In The Know Folds After Less Than A Year
H Bauer’s In The Know magazine has closed with immediate effect after less than a year on the newsstand.
The women’s weekly title, which entered an already volatile market, launched last August, with the publisher having invested £10 million in the magazine (see In The Know To Launch Next Week).
The magazine was created as a “topical and relevant” women’s weekly that combined issues affecting women’s lives and practical entertainment values to enrich their knowledge.
The aim of In The know was to provide a new direction in the women’s weekly market and generate new readers to the sector by providing an alternative to traditional celebrity, true-life and classic lifestyle weeklies.
However, this concept failed to capture the interest shown during extensive research, which translated into a poorer than expected sales level, with the title’s only recorded ABC coming in at 107,660 for July to December 2006.
In February, it was clear the title was in trouble with reports suggesting its circulation was well below its targets (see In The Know Selling Just 107,000 Copies A Week).
Managing director of H Bauer, David Goodchild, said: “In The Know was an innovative launch into a marketplace that in recent years has seen many launches which follow well trodden formulas.
“The market needs constant innovation to continue to grow but this will always carry with it a greater degree of risk. However, we are committed to driving the market forward both with our existing portfolio and with new products. We have worked with a highly dedicated and talented team to bring this magazine to market and would like to thank them for all their efforts.”
The editorial team is now said to be in a period of consultation during which vacancies within the business will be discussed, but there are likely to be redundancies.
At the last ABCs, H Bauer’s other women’s weekly titles, Bella, Take A Break and That’s Life!, were all down year on year, although Take A Break remained the leading title in the sector (see ABC Results Jan-Jun 2006:Mixed Results Revealed For Women’s Weekly Market).
In The Know joins an ever-growing list of new titles that have folded shortly after launch – with recent closures of note coming from So London (see New Glossy Weekly Shuts After Two Issues), Popworld Pulp (see Popworld Pulp An Almighty Flop) and Switched On (see List Of Failed Magazine Titles Expands).
Recent rumours have suggested that Emap could launch a free men’s magazine (see Emap Considering Launch Of Free Men’s Mag), whilst a new quarterly high-end fashion and culture mag, Plastique, is set to launch shortly (see Big Brands Back New Fashion Mag Launch).
H Bauer Publishing: 020 7241 8000 www.bauer.co.uk