Kerrang! and NME drop as music magazine sector suffers

Emap's rock weekly Kerrang!, now published by H Bauer, dropped for a second consecutive period by 8.0% to 76,937 and is also down 9.9% year on year. Its performance was similar to IPC's weekly title NME, which fell by 6.0% for the period to 64,033 and has fallen by 12.3% year on year.

The only music title to register a notable improvement was IPC's Uncut, which rose by 6.0% on the last six month period to 91,028, but the magazine's monthly circulation fell 2.8% year on year.

Emap's rock monthly Q, which had undergone a steady decline in the last 18 months, has seen a slight rise by 0.9% to 131,330, but it is also down 6.4% year on year.

In the film sector, Emap's Empire rose by 1.2% to 181,511 to help the monthly complete a healthy period of growth in the last 12 months, where it has risen by 3.2%.

It's main rival, Future Publishing's Total Film, edged up 0.1% to 85,696 and is down by a marginal 0.4% year on year.

Elsewhere, Q's sister title Mojo dropped in the six-month figures, falling 5.2% to 106,218. The retro rock monthly is down 7.0% year on year.

Future Publishing's Classic Rock steadied, rising 0.2% to 67,399 and has undergone a 7.5% growth in the last 12 months.

Classic Rock's sister title Metal Hammer has fallen by 6.8% to 45,809, and is down by a similar figure year on year, dropping 6.5% for the period.

In February, Emap completed the sale of its consumer magazine business, including Kerrang!, Mojo and Q, to H Bauer.