SA weekend papers circulation down 7.5%
Third quarter circulation figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) of South Africa show that most print publications declined in the quarter.
Total circulation of all print publications – both newspapers and magazines – declined 1.4% year on year in the sector, from a total of 33 million in Q3 2012 to 32.5 million in 2013.
Across all sectors – with the exception to free magazines which saw over 83% growth, and hybrid newspapers which saw marginal growth of 0.09% – circulation of print publications were on a slide, compared to the same quarter in 2012.
Hardest hit were newspapers – with weekend, weekly and daily newspapers all seeing circulation numbers decline by 7.5%, 7.7% and 5.8%, respectively.
Print circulation by sector 3Q12 vs 3Q13
| # | Sector | 3Q12 circulation |
3Q13 circulation |
Change YoY |
| 1 | Custom Magazines | 12,436,401 | 12,395,274 | -0.33% |
| 2 | Free Newspapers | 6,608,419 | 6,499,162 | -1.65% |
| 3 | Consumer Magazines | 6,120,027 | 6,050,593 | -1.13% |
| 4 | Weekend Newspapers | 2,338,836 | 2,163,784 | -7.48% |
| 5 | Daily Newspapers | 1,566,778 | 1,475,429 | -5.83% |
| 6 | B2B Magazines | 1,231,976 | 1,154,833 | -6.26% |
| 7 | Ad Brochures | 1,023,472 | 937,242 | -8.42% |
| 8 | Weekly Newspapers | 707,612 | 652,927 | -7.73% |
| 9 | Free Magazines | 336,558 | 617,155 | 83.37% |
| 10 | Local Newspapers | 449,874 | 423,199 | -5.93% |
| 11 | Hybrid Newspapers | 166,181 | 166,325 | 0.09% |
| Total | 32,986,134 | 32,535,923 | -1.36% |
Newspapers
The Times was one of the few daily newspapers to grow circulation to 143,957 from 140,078 in the same period last quarter, while Beeld (64,329), Business Day (32,846) and The Citizen (60,242) all saw numbers decline.
Weekend newspapers, including Mail & Guardian (42,242), Rapport (183,187), City Press (121,137) and Saturday Star (73,408) all saw circulation figures lower than last year.
The circulation of the Daily Sun, the country’s top-selling daily newspaper, decreased by 13.4% to 291,132 copies – while The Sunday Times saw a 7% decline in circulation to 420,066 from 451,676 in the same period last year.
Magazines
Consumer magazine circulation in South Africa fell by 11.9% in the past year. Combined circulation fell from 6.88 million copies from July to September last year, to 6.05 million copies this year.
In the women’s general category, Real Magazine and Cosmopolitan were the biggest losers, shedding 44.3% and 25.6% respectively.
The big winners were Woman and Home, and Kuier magazines, which increased their circulation by 23% and 29.9% respectively.
In the male category, Tech-Smart Magazine and FHM saw the largest declines, dropping by 45.9% and 26.9%. GQ, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics and Stuff also saw their circulations shrink.
In the business and news section, Finweek suffered the biggest decline, dropping to 14,013 copies from 21,978 copies last year, a decline of 36.2%. The Financial Mail fell by 10% and Forbes Africa by 21.2%. Entrepreneur, Noseweek and Succeed magazine were among the five titles in the sector that were able to grow their circulations.
(with Sapa)
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