Magazines online readership shows growth for key audiences and passion-based sectors in latest PAMCo release.

Magazine digital readership has grown year on year and is up 9% (from 25.5 million to 27.7 million) as magazine brands reach more of their core audience online. Digital readership is up most significantly amongst female ABC1 35+ at 17%.

However, the pandemic and resulting lockdown has meant magazines online are also reaching broader audiences such as 25-34’s which is up 4% and male audiences who are up 7%.

Food, home and gardens, outdoor pursuits and health and fitness content all thrived after the first lockdown as we strived to make the most of our time at home.

From PAMCo data we can see that  food content*  was in great demand over the summer and although this has levelled off slightly in September, consumption of food content is still up 17% year on year. Digital growth in health titles continues with titles such as Men’s and Women’s Health up period on period by 31% and 58% respectively perhaps suggesting that our passion for food is being balanced out with a commitment to healthier habits.

Gardening content** truly had its time in the sun over the summer, up 126% year on year and it’s interesting that this is particularly  true amongst 15-24’s.

Hunkering down for Christmas means our passion for all thing’s décor related remains unabated. Homes titles*** are up 36% year on year.  Dulux a recent winner at our Spotlight awards knows this only too well, their partnership with Ideal Homes online saw readers re-engaging with this premium paint brand who were facing stiff competition from niche and direct to consumer competitors. The campaign, which used a nifty online colour picker tool integrated into relevant content on the website, saw uplifts in short term metrics like ordering samples as well as longer term metrics like ‘this is a brand worth paying for’. For more details on this award-winning work check out the case study here.

To see the latest PAMCo magazine data and other useful industry data please see our Market Overview here.

*food titles include BBC Good Food, Delicious, Good Housekeeping, Olive, Delish and Good to Know
**gardening titles include Gardener’s World, House & Garden and Homes & Gardens
***homes titles include Country Living, House Beautiful, Ideal Home, Living Etc and Real Homes