I'm always nervous reporting on the new ABC figures, because the editorial teams of all the magazines we report on read the CMU Daily, and they'll all tell me that our interpretation of the latest magazine sales figures are wrong. But I'm a risk taker, so here we go.
As far as top line figures go, EMAP's rock weekly Kerrang! is on the up again, selling an average of 80,000 odd copies in the last six months, 5.3% more than the last ABC period, and 24.2% more than the same period last year. Perhaps more importantly for those that like petty squabbles between rival titles, Kerrang! is selling approximately 6000 more copies a week that IPC's NME.
Kerrang! publisher Stuart Williams reckons that Kerrang!'s success in the TV and radio space have helped the magazine. He told reporters: "Kerrang! readers are also some of the highest users of things like MySpace, but this hasn't stopped them reading the magazine, because the magazine can do things the internet can't".
Over at IPC, NME publishing director Paul Cheal stresses that the two magazines are not actually rivals - for readers or advertisers - and therefore to compare the two titles' ABCs is a pointless exercise. He's right of course, though I can't help thinking that when NME are next 6000 ahead of Kerrang! (these things go round in cycles, after all) they will have a certain smugness for beating their non-rival.
Cheal was more honest about the somewhat disappointing performance of IPC's movies and music title Uncut, which has lost 20% of its readership (although it still sells more than both NME and Kerrang!). The Guardian quote Cheal on the issue of Uncut as saying this: "We recognise Uncut has not been performing as well as it might and that's why we have refreshed the content and design". The 'refreshment' took place in May, so Cheal is hoping for a return to form for the title in the next ABCs.
Presumably the Uncut team will take heart in the fact that EMAP's glossy music title, Q, also saw its readership decline, by 6.1%, though it is still by far the biggest music mag - selling an average of 158,000 copies a month. Q's sister title, Mojo, meanwhile, saw its circulation rise 6% year on year, up to 121,746.
There, think we managed to get through that without offending anyone. Though we'll see, I guess.