 31,107 6.5 CHATELAINE 536,447 504,681 6.3 MOI & CIE 63,693 60,073 6.0 L'ACTUALITE 159,651 155,237 2.8 TODAY'S PARENT 134,214 130,909 2.5 LES AFFAIRES 74,595 72,904 2.3 LOULOU-VOTRE GUIDE SHOPPING 73,883 72,477 1.9 DERNIERE HEURE 15,654 15,394 1.7 ELLE QUEBEC 79,352 78,346 1.3 ELLE CANADA 121,828 120,941 0.7 LOULOU CANADA'S SHOPPING MAGAZINE 146,001 145,391 0.4 Decliners Avg. 6 mos 12/31/11 Avg 6 mos 12/31/10 % +/- WHAT'S UP - CANADA'S  FAMILY MAGAZINE 5,315 47,523 (88.8) A VOS PINCEAUX 6,131 8,094 (24.3) FLEURS PLANTES JARDINS 43,207 55,485 (22.1) TOUT SIMPLEMENT CLODINE 25,193 32,255 (21.9) 7 JOURS 67,024 85,532 (21.6) OUR CANADA 177,133 225,429 (21.4) TV HEBDO - TELEROMANS 28,994 36,668 (20.9) MORE OF OUR CANADA 45,190 56,579 (20.1) VITA 67,396 81,471 (17.3) WILD 6,388 7,652 (16.5) LE LUNDI 20,056 23,854 (15.9) BEST HEALTH 85,184 100,575 (15.3) CANADIAN GARDENING 100,017 116,143 (13.9) ECHOS VEDETTES 25,798 29,799 (13.4) PREMIUM 13,532 15,540 (12.9) MAISON ET DEMEURE 19,190 21,882 (12.3) MONTREAL CENTRE-VILLE 3,412 3,888 (12.2) SELECTION READER'S DIGEST 156,227 176,710 (11.6) READER'S DIGEST (ENGLISH) 557,701 627,197 (11.1) CLIN D'OEIL 64,138 72,053 (11.0)

Subscription skidmarks longer in Canada than U.S., but single copy sales do better: ABC

A follow-up on yesterday's report on ABC 6-month data: 

• Canadian consumer magazines' total paid and verified circulation fell 4.03%, compared with a 1.2% drop in the U.S. 
• Subscription sales in Canada fell 5.9%, compared with 1.2% in the U.S. 
• Single copy sales in Canada fell 6.1%, compared with 7.3% in the U.S.

Rogers titles show strongly in single copy sales in latest ABC circulation data

Latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) six-month data ended December 31, 2010 shows that several magazines have enjoyed double-digit growth in total paid and verified average per issue circulation.
Big gainers among consumer magazines:

• Montreal Centre-Ville, up 98.3% to 3,888 (also 38,544 controlled)
• Moi & Cie, up 44.2% to 60,073 (also 1,767 controlled)
• Hamilton Magazine, up 39% to 24,459 (also 12,045 controlled)
• What's Up -- Canada's Family Magazine, up 17.8% to 45,523 (also 45,790 controlled)
• Money Sense, up 11.5% to 112,870
• Hello! Canada, up 11.1% to 125,494
• Canadian Business, up 8.7% to 87,580
• Canadian House & Home, up 8.3% to 244,345
• Canadian Art, up 5.7% to 19,311

 Big decliners in total paid and verified circulation among consumer magazines:

• Fashion, down 18.8% to 101,581 (also 42,817 controlled)
• Reader's Digest (Eng), down 17.8% to 627,197 (also 21,568 controlled)
• Selection Reader's Digest (Fr), down 17.3% to 176,710 (also 7,343 controlled)
• Canadian Gardening, down 15.7% to 116,143
• Best Health, down 8.7% to 100,575 (also 12,306 controlled)
• L'actualite, down 8.2% to 155,237 (also 838 controlled)
• Elle Quebec (Fr), down 7.9% to 78,436
• Chatelaine (Fr), down 7.9% to 175,211 (also 1,340 controlled)
• Canada's History, down 7.2% to 38,699
• Maclean's, down 7.4% to 336,059
• Les affaires, down 7.1% to 72,904 (also 2,308 controlled)
• Good Times, down 7.1% to 123,635 (also 12,461 controlled)
• Canadian Geographic, down 6.4% to 188,693 (also 5,448 controlled)
• Flare, down 5.7% to 124,649 (also 11,806 controlled)

In single copy sales (included in the total paid and verified figures), the big gainers were:

• Canadian Business, up 155.5% to 21,765 average per issue
• LouLou, up 108.4% to 42,438
• Money Sense, up 104.3% to 25,533
• Maclean's, up 77% to 20,460
• Fleurs Plantes Jardins, up 48.8% to 2,229
• Chatelaine (Eng),  up 45% to 75,058
• Elle Canada, up 43% to 22,127
• Canadian Art, up 28.4% to 4,332
• Canadian House & Home, up 26.3% to 78,857

The biggest decliners in single copy per-issue sales were:

• Canada's History, down 38% to 2,278
• Flare, down 28.7% to 15,143
• Today's Parent, down 21.3% to 5,420
• Vita, down 21.1% to 7,729
• Hockey News, down 17.3% to 16,320
• Style at Home, down 15.8% to 43,109
• Elle Quebec, down 12.7% to 17,694
• Coup de pouce, down 11.5% to 40,868
• Canadian Geographic, down 10.7% to 16,229

ABC says publishers expect mobile to be a big part of their publications future delivery

The Audit Bureau of Circulations says that 65% of publishers anticipate mobile distribution to play a major role in their future success. That's up from 55% last year. According to a release reporting the results of ABC's 2010 survey, 37% of publishers expect mobile applications to contribute positively to their total revenues within two years. But 78% say they expect a mix of delivery formats and 78% say they didn't think they'd switch to digital-only delivery within the next five years.

ABC Canada strikes out on its own with new website, social networking

The Canadian division of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has demonstrated the increased autonomy it was granted by the ABC board in March. It has launched a new Canadian website Accessabc.ca., according to a post on Masthead Online. The new site has the Canadian ABC rulebook in English and French and shares some content with the U.S. site.

Augmenting the new website is ABC Connections, a blog that replaces a monthly online newsletter (previously a three-times-a-year print bulletin), a Twitter account and a LinkedIn group.

Digital mags must contain all of a mag's content, but not in an identical layout, says ABC

In light of technological developments like the iPhone and iPad, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has modified its definition of a digital magazine.

The new standards state that a replica digital edition must include a print edition’s full editorial content and advertising, but it no longer needs to be presented in a layout identical to the print version. Replica digital editions will continue to be included in a magazine’s circulation guarantee, or rate base.

The first magazine to seek certification of an iPad  application was Wired. GQ magazine has offered an iPhone and iPod Touch replica application since December.

Canadian magazine subs and singles seem to be starting to stabilize

[This post has been updated] The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations' latest data, for the first half of 2009, shows a decline in single copy sales, but a much smaller decline than the same period a year ago. According to a story in Media in Canada, overall paid and verified circulation was down 1.58% (paid subs down just 0.3% and total single copy sales down 8.43%)

Although the drop in single-copy sales is significant, it is not nearly as steep as the 23.63% decline seen in 2008 (as compared to the same reporting period in 2007). Paid subscriptions looked even better, the 0.3% drop over 2008 figures is minute compared to the 4.78% drop reported in second half of 2008.

Among the magazines that had significant growth:

• Hello! saw a single-copy sales climb of 14.5% and a paid subscription increase of 161.2%.
  
• Fashion magazine saw paid subscriptions up 18.9%.
• Canadian Living subscriptions and single-copy sales were both up over 2%
• Flare's single-copy and subscription sales rose 6.1% and 8.4% respectively.

Two of the biggest drops in paid subscriptions were What's Up with a drop of 42.5% and The Beaver dropping 17.3%.

In single-copy sales, there were some significant drops at Canadian Geographic (24.3%), Elle Canada (21.9%) Outdoor Canada (27.2%), What's Up (71.3%) and Profit magazine, which saw a whopping 89.2% decline. Increases in single-copy sales could be found at Chatelaine (36.5%), Maclean's (2.1%) and Canadian Business (14.1%).

[UPDATE: Here are the data on the top 45 magazines reported in the ABC Fas-Fax, as reported in Mastheadonline.

	Paid & Verified Subs	Single Copy	Total Paid & Verified	Subs +/-	Single Copy +/-	Total Paid & Verified +/-
Reader's Digest	813,824	37,272	851,096	-3.1%	-18.1%	-3.8%
Chatelaine	485,231	66,640	551,871	-3.9%	+36.5%	-0.3%
Canadian Living	397,498	119,200	516,698	+2.6%	-2.7%	+1.3%
Maclean's	345,531	9,523	355,054	-1.8%	+2.1%	-1.7%
Style at Home	179,168	51,047	230,215	+1.5%	-0.2%	+1.2%
Canadian House & Home	169,127	58,098	227,225	-3.2%	-14%	-6.2%
Sélection du Reader's Digest	218,045	9,126	205,801	-4.1%	-17.6%	-4.7%
Coup de Pouce	172,056	33,745	204,611	-2.4%	-13.4%	-4.4%
Canadian Geographic	192,343	12,268	195,306	+2.1%	-24.3%	N/A
Oxygen Women's Fitness	96,473	98,833	193,198	+25.7%	-0.8%	+10.7%
Châtelaine	173,036	20,162	169,006	-1.2%	+2.7%	-0.8%
L'actualité	162,098	6,908	161,638	-1.8%	+5.2%	-1.5%
Clean Eating	61,652	99,986	147,347	+135%	-25.8%	+0.4%
LouLou	127,042	20,305	143,368	+7.7%	+18.3%	+9%
Fashion	134,882	8,486	142,912	+16%	+4.5%	+15.3%
Canadian Gardening	125,036	17,876	142,498	-6.8%	+12.4%	-4.7%
Flare	129,615	12,883	140,418	+8.6%	+6.1	+8.4%
More	119,671	20,747	136,392	+1.4%	-8.9%	-0.2%
Good Times	136,392	N/A	135,980	-4.9%	N/A	-4.9%
Le Bel Âge	132,733	3,247	132,368	+0.8%	-31.50%	-0.40%
Today's Parent	125,669	6,699	128,681	-0.7%	-19.7%	-1.8%
Elle Canada	102,993	25,688	123,629	+5.6%	-21.9%	-1.3%
Best Health	107,538	16,091	120,257	N/A	N/A	N/A
Harrowsmith Country Life	108,662	11,595	108,991	-3.9%	+11.8%	-2.6%
Hello!	40,994	67,997	106,786	+161.2%	+14.5%	+45.1%
MoneySense	93,053	13,733	100,077	+1.4%	+4.3%	+1.8%
Canadian Home Workshop	95,232	4,845	98,138	-5.6%	-35.9%	-7.7%
TV Hebdo	59,764	38,374	95,529	-8.7%	-9.3%	-9%
The Hockey News	84,735	10,794	90,633	+6.1%	-0.3%	+5.4%
Outdoor Canada	82,868	7,765	90,520	+4.3%	-27.2%	+0.6%
Toronto Life	79,668	10,852	89,969	-0.1%	-7.4%	-1.1%
Canadian Business	85,865	4,104	89,004	+15.2%	+4.3%	+14.7%
American Curves	34,344	54,660	85,491	+15.3%	-28.9%	-16.5%
7 Jours	1,674	83,817	82,437	-15.7%	-3.8%	-4.1%
Décormag	76,099	6,338	80,626	-1%	-28.8%	-3.9%
Affaires Plus	79,512	1,114	80,526	-2.6%	-17.3%	-2.8%
Elle Québec	64,573	15,953	78,102	-1.9%	-29.1%	-8.9%
Les Affaires	76,635	1,467	76,118	-1%	-17.4%	-1.4%
Décoration Chez-Soi	55,650	20,468	75,784	-5.8%	-8.3%	-6.4%
Vita	63,215	12,569	68,909	N/A	N/A	N/A
LouLou (French)	52,517	16,392	64,643	-1.5%	+5.1%	N/A
Clin d'Oeil	45,589	19,054	64,163	-7.9%	-5%	-7%
Les idées de ma maison	49,297	14,866	63,128	-3.3%	-15.5%	-6.40%
Fleures Plantes Jardins	57,606	5,522	58,075	-1.5%	-38.4%	-6.4%
La Semaine	N/A	58,075	52,409	N/A	+6.1%	+4.2%