If the outcome of the consultation is closure, says the company, the final issue of the magazine will go on sale on 2 April 2019.
Angie O’Farrell, group managing director, lifestyle and women’s weeklies at TI Media, says: “The changing dynamics of the celebrity market – with consumers increasingly getting their fix of celeb news and gossip from other sources that can break stories immediately – means this audience is buying fewer and fewer magazines. As recent closures highlight, this is putting the celebrity market under relentless pressure. Now’s circulation has been falling steadily over the past five years and with that decline forecast to continue, alongside a drop-off in advertising revenue, the magazine is simply no longer sustainable. It’s on this basis that we’re proposing to close Now and focus on the remaining titles in our Life & Style portfolio.”
The celebsnow.co.uk website will continue to be live.
Now magazine launched in 1996.
Its ABC figures chronicle the circulation decline:
- Jul/Dec 2000: 475,571
- Jul/Dec 2005: 577,818
- Jul/Dec 2010: 338,328
- Jul/Dec 2015: 126,921
- Jul/Dec 2018: 44,709
Its highest circulation figure since 2000 was 630,212 (Jul/Dec 2002).
