Computer Buyer becomes latest magazine to close

Computer Buyer, the monthly magazine published by Dennis, is the latest magazine to close.

Dennis – whose stable includes The Week and Auto Express – closed the 18-year-old title due to falling circulation. It will merge with Computer Shopper, another Dennis title.

In 2007, according to ABC, Computer Buyer had an average circulation per issue of 9,477, of which 3,481 came from newsstands.

But that number has fallen sharply. A statement from Dennis said: ‘With a newsstand sale of fewer than 2,000 copies a month it has become impossible to keep publishing the title.”

Since 2007, the magazine has been written and edited by freelancers, so there will be no redundancies. Sales staff have been moved to other roles within Dennis.

The statement added: ‘Originally launched 18 years ago to protect Computer Shopper from PC Direct (launched in the UK by the then mighty Ziff-Davis), Computer Buyer quickly established itself as a highly effective publication in its own right and was always a PC title our competitors looked at in disbelief – delivering market-beating response for advertisers, at a yield comparable to titles with double the circulation.

‘Buyer has helped thousands of readers make better buying decisions, generated over £5million of profit for Dennis, millions of pounds of business for our advertisers and been part of numerous careers here – Pete Wootton, John Garewal, Paul Sanders, Julie Price and Jon Kitchen to name an illustrious few.

“It is always sad to close a magazine even, as in this case, if it simply winks out rather than disappears with a bang. But Buyer did its job, and did it brilliantly.”

Last week, Press Gazette reported Brooklands Group – which published A Place In The Sun, and magazines for Renault, Chrysler, and the airline Flybe, among others – had gone into administration.

It was also announced Public Private Finance, a monthly magazine published by Centaur, was under review.