The majority of titles featured in RN’s coverage of the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations magazine sales report are in some state of decline, but this in no way means that they aren’t worth stocking or paying attention to.

If you take the top five TV listings alone, you are looking at a combined newsstand circulation of more than three million copies, plus an estimated annual sales revenue of £135.6m.

Imagine if a brand new category appeared today that could promise those kinds of sales volumes, on a sale or return basis, at a 25% margin. It sounds pretty ideal to me.

The August ABC report admittedly only accounts for a small fraction of the magazine market, but it does provide a snapshot of the state of the industry, and points out titles that are performing strongly, and ones that could benefit from more support.

If you are interested in a more in-depth look at the market, RN’s bestsellers magazines lists feature 20 top titles from a different sector or sub-sector each week.

The data used to assemble the lists is based exclusively on sales through the independent channel (though, in some cases, symbol stores are excluded).

Updated on a month-by-month basis, the data is supplied by Smiths News and should give retailers a solid idea of what titles are selling strongly.

See the latest ABC figures here