One of the State's largest magazines, the RTÉ Guide, has suffered a 15.8 per cent fall in circulation year on year, according to new figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
British celebrity titles such as Hello! and OK! have also suffered significant falls as competition from newer, cheaper celebrity- focused titles increases.
According to the figures for the first six months of the year, the RTÉ Guide had an average circulation of 112,160, compared with 133,220 for the first half of 2002.
For the first six months of this year, circulation was down 12.4 per cent as competition from the other TV listings title, TV Now, increased.
A spokeswoman for RTÉ said the station was not greatly concerned about the figures and the magazine remained the biggest-selling title in the country. She said the dip in the figures was something RTÉ had prepared and budgeted for.
The main competition for the guide nowadays was the newspapers, she added.
TV Now's circulation was up slightly for the first six months of 2003 at 34,452, although its circulation fell slightly, compared to June 2002.
According to ABC, TV Now is published by a company called Minjara Limited. The two largest shareholders in this firm, according to the Companies Office files, are Mr Michael O'Doherty and Mr John Ryan.
The company also publishes Kiss magazine and VIP magazine. VIP's circulation was down by more than 4 per cent in the first six months of the year.
RTÉ's rival Sky now gives away its magazine to its Irish subscribers and this means it has an average audited circulation of 274,119, an increase of 22 per cent compared with June 2002. While none of these copies is "actively purchased" in shops, it technically makes the magazine the largest circulation title in the Republic, although based on shop sales the RTÉ Guide remains bigger.
The other title making significant ground in the latest figures was Ireland's Own, which is owned by Independent News & Media. Its circulation from June 2002 to June 2003 rose by almost 12 per cent to 43,349.
