Search »

‘Sex, Sport, and Stupidity’ Growing in the U.K.

The U.K.‘s “lads” magazine market is seeing a surge in advertising, particularly lads weekly titles Nuts from IPC Media and ZOO from Emap Plc, reports Bloomberg. In Britain, advertising for the lads segment increased seven percent last year, to 63.3 million pounds - and weekly lads ad sales have totaled 4.9 million pounds in the first half of this year, surpassing the 4.8 million pounds from all of last year, according to media buyer ZenithOptimedia.

 

Circulation of the weeklies has also grown: Nuts has increased in the past year by 5 percent, to 304,751, while Zoo has grown by 30 percent to 260,317, according to first-half circ figures from Britain’s Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The weeklies, spin-offs from monthly lads titles such as FHM, Loaded, and Maxim, have been “massively successful,” said Vanessa Clifford, press director at Mindshare. In fact, she said, rather than cannibalizing the monthly men’s market, they seem to be creating their own market.

The bulk of ads in the weeklies differs from that of the monthlies, because they can offer more time-sensitive messages for items such as DVD and CD releases, movie releases, and limited time special offers. Monthly titles tend to bring in ads for cars and clothing.