The latest AMPS survey, AMPS 2007B, shows that large numbers of men are consuming magazines from this sector.
Over 800 000 men say they read True Love, making up a whopping 37.1% of the magazine's total 2.170 million readers. True Love is the most read by men of all the female titles, reaching 5.2% of the male population, compared to the magazine's 8.8% reach amongst women.
True Love editor Dorah Sitole says that for many years, True Love has had a high male readership, and suggests one of the reasons for this is that there is no "good magazine" for black males. "The few that exist are sports magazines, but there has always been a need for a magazine that not only covers soccer but addresses other life issues," she says. "Blink only lasted a year and closed down. Blacque has just been recently launched but one can only wait and see how it will do.
"True Love is not only a women's magazine but also a family magazine - there is a lot of information in it which appeals to men, such as special reports, parenting, relationships, sex, money, consumer issues and motoring. Another important factor is that men want to understand women better, and True Love has extensive coverage of issues which are pertinent to women."
Two of the Top 10 mags tie for second place amongst male readers: Fairlady and Cosmopolitan both attract 1.8% of the male population. Men make up 29.4% of these titles total readership. In third position is Rooi Rose, which draws 204 000 of its total 655 000 readers from the male ranks (31.2% of its total readership, reaching 1.3% of all men).
The fifth and sixth titles in the group of 10 are Sarie (1.2% male reach) and Living & Loving (1% male reach). Twenty-eight percent of Sarie's readers are men, while 27.7% of Living & Loving's audience is male, testimony to the existence of the new millennium dad.
O magazine (0.9% reach), Real (0.8%), Your Family (0.8%), and Elle (0.5%) make up the rest of SA's top 10 female reads amongst men.
