Lads’ magazine Zip, sister to Loaded, has ceased print publication after nine issues.
The title, which primarily features sport, betting content and topless models, was launched at the beginning of March by Paul Baxendale-Walker’s Blue Publishing.
The first issue was 114 pages long, costing readers £1.90. Blue Publishing estimated that its circulation was around the 6,000 mark.
It was edited by Loaded features editor Ben Duffy, who said in the first issue that Zip “is here to change what you get from your weekly men’s magazine”.
Press Gazette understands the axing of the print title has resulted in job losses.
In the first issue, there were five full-time staff listed, and 11 freelance contributors.
But Baxendale-Walker said Zip magazine content will now feature in Loaded and that the digital product will create new jobs at Blue Publishing.
“The ability to break stories quickly to a digital audience is something the printed edition could never achieve,” he said.
“Now is the right time to focus on the digital market where the real reader and advertiser action is.”
Baxendale-Walker said in March that he set up Zip after failing in bids to buy lads’ magazine rivals Zoo and Nuts.
He predicted that the new title would eat into the readership of both its rivals.
Zip's editor-in-chief, who oversaw the launch, is former News of the World journalist Ian Edmondson.
He told Press Gazette it is likely that Rush, a new women's weekly planned by Blue Publishing, is also likely to launch in a digital-only format.
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