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2009: a historic year for ELLE...

Lagardère Active has announced record results for its upmarket weekly women's magazine ELLE, with paid distribution in France (DSH PDF 09) of 370,658 copies (+3.8%) - the best figures in 30 years!

This underlying upward trend is the result of a development strategy that focused on single-issue sales (successfully implemented over the last four years), the development of regional and special themed issues, a change in publication day, investment in the editorial and production teams and a lower price. The primary focus of this strategy involves winning over 25- to 34-year-olds, a target audience that is still seen to have strong potential.

Since 2005, paid distribution in France has increased by a total of 47,600 copies (+14.7%).

In 2009, single-issue sales increased by +9.1% and by as much as +18.7% over the period from mid-August to the end of December 2009 (an average gain of 25,000 copies per issue).

In spite of a very difficult advertising environment, ELLE increased its market share in 2009, maintained the price of its advertising space and developed special features to better attract advertisers in a turbulent market.

According to ELLE's publisher, Franck Espiasse, "We made a positive choice to aggressively pursue a strategy focused on single-issue sales, because we felt we could attract new targets at the newsstand, rather than taking a defensive stance and building up our subscriber base, which is a costly undertaking. Above all, however, these results reflect the magazine's remarkable editorial dynamism!"

...And its sister publications

ELLE Décoration achieved paid distribution in France of 169,267 copies (+3.4% DSH PDF) with strong 12% growth in single-issue sales thanks to its dynamic editorial policy and new cover strategy. In 2009, ELLE Décoration asserted its personality by covering a range of topics that included current trends, clever shopping ideas and features on dream homes, a solid mix that ties in well with Elle Décoration's style - as does its return to an easily identifiable, white-framed cover.

ELLE à Table confirmed its leading position in the upmarket cooking-magazine sector with 161,755 copies (+6% DSH PDF). A small-format version of ELLE à Table was introduced in 2009, and the magazine's double exposure helped it achieve a 17% increase in cumulative single-issue sales plus renewed subscriber-base growth (a total of 67,000 copies).

The ELLE à Table brand marked its 10th anniversary in 2009 by expanding its range of channels via the launch of an iPhone application and the publication of a dozen cookbooks by Editions Glénat.