Reach of Elle magazine in the United Kingdom 2019-2020, by demographic

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.