Canadian Magazine Industry News
27 September 2011,    
PMB fall report highlights steady readership trends
Canadians still love their magazines despite an ever-changing media landscape, showing stable reading habits in the PMB 2011 Fall report on readership, product and brand data.

Readers-per-copy analysis yielded slightly higher numbers than the previous two years at an average 4.93, gaining from 4.81 in 2009 and recovering from last fall's decline to 4.78.

Reader's Digest and Canadian Living held on to the number one and number two spots for total readership. People, Chatelaine, What's Cooking and Canadian Geographic rounded out the top five, while Qu'est-ce qui mijote pulled in the highest overall readership among French publications.

Average minutes spent reading proved strong at 41.9, up from 40.6 in Fall 2010 and 41.3 in Fall 2009.

Younger readers in the 12-24 age demographic read 3.6 PMB-measured publications per month, not far off from the 3.7 national average for all age groups combined.

New this year for the benefit of dual-delivery platform publications is the fusion of PMB data with data on website traffic from comScore Canada. "The media industry in Canada expects PMB to keep pace with the rapidly changing media scene," said new PMB chairman, Kirby Miller, Senior VP at House & Home Media in Toronto.

This fusion of print and online data plus the decision in 2009 to release biannual reports are moves specifically designed to adapt to the changing industry landscape, Miller said.

Top 10 English-language magazines (total readership)
Title PMB 2011 Fall PMB 2010 Fall
Reader's Digest 5.610 million 5.969 million
Canadian Living 3.806 million 3.976 million
People 3.476 million 3.480 million
Chatelaine 3.291 million 3.423 million
what's cooking 3.245 million 3.528 million
Canadian Geographic 3.235 million 3.384 million
Maclean's 2.437 million 2.378 million
Canadian House & Home 2.350 million 2.334 million
CAA Magaizne 2.233 million 2.376 million
Canadian Gardening 2.148 million 2.058 million

Top 10 English-language magazines (readers per copy)
Title PMB 2011 Fall PMB 2010 Fall
Canadian Health 26.3 32.0
People 21.3 20.6
Outdoor Canada 19.9 16.2
The Hockey News Magazine 18.7 19.8
Canadian Gardening 16.2 13.7
Canadian Geographic 15.8 16.1
FASHION Magazine 12.0 12.3
Cottage Life 11.3 11.4
ELLE Canada 10.6 11.4
Canadian Family 10.2 9.8

Top 10 French-language magazines (total readership)
Title PMB 2011 Fall PMB 2010 Fall
Qu'est-ce qui mijote 1.185 million 1.298 million
Touring (Fre & Eng) 1.079 million 1.109 million
Coup de pouce 1.073 million 1.225 million
Châtelaine (Fr) 986,000 1.014 million
L'actualité 907,000 865,000
7 Jours 889,000 891,000
Selection du Reader's Digest 850,000 990,000
ELLE QUEBEC 783,000 787,000
Clin d'oeil 740,000 702,000
Les Idées de ma maison 681,000 679,000

Top 10 French-language magazines (readers per copy)
Title PMB 2011 Fall PMB 2010 Fall
Derniere Heure 16.9 16.3
Le Lundi 13.0 14.2
Renovation Bricolage 12.7 14.3
Star Systeme 11.8 11.0
7 Jours 10.5 9.9
Les Idées de ma maison 10.2 9.8
Star Inc. 10.2 10.7
Clin d'oeil 10.1 9.5
Tout Simplement Clodine 9.2 9.4
ELLE QUEBEC 9.1 8.7

  PMB 2009 Fall PMB 2010 Fall PMB 2011 Fall
Average minutes spent reading 41.3 40.6 41.9
Average degree of interest (1-10) 6.8 6.8 6.9


— Jef Catapang
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