Traditional titles lose ground to new rivals

SYDNEY: Australia's appetite for new men's magazines continues unabated, stealing ground from traditional male mastheads, according to the latest circulation figures. With circulation hikes of up to 38.47 per cent over the year to June, the newer men's titles have proved the strongest performing sector for the period, Audit Bureau of Circulations statistics show. "They're killing the older men's titles off," said media analyst and director of Fusion Strategy Steve Allen. "All of the men's magazines that are going up are new and they're modern and they're hitting the mark. They've got the right formula to get to men." The worst fall for traditional men's titles came from Australian Hustler (down 31.49 per cent to 14,521 copies). That was followed by Picture (down 12.91 per cent to 109,273) and Australian Penthouse (down 10.26 to 62,197). Comparatively, Ralph, FHM and Men's Health, which are just a few years old and target 30-something men, enjoyed respective circulation boosts of 38.47 per cent (to 99,656 copies), 12.43 per cent (to 92,888 copies) and 11.09 per cent (to 44,636 copies). But a persistent haemorrhaging of the women's sector - traditionally the advertising cash cow of Australia's print media -stopped mass market publishers from an early celebration. Still bleeding from the death of Britain's Princess Diana, whose face on front covers sold more magazines than any other recent phenomenon, Australia's women's titles lost as much as 21.23 per cent in circulation in the first half of this year. Analysts have also attributed much of the continued decline to diminished reader interest in the English royal family and a clampdown on stories generated by chequebook journalism. The female-pitched Australian Family Circle shed 21.23 per cent in its circulation over the year to June, with circulation down to 118,888 copies, ABC figures show. For the same period, young womens' title For Me dropped 19.03 per cent (to 130,000 copies), while Dolly, the read for teenage girls, bled 18.27 per cent (down to 145,042 copies).

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