In line with some other publishers, Hearst UK has announced that it has taken the decision to report its ABC figures annually this year. This means there will be no standalone release for the period January to June 2020. Instead, these figures will be incorporated into a full year release which will be made available in February 2021. 

James Wildman, CEO, Hearst UK, President, Hearst Europe, says: “Whilst we are extremely encouraged to have seen a significant increase in magazine sales through subscriptions and convenience retailers, our business has felt the impact that Covid-19 has had on some of our other routes to market, notably via our dynamic distribution channels, along with our traditional high street and travel point stores. Therefore, we believe a six-month release will not accurately provide a robust view of our true circulation figures, particularly in comparison to January – June 2019. Instead, we plan to deliver an annual release in February next year which will be more representative and, in the meantime, our customers can access our audience numbers as usual through the gold-standard PAMCo service.

“We hope to move back to six monthly ABC reporting from 2021 when our industry has returned to a greater semblance of normality.”