Tag Archives: men’s health

Alex Harris talks to Journalism.co.uk about taking two gongs at the PTC Awards

Journalism.co.uk reporter Rachel McAthy is at the Periodical Training Council (PTC) Awards today. She spoke to Men’s Health journalist Alex Harris, who won both the New Journalist of the Year and New Consumer Journalist of the year awar.

See the full report from today’s awards at this link, and listen to the interview with Alex Harris below.

Magazine news: PPA chief steps down; BSME shortlist announced

Two bits of news from the last few days for the magazine publishing industry:

  1. Lisa Burrow, Closer
  2. Sue James, Woman & Home
  3. Jeremy Langmead, Esquire
  4. Sue Peart, You Magazine
  5. Morgan Rees, Men’s Health

Response to the ABCs results: How are mag subscriptions and sales faring in the recession?

Subscription sales are up according to figures from online magazine retailer The Magazine Group, which runs sites for WH Smith, Books Direct and others; while last week the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) reported only a slight drop in overall magazine sales.

But individual titles have seen circulations plummet this. Do subscriptions offer a way to avoid such a loss in sales? Here, we examine the results of the two reports:

Last week’s report from The Magazine Group suggests subscription sales are on the up after analysing figures for the more than 800 titles from 140 publishers it offers. The findings are derived from more than 100,000 subscriptions sold by the group – comparing purchasing patterns from the first half of 2008 with those for the same period this year.

Meanwhile overall ABC results for January to June 2009 suggested that magazine circulation for the UK consumer magazine market is only 1.9 per cent down on the previous period.

But individual titles fared worse in last weeks ABCs: results suggested that most glossy magazines have lost sales (one of the worst hit has been FHM down 16.2 per cent). There are exceptions – such Men’s Health (up 2.1 per cent YOY), which has taken FHM’s place as top selling title.

According to the Magazine Group’s report, women’s glossies are also suffering with the biggest fall in subscriptions amongst the retailer’s titles. The ABC results show that overall sales for women’s weeklies are down 4.6 per cent year-on-year.

In contrast celebrity weeklies are doing well in subscriptions for the Magazine Group, which claimed that magazines with competitive prices were faring the best.

The public’s concerns and interest in the recession are reflected in the ABC report by the general increase in sales for news and business magazines compared with other sectors –  MoneyWeek (which has subscribers making up 96 per cent of readers, according to MediaGuardian) was up 15.3 per cent year-on-year, while the Week gained 10.3 per cent in sales.

Up 0.6 per cent year-on-year, Private Eye remains the biggest-selling title in the news and finance business sector.

According to The Magazine Group, TV, computer games and music magazines are also doing well – it seems that more people are trying to save money by staying in.

Speaking at the FIPP congress earlier this year, leading magazine publishers suggested that personalisation may be a key factor for future magazine revenue streams. This sentiment is reflected in the Magazine Group’s report, as specialist magazines are shown to be doing well. The figures suggested an increase of more than 20 per cent in the sales of home improvement, craft and gardening titles.

But, it may simply come down to money-saving to explain the drop in glossies, but rise in such specialist titles. Economising Brits seem to be fighting the recession by trying to make their money go further. Not surprisingly, the ABC report suggests that specialist titles such as house renovation and housing have fallen in circulation, as have health and beauty magazines.

“What these figures (The Magazine Group) show is that magazine consumers are looking for value. Titles that offer ways to combat the credit crunch are thriving,” says Don Brown of The Magazine Group in a release.

“With sales falling on the newsstand many magazines are having a tough time, but with big name brands offering discounts and free gifts, savvy subscribers have great choice of bargains.”

The magazine Group claims to generally have a rise in their subscriptions, compared to many falls in the ABC analysis on individual title’s sales. Does this suggest that subscription deals might be able to save/maintain some magazines?

Awards round-up: Index on Censorship winners; Mind Journalism Awards; Paul Foot nominations call

Index on Censorship awards

This year’s winners of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards were named in London last week.

The Sunday Leader received the journalism award. Its editor Lasanthe Wickrematunge was murdered earlier this year, shortly after publishing an opinion piece in which he predicted his death.

The award winners were selected in five categories: books, films, journalism, new media and law and campaigning.

Mind Journalist of the Year

The prize, which honours excellence in covering mental health issues, will form part of the charity’s annual Mind week in May.

The winner of journalism award will be named together with winners of the Student Journalist, Book of the Year and Champion of the Year awards on May 14.

The journalism nominees include: Patrick Cockburn from the Independent, Toby Wiseman of Men’s Health and Eleanor Harding from the Wandsworth Guardian.

Paul Foot Award re-opens

And last but not least, this year’s Paul Foot Award is open for entries for its fifth year.

Sponsored by Private Eye and The Guardian, the prize rewards investigative or campaigning journalism in the UK.

Entries to the award written by individuals or teams of journalists must be submitted by September 1. To be eligible, material must have been published either in a newspaper, magazine or online between September 1 2008 and August 31 2009.

The prize money this year is going up to £10,000 (from £5,000) for the winner, with £1,000 each for the runners-up.