The NDD Audit Report of the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures
from July to December 2001 found that the retail sales value of the
magazine market fell by four per cent, or A$18.48 million, with
the majority of lost sales coming from the weekly and monthly women's,
computer and entertainment categories.
Last year, 222 million magazines were sold in Australia, down 20 million
copies from 1994. Of the 123 audited titles, 62 lost sales last year and
the top 10 selling titles accounted for a third of the losses.
The fastest-growing categories were health and fitness, gardening, men's lifestyle, food and car. The top declining categories were computers, motorcycles, business, teen and living. Eighteen titles folded last year, including Elle, Australasian Post and Australian PC Authority. There were also launches of What DVD and Australian Gourmet Traveller.
Among the large publishers, Pacific Publishing recorded the biggest decline in sales, down 13 per cent or 4.7 million copies.
