ABC Analysis - JD11

BBC Top Gear’s circulation fell by 5.9% year on year to 180,208. It remains the biggest circulating general motoring title. UK newstrade copies dropped from 92,387 to 85,080. The total circulation of has been bolstered by 13,041 copies distributed free on airlines, airports, cruise ships and ferries. 15.6% (over 28,000 copies) are distributed overseas.

 

The biggest loser in the sector was Evo, which posted an ABC of 57,615 down 12.3% year on year, driven by a 17.6% fall in UK newstrade sales

What Car? fell by 6.1% period on period and 11.8% year on year. As a buyers guide, it’s clear that What Car? has been affected by the decline in registrations. Nonetheless, 99.8% of the circulation is actively purchased and 99.8% is in the UK, which is important for brands targeting UK consumers.

 

Car magazine continued a long term trend of declining circulation by posting a year on year fall of 5.7% to 55,028. 4,800 copies (8.7%) are bulks sales. The good news is that Car posted a period on period increase of 1.9% - the next audit figures will tell us whether the brand has entered a period of stability. 

 

In the weekly marketplace, Haymarket’s Autocar posted a year on year decline of 3.5%, which is in line with the market overall. Autocar outsells its nearest rival, Auto Express on the UK newsstand and also sells more digital editions of the magazine. 

 

However, the biggest news was that Auto Express experienced a year on year decline of 7.7% to 56,142. Auto Express has a resilient subscription base (although the majority of these are sold at about half the cover price), so the majority of this fall has come from newstrade sales.  It is clearly still too early to judge the effect of the arrival of Steve Fowler who came to head up the editorial team in the autumn.

 

Download a summary of all the figures by right-clicking the link below and selecting 'Save target as' or 'Save link as'