Women's magazines:
monthly glossies and slicks
by Tony Quinn
Women's magazines – the monthly titles are often described as glossy, or 'slick'. These pages cover the main magazines and their histories. They had a busy time around the turn of the 20th century, but the sector calmed down as publishers focused on their weeklies, which supermarkets preferred because of their higher turnover. One wonders whether publishers might try to increase the frequency of monthlies or produce spin-offs, because titles such as Queen and Vogue were weekly or fortnightly until the 1980s. (Historical sales figures.)In 2005, the women's glossies sector saw total circulations increase by a fifth in the first half of the year (see table of women's magazines sales figures). The boom can be put down to several factors.
First, there were two big launches – Easy Living from Condé Nast and Emap’s Grazia. The latter aims to create a weekly glossy sector. Its Italian inspiration has thrived for decades, but it is 20 years since women's magazines such as Vogue in the UK were published fortnightly (at least for part of the year). IPC tried a similar glossy strategy with Riva in 1988, but this only lasted for six issues.
Second, there was aggressive price-cutting, for example Marie Claire dropped its price to £2 in the autumn of 2004.
Third, was the relaunching of women's magazines such as Eve (which was also sold by the BBC to Haymarket, but later closed) and the advent of dual format titles sparked by Glamour. Marie Claire and Cosmo now come in A5 ('handbag' size) as well a large A4 formats.
Next, was the extensive use of cover mounts, particularly on women's titles, in the summer months.
Finally, there was the popularity of women's magazines aimed at the 35-plus age bracket, with Good Housekeeping and Woman & Home standing out. All the fashion magazines, HFUK's Elle, IPC's InStyle, and Conde Nast's Vogue and Tatler recorded sales increases.
Of course, there have been losers, with women's monthly magazines aimed at 20-somethings losing sales to the celebrity weeklies and weekly glossy Grazia (which put on 10 period-on-period increases to reach 170,783 even though it added 20p to its cover price to £1.70). Conde Nast's Glamour saw its second six-monthly circulation fall, down 5.5% year-on-year to 585,984. Its rival slicks, Cosmopolitan, Company, Marie Claire, New Woman and B all recorded sales falls also. HFUK's B suspended publication in March 2006.
This page links to profiles of women's monthlies, many of which are known as glossies or slicks because of their high production values and upmarket editorial. Some weeklies – such as Grazia and Riva - are included because of their attempts to establish themselves as weekly glossies. The Observer's two female supplements are included as examples of the competition faced from newspapers (other examples being You from the Mail on Sunday, which is now sold on Tuesdays, the Sunday Times' Style, the Telegraph's Stella). Women's monthly magazines – past and present – are arranged alphabetically on the following pages:
- 19 to Company to Cosmopolitan
- Easy Living to Eve to Grazia
- Harper's Bazaar to In Style to Mirabella
- New Woman to Nova to Over 21
- Queen to Red to Riva
- Scene to Vogue to Zest
Top five women's monthlies (end 2005) |
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| Title | Publisher | Frequency | ABC figure* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glamour | Conde Nast | monthly | 585,984 |
| Good Housekeeping | The National Magazine Co | monthly | 468,579 |
| Cosmopolitan | The National Magazine Co | monthly | 461,610 |
| Yours | EMAP Esprit | monthly | 421,438 |
| Marie Claire | European Magazines (IPC/Marie Claire) | monthly | 371,444 |
| Source: *ABC (www.abc.org.uk) Jan-Jun 2003 | |||
Women's monthlies: details and sales |
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| Title | Publisher | Launch date | ABC sales Jul-Dec 2005* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | IPC SouthBank | 1968 | closed 2004 |
| Aura | Parkhill | 2000 | closed 2001 |
| B | Hachette Filipacchi UK | 1997 (Attic Futura) | Publication suspended March 2006 with sales of 150,536 |
| Bare | John Brown Publishing | 2000 | closed 2001 |
| Chic | Northern & Shell | 1993 (Hamerville Magazines) | |
| Clothes Show | BBC Enterprises / Focus / Redwood | 1988-97 | closed 1997 (150,494) |
| Company (UK) | National Magazine Co | 1978 | 283,429 |
| Cosmopolitan (UK) | National Magazine Co | 1972 | 461,610 |
| Easy Living | Condé Nast | 2005 | 182,146 |
| Elle (UK) | Hachette Filipacchi UK | 1985 (Murdoch/Hachette) | 208,132 |
| Essentials | IPC Media | 1988 | 118,853 |
| Eve | Haymarket | 2000 (BBC) | 163,671 |
| Family Circle | IPC Media | 1964 (ITP) | 112,597 |
| Frank | Wagadon | 1997 | closed 1999 |
| Glamour (UK) | Conde Nast | 2001 | 585,984 |
| Good Housekeeping (UK) | National Magazine Co | 1922 | 468,579 |
| Grazia (UK) | Emap London Lifestyle | 2005 | 170,783 |
| Happy | Northern & Shell | 2005 | n/a |
| Harpers Bazaar | National Magazine Co | 1929-70; 2006 | 102,863 (renamed) |
| Harpers & Queen | National Magazine Co | 1970-2006 | 102,863 |
| Honey | Carlton/Reed/IPC | 1962 | merged with 19 in 1986 |
| InStyle UK | IPC Media | 2001 | 196,857 |
| Marie Claire (UK) | European Magazines (IPC/Marie Claire) | 1988 | 371,444 |
| Mirabella (UK) | Murdoch Magazines/News International | 1990 | closed 1991 |
| More! (fortnightly) |
Emap London Lifestyle | 1988 | 277,862 |
| New Woman | Emap London Lifestyle | 1988 | 231,066 |
| Nova | Newnes/IPC | 1965 | closed 1975 |
| Nova 2000 | IPC Media | 2000 | closed 2001 |
| O: (quarterly) |
Observer supplement | 2005 | free supplement |
| Observer Woman | Observer supplement | 2006 | free supplement |
| Options | Carlton/Reed/IPC | 1982 | closed 1999 |
| Over 21 | Spotlight Publications | 1972 | closed 1988 |
| The Passion | 1997 | closed | |
| Prima | National Magazine Co | 1986 (Bauer) | 331,715 |
| PS | Dennis | 2000 | closed 2001 |
| Psychologies | Hachette Filipacchi UK | 2005 | 96,012 |
| Queen, The | Stevens Press | 1861 | 62,200 in 1962. Merged 1970 (Harper's & Queen) |
| Real | Essential Publishing | 2001 (Bauer) | 183,042 |
| Red | Hachette FilipacchiUK | 1998 (Emap/Bauer) | 219,689 |
| Riva | Carlton/Reed/IPC | 1988 | closed |
| Scene | Spiro Group | 1997 | closed 2000 |
| She | National Magazine Co | 1955 | closed 2011 (156,674 in 2005; 144,583 in 2011) |
| Tatler | Condé Nast | 1709 | 88,189 |
| Vanity Fair | National Magazine Co | 1950-1972 | closed |
| Vanity Fair UK | Condé Nast | 1991 | 95,304 |
| Vogue UK | Condé Nast | 1916 | 214,348 |
| What To Wear | BBC Worldwide | 2001 | closed 2004 |
| Woman & Home | IPC Media | 1926 | 335,922 |
| Woman's World | IPC | 1990 (Carlton) | closed 1990 |
| Working Woman | Wintour | 1984 | closed 1986 |
| Yours | Emap Esprit | 1984 | 421,438 |
| Zest | National Magazine Co | Aug 2003 | 97,428 |
*Source: ABC (www.abc.org.uk) Jan-Jun 2003 Women's monthly magazines – back to top |
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