August 31, 2017updated 01 Sep 2017 10:23am

Archant to create shared content hub for magazine titles putting five roles at risk of redundancy

Archant is planning to create a shared content hub for its portfolio of consumer magazine titles that will result in five roles being put at risk of redundancy.

Under the proposals, each magazine would be expected to use 15 per cent of shared content from the hub, with editors having a say in what content they use and able to customise it to fit their local area.

Archant produces more than 70 magazine titles, including the monthly Resident and Life luxury lifestyle series, local wedding magazine series Bride as well as titles such as Airgun World and France Magazine.

Press Gazette understands that Archant’s 19 Life magazine titles will be the first to start using the hub, with staff on these titles hit by the redundancies. Consultations with affected staff start on Monday.

One part-time editorial assistant role will be created as part of the project.

The new proposal was announced in a message to staff yesterday, seen by Press Gazette, by group content director for magazines, Vicky Mayer.

She said: “We have been looking at new ways in which our journalists can work closer together across our consumer magazine portfolio, making the most of our staff’s skills and time and creating new opportunities for them to work on joint projects.

“We are therefore proposing that we reshape the way our magazines work, and set up a content hub. Our proposal is to keep local editors on the titles and support them with deputy/assistant editors as appropriate.”

Group editor of the London Resident titles Mark Kebble is expected to take on responsibility for running the new hub, which is expected to be operational by October with shared content appearing in January 2018 issues of the magazines.

The hub will work “virtually” with editorial assistants reporting to Kebble and supporting editors “where needed”.

In June Archant took the decision to “suspend the publishing” of four of its Resident magazines in London.

The regional publisher announced this month that it was planning to sell its local TV service, Mustard TV, after it had failed to produce a profit since launching three years ago.

Last week, Press Gazette reported that Archant’s profits were down 46 per cent year-on-year after what it described as “arguably one of the most difficult starts to the year for almost ten years”.

Topics in this article : Archant