Audience growth for magazines and BikeRadar Network
12/02/09 – Future, the special-interest media group, today announces strong ABC performances from its expanding cycling portfolio, reflecting the growth surge in popularity of cycling in the UK. This further consolidates its position as the world’s leading provider of cycling content, reaching 3.5 million cycling enthusiasts a month.
In ABC figures released for its UK print portfolio, Cycling Plus records double-digit year-on-year circulation growth, increasing by 11% to sell 35,223 copies a month, its ninth consecutive increase.
Future’s Mountain Biking UK also maintains its position as Britain’s bestselling mountain bike magazine and outperforms its rivals with sales of 45,983 copies a month. What Mountain Bike has recorded a circulation of 17,351, in its second ABC, a rise of 4%.
Future’s reach and influence across the cycling market continues to grow, following investment in both its print and online portfolio, allowing the company to reach more cyclists than ever before.
The BikeRadar Network, which includes BikeRadar (www.bikeradar.com) and Cycling News (www.cyclingnews.com), attracts nearly 3m unique users a month during its peak summer season. Launched in July 2007, BikeRadar.com has more than doubled the amount of unique users visiting since January 2008, according to internal HBX figures, up to 855,000 a month.
The portfolio continues to expand, with the trial of a new magazine, Triathlon Plus, and new live events such as the BikeRadar Live festival on 31st May. The National Bike Demo Day series continues to be a success, giving enthusiasts the chance to test out the best new bikes on the market, and now features 8 mountain bike events this year alone.
Group Publisher of Future’s cycling portfolio, Katherine Raderecht said:
“By extending the portfolio with live events such as BikeRadar Live, we are continuing to engage with cycling enthusiasts and provide them with the very best content from our market-leading titles. The magazines and our websites happily compliment each other and co-exist with excellent opportunities for cross-promotion. With a growing number of visitors to the BikeRadar network, Future now reaches more bike enthusiasts each month, than ever before.
It’s an exciting time for the cycling sector, and our continued investment in our cycling magazines has been rewarded with a terrific set of circulation figures, with all of the magazines showing growth, especially with Cycling Plus achieving a ninth consecutive increase.”
ENDS
Quoted web traffic figures derived from internal HBX and Google Analytics audits.
For more information
Jen Campbell, Communications Executive, Future UK (01225) 732269 or (07775) 641509
About Future
Future plc is an international special-interest media group that is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their interests. We hold strong market positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts.
Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total Film, Digital Camera, Fast Car, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Official Xbox Magazine, Official Playstation Magazine, Nintendo Power, Maximum PC and MacLife. Our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, techradar.com, and musicradar.com. Future produces over 4 million magazines each month; we attract more than 18 million unique visitors to our websites; and we host 25 annual live events that attract hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. In addition, Future exports, syndicates or licenses its publications to 90 countries internationally, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of monthly magazines.
