IPC Media Brands Strong Across Key Markets in Latest ABCs

IPC Media – the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher – today unveils its latest round of ABC figures, highlighting a strong performance on a number of key brands.

The latest ABC figures (July to December 2007) showcase sterling performances for pillar brands across all five IPC divisions, while pioneering IPC digital brands including www.instylemagazine.co.uk, www.housetohome.co.uk, www.nuts.co.uk, www.nme.com, www.whatsontv.co.uk and our latest launch, www.goodtoknow.co.uk continue to make great progress.

IPC chief executive Sylvia Auton says: “While some sectors remain challenging, we are enjoying some star performances from truly compelling brands, and we continue to see value growth - up 6% on the year.”

“2007 has been a transformational year for IPC with the business continuing to leverage the power of IPC brands through strong multi-platform growth – and that will continue to be at the heart of our business strategy. New launches like housetohome and goodtoknow are exceeding expectations, while more established sites like NME.COM and Nuts.co.uk are delivering innovation and significant growth. And it doesn’t stop there - with NutsTV extending its reach from Freeview to Sky, NMETV delivering a 24/7 service on Sky and NME Radio on its way - we will continue to create new platforms for our compelling properties.”

Highlights from this round of ABCs include:

* • Look, the UK’s first and only high street fashion and celebrity weekly, delivers a superlative second ABC, settling down by only 4.2% in the aftermath of a massive launch marketing campaign, and way ahead of expectations at 305,603 for the period. Look continues to be the biggest selling fashion magazine in the UK in volume terms.
* • woman&home is celebrating its highest ABC in a decade – up 6.3% on the year and 4.7% on the period to 336,022.
* • Woman and Woman’s Own are both reaping the benefits of major investment, stemming several years of decline and delivering growth on the period – Woman up 0.4% to 371,351 and Woman’s Own up 1.3% to 349,164.
* • Nuts, the men’s weekly publishing phenomenon from IPC Ignite, extends its lead over rival Zoo to a new record of 91,047 copies, with a circulation of 270,053. Nuts’ share of the weekly sector is now at the record level of 60.1%, while its share of total men’s newsstand in the UK is now an incredible 46.5%.
* • Pick Me Up and Chat buck competitor performance, delivering 0.5% growth on the year and 1.5% growth on the period respectively. With circulations of 426,327 and 519,413, they are delivering combined real life sales of almost 950,000 copies each and every week.
* • What’s on TV today issues its first Group Product Report, revealing its true cross-channel reach with an ABC of 1,386,900 and a debut ABCe of 358,700 unique users for whatsontv.co.uk.
* • Southbank’s market-leading portfolio of homes titles continues to shine, with Livingetc, Homes & Gardens, Country Homes & Interiors and 25 Beautiful Homes once again up on the period and the year.
* • Essentials is reaping the rewards of its new look, up 28.9% year-on-year with an ABC of 94,122.
* • Country Life releases its second consecutive year-on-year increase with an ABC of 40,821. Announced hot on the heels of its highest Christmas double issue sales for 10 years, it marks an outstanding achievement for a magazine which is truly setting the agenda for rural Britain.
* • Uncut delivers an outstanding ABC of 91,028, up 6% on the period which saw it celebrate its 10th anniversary. And on the UK newsstand, Uncut has outperformed its monthly competitors, with sales up an impressive 11.2% on the period.
* • Golf Monthly triumphs as market-leader, posting its third consecutive year-on-year increase and highest circulation figure for over six years with a total ABC of 83,002, up 11% on the period.
* • Monthly title Shoot reports an ABC of 35,830, up 7.1% on the previous year – a World Cup year – underlining the success of its recent repositioning in the football sector.