From October 2008 through the end of the year, France's magazines saw an estimated sales decline of 10.2 percent when compared to the same period in 2007, Le Monde reported Monday.

A confidential study by Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne (NMPP) revealed that the industry experienced a 5.6 percent drop in distribution throughout last year. However, if bulk sales are not taken into consideration, the figure is closer to 3.4 percent.
Publications that were more drastically hit were magazines featuring classified listings, whose sales plunged by 30.2 percent. Meanwhile, news magazines focusing both on hard news and gossip saw a drop of 0.4 percent in sales but an escalation of 0.9 percent in readers, according to Le Monde.

"People" or gossip magazines bucked the trend by experiencing a boost in distribution over the last few years, Le Monde reported. Paid distribution during 2008 grew by 5.2 percent for gossip title Closer, considered as the leader within the market. Voici saw a 3.9 percent drop whereas Public an increase of 1.37 percent.

Paid circulation of most news-oriented magazines was more or less stable throughout last year with the following titles showing barely any change: Le Nouvel Observateur (increased 0.02 percent), L'Express (decreased 0.08 percent) and Le Point (decreased 0.07 percent). However, figures for Courrier International and Marianne grew by 4.35 and 3.22 percent, respectively.

Women's magazines have seen a downturn of 8.2 percent in readers and 6.2 percent in sales. Femme Actuelle's paid distribution dropped by 4.2 percent while Elle increased by 3.4 percent in 2008, Le Monde reported.

TV magazines saw 6.1 percent less readers and 1.1 percent less profits from sales. Paid distribution plummeted by 2.4 percent for Télé Z and by 5.6 percent for Télé Loisirs.