Net loss of seven UK print magazine titles over last five years, analysis shows

There has been a net loss of seven national print magazines in the UK in the past five years, according to Press Gazette’s own analysis.

Twenty-two print titles have closed in the UK since August 2014, while 15 have been launched.

Half of the closed titles were specifically targeted at women, such as parenting, wedding and celebrity magazines.

Last year saw the most UK print magazine closures (eight titles) and launches (six titles) of the five-year period.

Scroll down for full list of UK mag closures and launches

The analysis is based on reports of magazine closures and launches in Press Gazette and other industry news websites as well as online searches.

The figures do not include titles which both launched and closed within the period , such as men’s lifestyle weekly Coach (no longer in print) or women’s weekly OMG (which merged with another title).

They also exclude mags which are produced by only one journalist, such as former FHM editor Ed Needham’s book magazine Strong Words which launched last year.

Regional magazine titles were also excluded, but Press Gazette estimates there to have been a net loss of 18 local titles.

Of the 22 national print magazine closures, three were the last holdouts of the lads’ magazine era (FHM, Zoo and Loaded) suffering from societal changes and subsequent falls in circulation.

Four of the titles (Total Politics, Essentials, InStyle UK and Glamour) said they were closing to enable their publishers to focus on online growth, while another three said they were closing to focus on another title within the company (Shortlist, Cycling Active and Cycling Sport).

Five of the closures (NME, Look, Soaplife, Reveal and Now) were explicitly blamed on falls in circulation making them no longer commercially viable.

Roughly a third of the new launches publish quarterly or bi-monthly. Bauer Media is the only major magazine publisher to have launched multiple titles over the period.

In the first half of 2014, the almost-200 UK consumer magazines audited by ABC saw an average circulation drop of 5.8 per cent year-on-year.

By June 2019 the average fall in print circulation across the industry was 6.24 per cent year-on-year.

Magazine CLOSURES in the UK from August 2014 to August 2019:

Magazine LAUNCHES in the UK from August 2014 to August 2019:

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