More magazines, same readers

"Many media owners, advertisers and editors were unhappy at the apparent decrease in magazine readership displayed in last year's results. But this depiction of readership is somewhat misunderstood.

"SAARF analysed the 6-month 2004 data against the 6-month data in 2005 using common titles in monthly magazines and the results do indeed show a significant increase in the readership of most magazines. When you take into consideration the large number of new titles that were added to the AMPS questionnaire in 2005 there is actually a 2% increase in total readership."

SAARF measures all titles with a circulation of 20 000 and higher and the following new monthly titles that comply with this criterion were added: Africa Geographic, Amakhosi, Glamour, Soccer Life, Speed and Sound Magazine, Top Billing Magazine and Tuis.

Haupt continues: "The audience 'pie' does not really grow bigger or smaller in a competitive market like ours - it is just sliced differently. The decrease in readership for some titles does not mean that people have stopped reading - they are simply reading other titles."

Some magazines will just have to work harder in an even more competitive environment to regain lost readers and to retain their current readership.