View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Publishers
  2. Magazines
May 14, 2018

Time Inc UK closes Look magazine after 11 years blaming ‘continuing pressure’ on sales

By Charlotte Tobitt

Time Inc UK has announced it is closing women’s magazine Look after “continuing pressure” on sales due to changing reader habits.

The final edition of the fashion and celebrity weekly, which launched in February 2007, will be published on 29 May and its website will close in the following weeks.

Time Inc UK has said it will focus “even greater efforts” on its flagship women’s brand Marie Claire following Look’s closure.

Look sold well over 300,000 copies each week at its peak, but now has a circulation of 57,110, according to the latest ABC figures.

The magazine saw the biggest year-on-year decline – 37 per cent – of any UK women’s magazine over the six month period to the end of December 2017.

During the same period Marie Claire saw a circulation of 157,412 and year-on-year growth of 2 per cent.

Justine Southall, Time Inc UK’s managing director, fashion and beauty, blamed Look’s decline on its audience increasingly getting similar content from multiple online sources.

“When Look launched in 2007, it was a publishing phenomenon and sold more than 300,000 copies a week at its peak,” Southall said.

“But Look’s audience behaves very differently today. They’re consuming media via screens and accessing numerous digital sources for fashion and celebrity content.

“Facing these circumstances and a continuing pressure on sales, we have taken the difficult decision to close the brand.

“We will now be focusing even greater efforts and activity on our iconic Marie Claire brand, as we celebrate its very special 30th birthday and new Woman Kind initiative championing women and their power to change the world together.”

In February, Time Inc UK sold its magazine and digital portfolio to private equity firm Epiris Fund II for an undisclosed sum.

Chris Hanna, partner at Epiris, said at the time the firm intended to “bring clarity and simplicity” to the business to maximise “the potential of its high-quality portfolio”.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly dose of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network