List Of Failed Magazine Titles Expands

The list of new entries into the consumer magazine market which have folded after just a few issues has expanded, after men’s monthly Switched On has announced it will close.

Trojan Publishing has closed the magazine, which it launched as a replacement to lad’s mag Ice, after just four issues.

Dan Lessons, Trojan group ad manager, said a poor take-up of ads and lower than expected sales had made the title unprofitable.

At its launch, the publisher described Switched On as “GQ meets Stuff“, promising men in their late 20s and 30s a mixture of gadgets, sport and travel with no raunchy sexual content.

It aimed to address advertisers’ disillusion with Ice‘s downmarket image, which had forced the closure of the title six months after its relaunch as a gadget magazine. The publisher also made a failed attempt to revive Penthouse earlier this year.

Switched On will continue online at switchedonmagazine.co.uk for the foreseeable future.

New titles have failed to break into the troubled UK magazine sector of late, with the weekly So London (see New Glossy Weekly Shuts After Two Issues) and TV spin-off Popworld Pulp (see Popworld Pulp An Almighty Flop) also folding just weeks after launch.

Earlier in the week it was rumoured that Emap was set to launch a free men’s magazine (see Emap Considering Launch Of Free Men’s Mag), following on from the success of free men’s title Sport (see Free Sport Magazine Launches In London).

The latest ABC results show that some of the biggest hitters in the Men’s Magazine market suffered declines in the six months to December 2006.

Market leader FHM was hit hardest in actual terms, dropping more than 129,000 copies from its circulation year on year, leaving it with a total figure of around 371,000 copies (see ABC Results Jul-Dec 2006:Large Declines For Men’s Mags).

Meanwhile, a new quarterly high-end fashion and culture mag, Plastique, is set to launch shortly (see Big Brands Back New Fashion Mag Launch).