This week's readership figures make grim reading for the publishers of Irish women's magazines.

Overall readership figures are down with only one title, Image, showing a modest increase of 3,000 readers. All three Smurfit publications lost readers: Women's Way dropped 21,000, U is down 13,000 and IT lost 4,000. "You have to question whether there is room in a market this size for three monthly glossies," says Mr Paul Moran of Mediaworks. He points to the 300,000plus circulation enjoyed by some UK magazines compared with the typical 20,000-25,000 circulation of Irish magazines.

"The women's magazine market is a prime example of that American phrase `saturation by fragmentation'," says Mr Aidan Dunne of MCM, "but from an advertiser's point of view you have to look beyond the JNRR figures to see why Irish women's magazines still have a place in the market."

The sector enjoys one of the highest "pass on" rates of any print media. Mr Dunne estimates that, on average, five or six women read each issue so the relationship between readership and circulation is different than for any other publication. He suggests a more lateral approach when assessing the effectiveness of the Irish glossies for advertisers.

"U and Image have always, in editorial terms, had a clear idea of their ideal reader - for U it's 21 year olds, for Image it is south Dublin ladies," he says. "The figures will show that these magazines are read by people who very definitely don't fit the categories but, from an advertiser's point of view, such clear editorial direction means that we can picture the ideal reader and that is as important as the numbers."

Mr Moran says: "Aside from the strong UK presence on the news stands, new Irish formats are eating into readership," says Mr Moran.

The fragmented women's magazine market is set to get even more competitive this week with the high-profile launch of Conde Nast's Glamour. Described as a handbag-sized glossy because it is smaller than the traditional A4 size, Glamour is being backed by a £4.5 million sterling (€7 million) launch spend, which includes television and press advertising in the UK, a significant amount of which will spill over into the Irish market.

More worrying for Irish publishers who have always enjoyed a price advantage over UK titles is that not only will Glamour have more pages and be more glossy, it will also be cheaper than the Irish monthlies.