Celeb obsession pays off for teen entertainment titles

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 14-Aug-03, 13:25

LONDON - Emap's Sneak magazine has proved a star performer in the teen entertainment magazine sector, recording a rise of 15.7% in circulation to sell an average of 101,107 copies a week.

BBC Magazines contribution to the sector, the monthly magazine It's Hot, recorded a circulation of 115,163 for June 2003, a rise of 10.7% on its debut figure of 104,015. Both titles launched in the spring of 2002, seeing a gap in the market for a junior version of Heat magazine.

The teen entertainment category saw overall growth of 12.5% according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which published magazine circulation figures today. The only title in the category to fall was Hachette Filipacchi's TV Hits, down by 6.2% for the period to 143,842 copies, but maintaining a slim growth margin for the full year of 0.4%

BBC Magazines is already planning to expand its offering in the sector with the launch of a new celebrity title in the autumn, currently codenamed Project April. It publishes the number one title in the category, Top of the Pops magazine, which saw a period-on-period rise of 3.3% to 252,410 copies.

Emap's fortnightly teen music title Smash Hits was up 3.4% on last period to 150,042.

The downside of the rising popularity of teen entertainment titles is that it is eating into the popularity of teenage lifestyle magazines, which fell 2.2% as a category for the period.

Sugar, published by Hachette Filipacchi, is still the biggest-selling lifestyle magazine for teenage girls, recording a 1.5% rise for the period to sell 326,185 copies. But it is down by 5.8% year on year.

Only Cosmo Girl, NatMag's first foray into the teenage market, showed a marked improvement. It saw circulation rise by 32.5% for the period to 188,249, pushing it ahead of J-17 to the number three spot. NatMag cut the cover price and changed the format to the increasingly popular handbag size, starting with the May 2003 issue.

It is a reversal of fortunes for the two titles. When the last set of ABC figures was released, J-17 had seen growth of 9.3% for the period to 143,308. Six months later and the Emap title has seen circulation slide by 6.2% to 134,433.

Bliss, also published by Emap, held on to its number two spot with an audited average circulation of 250,543 -- down by 3.7% on its December figure of 260,102 copies.

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