AUSTRALIA
From isubscribe’s viewpoint, the pandemic has accentuated trends that were observed before consumers went into lockdown during 2021, with overall sales increasing by 7%. In particular, the growing popularity of niche titles in the kids, lifestyle and special interest categories, plus a resurgence in some of the household brands. Magazines that have shown strong growth year on year (YoY) in 2021 for the period include Gourmet Traveller, Australian Home Beautiful, Double Helix, Graziher, Money Magazine, New Philosopher, The Monthly, Renew: Technology for a sustainable future (Renew), Science Illustrated, Australian Golf Digest, Australian Mountain Bike and Wild Magazines.
Magazine subscription performance by category - AUSTRALIA
Table 1.0 isubscribe Top 10 Categories 2020-2021 (July-Dec)
|
CATEGORY |
2021 |
2020 |
|
Home & Garden |
1 |
1 |
|
Kids & Teens |
2 |
2 |
|
Lifestyle |
3 |
4 |
|
International |
4 |
3 |
|
General Interest |
5 |
7 |
|
Sports & Outdoor |
6 |
6 |
|
Motoring |
7 |
8 |
|
Food & Drink |
8 |
5 |
|
Hobbies & Puzzles |
9 |
11 |
|
Fashion & Beauty |
10 |
10 |
Lifestyle
Men’s Health, newly relaunched, is the 3rd most popular title in the category, a pleasing result to see this well-known masthead achieve such positive demand from the market so quickly. The other notable titles in the category are in the niche, regional lifestyle market where we’ve seen the continued growth in popularity of Graziher magazine, which achieved an uplift of 80% in subscription sales year on year (YoY) for the period and Queensland based title, Ruth, which achieved a staggering 250% uplift in subscription sales YoY. The addition of The Australian Women’s Weekly to the site continues to reveal strong demand for this much-loved title.
General Interest
The General Interest category jumped another place from 7th to 6th during 2021 with strong sales for ‘the weekly’ titles and notable subscription gains made by specialist titles Renew: Technology for a Sustainable Future and Wartime magazine.
Hobbies & Puzzles
The biggest gains in category subscription sales for July-Dec 2021 were made by the hobbies and puzzle category with subscription growth achieved by dozens of titles year on year (YoY). These magazines are evidently popular when community movement has been so restricted during the period in NSW and VIC in particular.
Sports & Outdoor
While the Sports & Outdoor category maintained its 6th position in the top 10 categories for the second half of the year, there were some great results from individual titles including: Australian Golf Digest with an uplift of 14% in subscription sales year on year (YoY) for the period, Australian Mountain Bike achieved an uplift of 11% and Wild magazine generated an uplift of 42% in subscription sales YoY for the period.
Magazine subscription performance by title - AUSTRALIA
Table 1.2 isubscribe top 10 titles 2020-2021
|
TITLES |
2021 |
2020 |
|
National Geographic Kids |
1 |
1 |
|
Gardening Australia |
2 |
2 |
|
Better Homes and Gardens |
3 |
3 |
|
Australian Women's Weekly |
4 |
10 |
|
National Geographic |
5 |
4 |
|
delicious. |
6 |
5 |
|
Australian home beautiful |
7 |
8 |
|
Country Style |
8 |
6 |
|
Readers Digest |
9 |
11 |
|
Double Helix |
10 |
14 |
* The Australian Women’s Weekly re-listed on isubscribe during the second half of 2020
Individual tiles that have increased subscription sales above 2020 results include bestsellers and a range of niche titles. Observing the sales trends over recent years, the niche titles building their subscription base look to have identified their target audience and are meeting that audience’s needs successfully, growing their readership with each issue. This is a broad assessment over and above any particular market fluctuations with competitor pricing tactics and the entry of new or re-launched titles.
Below is a list of titles with strong sales uplift for the period YoY.
-
Double Helix - up 21%
-
Australian Home Beautiful - up 8%
-
Australian Gourmet Traveller - up 42%
-
Money - up 20%
-
Renew - up 77%
-
The Monthly - up 15%
-
Australian Golf Digest - up 14%
-
Wild - up 42%
NEW ZEALAND
Magazine subscription sales for July-December 2021 surpassed the previous year’s results by 4% overall on isubscribe.co.nz with just over half of the top ten selling titles achieving a sales uplift of 10% or more. Broadly, while the pandemic meant similar community conditions as in 2020, changes in the magazine market from year to year, including title re-launches, the resumption of production and increased promotional activity have ensured the industry has ‘bounced back’ positively with strong year on year results overall.
Magazine subscription performance by category - NEW ZEALAND
Table 2.0 isubscribe Top 10 Categories 2020-2021 (July-Dec)
|
CATEGORY |
2021 |
2020 |
|
Lifestyle |
1 |
1 |
|
Home & Garden |
2 |
2 |
|
Family |
3 |
3 |
|
General Interest |
4 |
7 |
|
Food & Drink |
5 |
4 |
|
Sports & Outdoor |
6 |
6 |
|
Boating & Fishing |
7 |
8 |
|
Science & Nature |
8 |
5 |
|
Motoring |
9 |
9 |
|
International |
10 |
11 |
The top performing categories for magazine subscription sales remain relatively unchanged. Notably, the General Interest category jumped three places due to the strong return of North & South and New Zealand Listener magazines in the latter half of 2020.
Magazine subscription performance by title - NEW ZEALAND
Table 2.1 isubscribe top 10 titles 2020-2021 (July-Dec)
|
TITLES |
2021 |
2020 |
|
National Geographic Kids |
1 |
1 |
|
Dish |
2 |
2 |
|
MiNDFOOD |
3 |
3 |
|
New Zealand Listener |
4 |
16 |
|
North & South |
5 |
11 |
|
The Australian Women's Weekly (NZ) |
6 |
6 |
|
NZ Fishing News |
7 |
9 |
|
NZ House & Garden |
8 |
5 |
|
NZ Life & Leisure |
9 |
4 |
|
Kiwi Gardener |
10 |
10 |
As referenced in the category summary, North & South and New Zealand Listener magazines successful relaunched last year and have continued to capture audiences, dramatically turning around the year on year (YoY) sales results on isubscribe.co.nz. North & South achieved an uplift of 57% YoY in subscription sales for the period and New Zealand Listener achieved an uplift of 115% YoY.
Top ten titles with subscription growth YoY above 10% include Dish, up 23% and The Australian Women’s Weekly NZ, up 13% YoY.
Other individual titles that achieved strong subscription sales growth for July-December 2021 compared with the same period during the previous year include:
-
Your Home and Garden - up 100%
-
NZ Rugby News - up 23%
-
Wilderness - up 17%
-
Woman - up 21%
-
New Zealand Woman’s Weekly - up 140%
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isubscribe Business
isubscribe is the leading subscription marketplace in Australia, NZ and the UK.
AU Stats:
400+ publishers and suppliers represented
1400 AU and International Print titles listed - 20 new title launches in 2021
1200 AU and International Digital titles listed
300+ subscription box and merchandise products listed
NZ Stats:
100+ publishers and suppliers represented
500+ NZ and International Print titles listed - 4 new title launches in 2021
900+ NZ and International digital titles listed
20+ subscription box and merchandise products listed