The rise and fall of Arena
The men’s magazine market took a blow yesterday with the news that Bauer Media’s Arena is to cease printing after 22 years.
Although the latest ABC figures – for July to December 2008 – show that its circulation was up 16.5% year on year, its total was less than 30,000 copies.
Arena was launched in 1986 by Nick Logan, creator of hip ’80s fashion bible The Face, with a focus on style and entertainment.
Its first ABC figure gave it a circulation of 50,102 for July to December 1987, with a peak coming in January to June 1993 as it hit 73,088 copies.
Condé Nast was a part owner of Arena from 1988, however, when it pulled out in 1999, Logan sold his publishing house Wagadon to Emap.
Following the heady days of the early ’90s, Arena‘s circulation went south, with a fightback at the end of 2005 (see ABC Results Jul-Dec 2005:Weeklies Strong As Men’s Mags See Mixed Results) not enough to halt its decline.
Bauer acquired Arena in December 2007 when it bought Emap’s magazine and radio divisions (see Media In The City: Emap Sells Magazine And Radio Arms To H Bauer). This came just months after the title had been relaunched as a lifestyle magazine for the “urban playboy in his late 20s to mid-30s” in an attempt to arrest its circulation slide (see Arena Relaunches In Bid To Arrest Declining Sales)
Arena is not the only title to have performed badly, however, as the men’s lifestyle market as a whole has been looking quite gloomy over the past few years, with ABC figures showing big declines for some major players.
FHM and Maxim in particular have suffered in recent times, with FHM‘s current circulation of 243,299 a big drop from the 550,101 of four years ago, while Maxim has fallen from 208,140 to just 41,148 over the same time-frame.
Of course, magazines have closed before but it is these particularly interesting times we are experiencing at the moment – the inexorable rise of digital and the recession being but two factors – which are posing big questions for publishers.
The challenges facing magazines will be discussed at a MediaTel Group seminar on the ‘Future of Magazines’ next Wednesday. Panelists include Evelyn Webster, chief executive of IPC, Stevie Spring, chief executive of Future Publishing, Greg Miall, MD of Sport magazine, Dominic Williams, press director of Carat and media commentator Ray Snoddy. Please visit http://seminars.mediatelgroup.co.uk to book your ticket.