Women’s monthly Eve magazine is set to close following a third year-on-year decline in last month’s ABCs.
Publisher Haymarket has held a review of the Eve portfolio, and decided to cease publishing the title, which saw a 5.1 per cent decrease in circulation for the first half of 2008, down to 155,076.
Haymarket Consumer Media managing director Kevin Costello said: “The Eve team has worked tirelessly since we acquired the title over three years ago to create a brand that embodies the Haymarket values of quality and expertise. Despite these valiant efforts, Eve is making an unsustainable level of loss that is exacerbated by the recent ABC decline, the continuing strength of its key competitors and uncertain conditions within the UK economy generally.
‘It is with great regret that we have had to consider closing the title. They are an extremely talented group of individuals and it’s a great privilege to work with them.’
The 56 staff at Eve, 30 of whom work in editorial including editor Nic McCarthy, were told earlier today that they are now entering a period of consultation and that they are at risk of redundancy.
The magazine’s recently launched website, Evecars.com, will not be affected, nor will the site’s four staff.
Eve was launched by BBC magazines in 2001 and was bought by Haymarket Media Group in January 2005.
Editor McCarthy (pictured) , who formerly edited celebrity weekly OK!, was appointed in December 2007 and oversaw a redesign to aim the title at ‘smart and fashionable’ women.
In an interview with Press Gazette McCarthy said that she hoped to inject something new into the women’s monthlies sector. She said: ‘Monthlies is the only sector that hasn’t changed and responded, so I feel I’m in the right place at the right time. I think the sector could do with an injection of fresh ideas and creativity.”
Rival title Red also saw a drop in circulation this year, down 1.9 per cent to 220,804. Remaining strong in the 30-something sector is Hachette Filipacchi‘s Psychologies, which was up 15.4 per cent to 150,112 and She which was up 2.5 per cent to 173,377.
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