You might think that with all the newspapers having TV pages and most TVs themselves having Teletext there'd be no market for TV listings magazines. But you'd be wrong because once again, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures, What's on TV is the best-selling magazine in the UK. And not too far behind it is TV Choice, with the Radio Times still going strong in the fourth position. However, according to analysis by MediaTel for the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), What's on TV's circulation fell by 4.3% in the July to December 06 period, when compared to the previous year. Radio Times was down too, by just over 1% while TV Choice had a much better six months, with circulation up nearly 12%.

The internet may have killed off teen title Smash Hits but other sectors of the fiercely competitive magazine market are still going strong. The latest ABC circulation figures, for July to December 2005, showed women's weeklies riding high with sales up 7.4%. Big winners in terms of sales included Reveal with a 42% increase; OK! with sales up 23.5%; and Closer, whose sales overtook Heat for the first time.

Newspapers and magazines have been hitting the headlines themselves lately, with the ongoing debate over territorial supply and carriage charges, not to mention the regular wrangles over inserts and returns.

While news and magazines are a great footfall driver for forecourts, the category is notoriously difficult to manage. Vertical supply agreements mean retailers have little control over what they sell and which wholesaler they source from – not to mention costly carriage charges. But this could all change next year – albeit not before a hard slog by the industry.