BBC Good Homes magazine set to close

BBC Magazines is set to close its 11-year-old monthly title Good Homes due to a drop in its circulation.

The 17 members of staff at the magazine were told of the BBC’s plan earlier this morning and have now entered a month-long consultation with the corporation’s commercial arm.

BBC Magazines said the July issue of Good Homes is likely to be the last one, after the publishing group failed to find a buyer for the struggling title.

Peter Phippen, BBC Magazines’ managing director, said: “I am very sorry to announce that, after much deliberation, we are proposing to close BBC Good Homes magazine.

“As the last set of ABC figures showed, the declining housing market has had a particularly adverse effect on this title and we cannot see how this might change in the near future.

“With a remit to deliver profit back to the BBC, we feel it is not tenable to publish this title at a loss. We have given this news to the Good Homes team and we are doing all we can to help them find other roles within, or outside, BBC Worldwide.”

Good Homes, which launched in May 1998, had a peak circulation of around 151,700 copies in 1999.

However, in the latest ABC release, the title reported a sigficant 23% year on year decline to around 97,500 copies, which was among the largest drops in our ‘Home Interest’ analysis (see ABC Results Jul-Dec 2008:Coast makes waves in the home interest sector).

BBC Homes & Antiques was the other title in the sector to suffer from a considerable circulation decline – down 25.5% year on year to just over 75,000 copies.