The print and digital reach of Elle magazine in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020 was higher among women than men, with 1.2 million women having been reached by the print title or its website. The magazine reached more adults aged 35 years or older than it did adults aged 15 to 35 years.

The decline of print

Print magazines have seen a drop in popularity in recent years, as an increasing number of readers makes the switch to digital sources. As a result of this, advertisers have shifted their focus away from the medium with the revenue for print magazine advertising in the United Kingdom on the decline since 2011, dropping nearly by half during this period. In fact, it is forecast that the internet will comprise over half of global advertising spending in 2021, with magazines making up a mere 3 percent.

Women’s magazines in digital format 

In the previous year, only slightly more than 314 thousand print copies of Elle magazine were sold, demonstrating a clear audience preference for the online version. Despite more and more readers turning towards digital as their format of choice, a survey conducted in 2019 demonstrated that women’s lifestyle and fashion magazines were not among the top purchases of UK respondents who had bought e-magazines. Only Vogue and Women’s Health Mag featured on a list citing other digital publications such as Men’s Health, The Economist and Time as top sellers.

This statistic displays the readership trend of Elle magazine in the United Kingdom from first half 2003 to second half 2016. In second half 2015, the magazine was read by an average 619 thousand readers per issue.

This statistic shows data on the reach of the women's magazine Elle n Germany from 2008 to 2020. In 2020, the lifestyle magazine had roughly 0.51 million readers per issue.

The statistic presents information on the number of Vogue readers in the United States in **********, by platform. The magazine reached **** million readers over the mobile web.

Women’s fashion magazine industry – additional information

Vogue magazine released its first issue in 1892 under Arthur Turnure as a weekly publication in the United States. At its beginnings, Vogue targeted a New York aristocracy audience to promote class and ceremony in fashion, as well as sports and social affairs. Today, Vogue releases editions in over ** countries. When Anna Wintour became the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, she revitalized a dying magazine by making it more accessible for a broader audience.

Vogue remains one of the leading magazines in the United States based on the number of advertising pages it publishes with ***** pages in 2013, slightly above Elle magazine with ***** pages. Through advertisements, Vogue generated a revenue of *** million U.S. dollars in that same year. In comparison, In Style magazine generated *** million U.S. dollars in advertising revenue in 2013

Advertising revenue for fashion magazines in the United States has increased since 2009. Vogue has also branched out into a younger market, with the aim to secure readers of the next generation, when it released Miss Vogue in 2013. The foray into digital forms will also be important for Vogue and the magazine industry. As of 2011, ** percent of downloaded electronic magazines were listed as women’s fashion magazines.

This statistic displays the result of a survey on popular magazines among people interested in fashion in Finland between autumn 2016 and spring 2017. According to the survey, ** percent of Elle magazine readers were interested in fashion. The second most read magazine in this interest group was Trendi at ** percent.

Vogue was the most read women's magazine in Spain in the third quarter of 2023, with 1.42 million readers in that period. Elle magazine ranked second, with a readership of 856,000. Spanish publication Mujer Hoy had over half a million readers in Q3 2023, around 200,000 more than Marie Claire.

In 2022, the leading women's lifestyle and fashion magazine in the United Kingdom by circulation was Good Housekeeping at 362.4 thousand. Stylist ranked second with 358 thousand copies distributed.

Magazine circulation in decline

Despite several lifestyle and fashion magazines aimed at UK women maintaining a circulation of more than 100 thousand, every publication shown in this ranking (with the exception of HELLO!) suffered a year-over-year drop. Elle saw the highest drop in circulation at -27 percent, followed by Harper's Bazaar with a decrease of 25 percent.

Digital readers

Digital magazine readership in the UK is on the up. Close to 50 percent of teens aged 12 to 15 years old report downloading magazines or reading them online most days or at least once per week, along with a third of adults at the other end of the spectrum aged 55 years or above. As far as reasons for reading digital magazines are concerned, audiences enjoy the fact they are cheap or free, as well as the ability to access them instantly.

This statistic displays the result of a survey on popular magazines among people interested in beauty and cosmetics in Finland between autumn 2016 and spring 2017. According to the survey, ** percent of both Elle and Trendi magazine readers were interested in beauty and cosmetics. The third most read magazine in this interest group was Cosmopolitan at ** percent.