Circulation figures for July to December 2010 have been published, revealing some of the winners and losers in the on-going circulation wars.

Bauer Consumer Media

Total average circulation per issue: 3,569,610, down 8.6% year-on-year (yr/yr).

Positives: A rather disappointing ABC audit for Bauer Media, where only three magazines (Mojo, More and Practical Classics & Car Restorer) posted a period-on-period (prd/prd) circulation rise, with only five magazines recording the same success yr/yr, most notably Classic Bike and Model Rail - up 5.1% and 5.2% year-on-year respectively.

Areas for improvement: Bauer’s renowned celebrity read Heat, which posted an alarming drop of 11.3% prd/prd and 19.3% yr/yr to 370,132 copies. Meanwhile, the landslide in men’s magazines continues - is a 32.8% drop yr/yr for Zoo really the basis for a sustainable business?

BBC Magazines

Total average circulation per issue: 3,110,197 - up 0.5% yr/yr.

Positives: BBC Magazines can claim an overall prd/prd circulation rise of 5.5%, yr/yr rises for all the specialist Bristol titles and a 33.4% rise for "star of the show" Lonely Planet.

Areas for improvement: All About Animals fell by 18.0% prd/prd and 25.8% yr/yr, while the biggest losers in the children’s and teen market are Top of the Pops magazine and Toybox, which posted yr/yr declines of 12.4% and 17.5% respectively.

Condé Nast

Total average circulation per issue: 1,566,536 - down 1.8% yr/yr.

Positives: Condé Nast's recent acquisition Tatler handed over with a 1.1% yr/yr circulation increase, while Tatler and sister monthly Vogue increased subscriptions take-up by 21% and 10% respectively yr/yr. Vogue and Wired iPad launches are also swelling readership among Condé Nast’s well-heeled customers.

Areas for improvement: Wired continues to rely heavily on discounted and bulk copies, with only 80% of its headline circulation of 50,044 coming from paid-for sales.

Dennis Publishing

Total average circulation per issue: 788,137 - up 0.7% yr/yr.

Positives: Classic car magazine Octane rose 4.7% prd/prd and 4.8% yr/yr. Fitness titles Men’s Fitness and Fitness & Health were both up 1.1% prd/prd, while evergreen performer The Week posted its twenty-fifth consecutive ABC increase with a 2.2% lift over the last six months.

Areas for improvement: The appetite for specialist computer titles seems to be waning, with Micro Mart down 14.4% yr/yr, Computer Shopper down 12.3% yr/yr and MacUser down 10.9% yr/yr.

However, chief executive James Tye says MacUser’s dip in print has been "more than compensated for" by the title’s 2,800 bi-weekly iPad sales, which account for 31% of the title's total circulation revenue.

H Bauer

Total average circulation per issue: 2,969,968 - down 1.9% yr/yr.

Positives: Total TV Guide, which has triumphed in a crowded market by rising 11.3% prd/prd and 9.6% yr/yr.

Areas for improvement: Eat In declined by 26.6% year-on-year, which launched to great fanfare in March 2009. The fate of Spirit & Destiny magazine is also looking uncertain, following the title’s 10.1% yr/yr drop.

Hachette Filipacchi

Total average circulation per issue: 887,009 - up 0.1% yr/yr.

Positives: Women’s monthly Red, posted its highest-ever ABC at 231,028, up 2.0% yr/yr, and jewel-in-the-crown Elle, which climbed 2.6% yr/yr and 2.5% prd/prd to deliver a circulation of 200,531.

Areas for improvement: All About Soap is possibly the biggest headache for Hachette, denting otherwise impressive results by losing 4.1% of its readership over the last six months and 4.9% over the last year. Although, of course, it is in better shape than troubled teen magazine Sugar, which Hachette took the difficult decision to close last month after realising teenagers spend all their time on the web and mobiles.

IPC Media

Total average circulation per issue: 6,562,956 - up 1.1% yr/yr

Positives: All seven homes magazines are up yr/yr, three out of four TV titles increased circulation prd/prd, and Essentials posted an impressive 9.5% rise over the last six months.

Areas for improvement: With Loaded out of the frame, all eyes are on its weekly men’s stablemate Nuts, which is still posting double-digit decline yr/yr, down 19.6% over the last 12 months. Golf Monthly, NME, Now, Pick Me Up and Rugby World complete the publisher’s blacklist of year-on-year fallers.

NatMags and Natmag Rodale

Total average circulation per issue: Natmags: 3,112,939 - down 2.4% yr/yr. Natmag Rodale: 355,443 - down 1.3% yr/yr.

Positives: Good Housekeeping, which climbed 5.0% prd/prd and 3.2% yr/yr to 443,750 copies - its highest recorded circulation since July to December 2007.

Areas for improvement: Prima and Prima Baby have dropped 7.1% and 18.3% prd/prd respectively, as has Zest, which fell 11.0% over the last six months. However, NatMags is refusing to accept Prima’s ABC certificate of 268,421 copies, following a spat with the body over multipacking rules, and is instead trading on what it claims is the "true and correct" circulation of 297,000, up 2.8% prd/prd.

MEC Opinion: Alongside the effects of the recession and new online formats, the latest ABC figures for consumer magazines demonstrate a rather gloomy picture of the overall market.

However, there are a few exemptions to the downward trend with some sectors actually benefitting from consumers’ more cautious spending, such as the Home Interest titles, which are up 1.77% YoY for the entire sector.

On the other hand, a number of other categories such as Men’s Lifestyle Magazines have once again seen weak circulation figures, with Nuts, Zoo and Loaded all showing double-digit declines. One area to acknowledge is the decline of the Women’s Weeklies, which appear to now be regarded as non-essential by post-recession consumers. It will be interesting to see the effect the upcoming Royal Wedding will have in the next set of ABC results.