South Africa, Aug. 20 -- This follows a four-quarter run of increases in total circulation and an eight consecutive quarter growth in custom magazines, which was the only sector to show growth over a year.

Consumer magazines (-12%) all registered year-on-year declines after stabilising somewhat in 2025.

Total newspaper and magazine circulation fell 2% from the first quarter and 3% year-on-year to 8.2 million.

After growing members in the previous year, the number of titles registered with the ABC fell to 366, taking total membership close to where it was at the beginning of 2025. The relatively consistent number of titles being published suggests a decline in per-title print orders and copy sales.

Encouragingly, all member titles chec...