NME gains ground as Total Film makes a comeback

The NME was up to 73,640 with the additional copies all being added in the last six months, buoyed by recent CD give-aways featuring the favourite music of US punk band Green Day.

Tim Brooks, IPC ignite! managing director, said: "It's been a fantastic six months for one of the all time great magazine brands. NME is at the centre of one of the most exciting music scenes for years. Conor and his team are consistently finding and championing the very best in new music. Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, The Kaiser Chiefs – just a few of the many great bands we introduced our readers to before they hit the charts."

Emap scored well with its two music titles in the latest ABCs for the six months to June 2005. Weekly Kerrang! was up 4.4% period on period to 64,554 and up 3.1% year on year. AOR rock magazine Mojo was up 2.5% in the last six months, but year on year was up 14.2% to 114,626.

Stuart Williams, publishing director, at Emap Performance, said: "This is a very exciting time for music magazines. Across the board, people are more interested in music than ever before. Downloading, blog sites, digital radio, fantastic live music and festivals are fuelling this interest."

Mojo's leap put it ahead of IPC's movies and music title Uncut, which fell back 3.5% period on period to 110,015 and was down 2.5% year on year.

Monthly market leader Q had a less impressive performance than stablemate Mojo. Q dropped 1.4% period on period, although it was up 6.3% year on year to 160,310.

Future's Metal Hammer put in a solid performance, rising 5% in the last six months and up 20.9% year on year to 40,236.

Classic Rock did well, rising 5.5% period on period to 44,349 and was up 15.2% year on year.

In the movie market, Future's Total Film made something of a comeback. The title had dropped to 82,810 six months ago from 90,749 in June 2004. But with a leap of 21.5% in the last six months it rose to 100,625.

Emap's Empire, however, continues its lead in this market, up just fractionally at 0.2% to 205,981, but was up 5.4% year on year.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum.

Only registered users may comment. Sign in now or register for free.